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Volume 44 Editors’ Foreword

David S. Koffman and Joshua Tapper

Volume 44 Avant-propos des rédacteurs

David S. Koffman and Joshua Tapper

A Bug or a Feature? The Marginalization of Jewish Identity and Antisemitism in the EDI Landscape of Canadian Higher Education

Lilach Marom
This paper examines the construction of antisemitism and Jewish identity within equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) frameworks in Canadian higher education (HE). Using mixed-methods data from a national survey and semi-structured interviews, it explores how Jewish faculty and staff perceive the treatment of Jewish identity and antisemitism within EDI policies, resources, and action plans in Canadian HE. Survey results show low awareness and comprehensiveness of EDI and institutional policies about Jewish identity and antisemitism, and low satisfaction with institutional responses and support. The interview data further elaborates on experiences of dismissal and avoidance and points to the conditional recognition of Jewish identity and antisemitism within EDI. Overall, the study suggests that antisemitism is missing or marginalized in policies and that Jewish identity is only partially recognized. The study positions this marginalization as a feature of EDI and urges institutions to engage meaningfully with these frameworks to make them more inclusive.

Canadian Jewish Fertility in Comparative Perspective (2001-2021)

Rachel Margolis
This analysis focuses on two factors leading to changes in Canada’s religious composition—religious differences in fertility and immigration to Canada. I provide updated estimates for Jewish fertility in Canada and its subpopulations, including the first fertility estimates for secular Jews in Canada, those reporting Jewish ethnic origins but no religion. Secular Jews have much lower fertility than those reporting Jewish religion. I then examine how Jewish fertility compares to other religious groups in Canada. Between 2001 and 2021, Jewish fertility remained rather stable, while all other groups experienced considerable decline. Last, I examine how fertility varies within religious groups for those who are born in Canada, those who immigrate to Canada as children, and those who immigrate as adults. I find that for all religions (except those with no religion or “other religions”), the foreign-born who immigrated after age fifteen have, on average, higher fertility than native-born people of the same religion. This work provides important insights into the changing religious landscape in Canada and how Canadian Jews are remaining a stable but small subpopulation in a rapidly changing country.

Defining Antisemitism in Francophone Canada: The Plamondon Trials of 1913–1914

Pierre Anctil
The study of antisemitism in twentieth-century Canada has recently attracted considerable scholarly attention, especially given the country’s poor record in welcoming Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany before and during the Second World War. This article argues that scholarship in this domain has tended to oversimplify the differences that existed between Anglophone and Francophone Canada in this respect, often ignoring elements of religious doctrine that kept Catholics and Protestants relatively apart in their understanding of Jews and Judaism. To better define the frame of reference of Francophone Roman Catholics, the author examines the documentation produced during the 1913–1914 Plamondon defamation trials in Quebec City. These trials offer a unique opportunity to better understand the inner workings of antisemitism within a French Canadian elitist milieu, independently of other forms of Judeophobia that predominated in English Canada.

Writing Canadian Judaism through Queer Migration

Shlomo Gleibman
This essay places the literary representations of Canadian queer Jews from the former Soviet Union, such as in David Bezmozgis’s short story “Minyan,” in a larger context of Canadian queer Jewish writing that addresses the themes of immigration or migration, such as Brian Stein’s short story “The Good Son” and K. David Brody’s novel Mourning and Celebration. This article thus discusses three works where immigration/migration reflects a recouping of traditional symbols of Jewish life in the contexts of Canadian Judaism, Jewish community, and gay male sexuality. The article pursues answers to the following questions: How does the experience of immigration to Canada or migration within Canada influence one’s sense of cultural loss and strategies of reclamation? How are these representations of queer Jewish life shaped by and contribute to the diversity and multiculturalism of Canadian society?

Canadian Jewish Barometer 2026: Pressures on Canadian Jews and their Responses

Robert Brym and Rhonda Lenton
This report is based mainly on a survey of 3,062 adult Canadian residents, including oversamples of Quebecers, Muslims, and Jews. The survey was in the field from January 15 to February 11, 2026. It focuses on how the attitudes of non-Jews toward Jews and Israel have changed since early 2024 and how that change has affected Canada’s Jews. Its main findings are as follows: (1) Non-Jewish Canadians’ attitudes toward Jews and especially toward Israel have become significantly more negative since 2024, (2) The percentage of individuals with negative perceptions of Jews and Israel varies in explicable ways across different groups and population categories, (3) In 2026 as in 2024, the correlation between attitudes toward Jews and attitudes toward Israel is moderate, so attitudes toward Israel are still important to understanding the spread of antisemitism, (4) Canadian Jews are most inclined to believe that attitudes toward Jews and Israel have grown more negative because of media coverage criticizing Israel’s actions during the war in Gaza and the way Israel actually prosecuted the war, (5) Canadian Jews are considerably more fearful of their position in Canadian society than they were in 2024 and believe that the situation will grow worse in the near future, (6) A rift has grown between Jews who believe the government of Israel should not be criticized insofar as it lacks viable strategic alternatives and Jews who believe the government of Israel should be criticized for adopting strategies that prevent compromise with the Palestinians and violate traditional liberal-democratic principles on which the Jewish state was founded. Based on these findings, the report recommends strategies for mitigating negative sentiment toward Jews and Israel and reducing polarization in the Jewish community.

Collecting Gerald Tulchinsky: One Fonds, Multiple Perspectives

Heather Home

Letters from a Young Zionist: The Evolution of a Historian

Ellen Tulchinsky and Laura Tulchinsky

History as a Bridge: Chinese-Jewish Community Dialogue in Canada

Hongfei Liang

Canadian Jewish Heritage Material Repositories

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