Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism announced on July 17 that she is stepping down from the position.
Deborah Lyons broke the news on X, three months before the end of her two-year mandate, saying it was done with “a heavy heart” and calling the post “a position that I loved dearly but brought forth so many challenges, some deep disappointments, but in the end, some real achievements which I know will sustain the Jewish community and Canada in years to come.”
Lyons did not explain why she is leaving but said “there can be no question that the last two years has been a struggle. I leave with confidence that the Special Envoy’s office, with the support of the Federal Government, has taken on the fight against antisemitism with a vigor and passion not seen in many other countries.
“Whether it was the Government of Canada’s Handbook on the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) working definition of antisemitism, the forum on law enforcement and antisemitism, the K-12 report on antisemitism in schools, constant exchanges with university, business and faith leaders, the numerous engagements with community, the briefings with the media, the work within government and the public service to ensure a deeper understanding of how antisemitism manifests in the workplace, even in policy and programming – all of this and more got us to a better place.”
Lyons was appointed to the role by former prime minister Justin Trudeau nine days after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist rampage from Gaza into Israel, which sparked a global surge in antisemitism, particularly in Canada. Lyons told The CJN in November 2024 that the job of the special envoy “has never been as difficult but has never been as important.”
Lyons, who had said her office was under-resourced when she took on the role as special envoy, saw funding double, with the 2024 federal budget adding $7.3 million over six years to the $1.2 million annual funding that was already allocated. (The same amount was committed to the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia.)
The former Canadian Ambassador to Israel and to Afghanistan, and Deputy Ambassador to the United States, also held several senior positions at Global Affairs Canada, the Privy Council Office, and other government agencies. Lyons succeeded Canada’s former justice minister Irwin Cotler, who was appointed in 2020 and was the first to serve in the role.
“I regret that Deborah Lyons is leaving her post” Cotler told The CJN. “She has been a very effective and engaged Special Envoy, whose achievements will continue including the importance of the IHRA training manual and the Office of the Special Envoy that she has established so effectively. I look forward to continuing to work with her in common cause. She will continue to be an important national resource for Canada and Canadian Jewry.”
When Lyons’ appointment was announced, Cotler said he had personally approached her and asked her to succeed him.
Belle Jarniewski, executive director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada and a member of Canada’s IHRA delegation, said Lyons’ work both as envoy “as well as her amazing leadership as head of our Canadian delegation to the IHRA has been outstanding.” Lyons was “a gift not only to our delegation, but to the Canadian Jewish community writ large.”
Lyons had been “a tremendously strong voice both here in Canada and on the international stage,” Jarniewskitold The CJN, citing a legacy that includes the Canadian Handbook on the IHRA definition of antisemitism (the first of its kind outside the EU), and the recent explosive report her office commissioned on antisemitism in Ontario schools.
“She will truly be missed by her colleagues here and around the world,” said Jarniewski. “I very much hope that her successor will be carefully chosen to carry on her enormously important work, especially at this time when we are experiencing such a vicious surge of anti-Jewish hate, unprecedented in our lifetime.”
The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) was equally laudatory, stating that from championing Holocaust education to addressing the rise in antisemitism across Canada and abroad, Lyons “brought clarity, conviction and compassion to a critical mandate.” In her parting words, Lyons said her office helped re-establish Canada’s commitment to inclusivity on the global stage, “and counter the negative imagery of Canada’s struggle with antisemitism that followed October 2023.”
In the end, she said, “the fight against antisemitism is a fight for a better Canada. We as Canadians need to double down our efforts, most particularly in the areas of seamless cooperation amongst the three levels of government to combat hate.”
Business, faith, and education leaders, also need to be “actively demonstrating courageous leadership to bring us together bound in our Canadian values,” she said. “It was troubling in the last few years to see our lack of patience, lack of tolerance, and inability to reach out across the gulf to one another. I know we are better than this.”
Posting on X about the recent report on antisemitism in Ontario public schools, Lyons said “When administrators and teachers ignore—or worse, perpetuate—antisemitism, they send the message that Jewish kids are not safe or valued” she wrote. “It is our hope that school boards across the country read this report and take necessary action before classes resume in September.”
Just last week, she highlighted the July 8 report on sexual violence committed against Israeli women on Oct. 7, 2023, produced by the Dinah Project on whose board she serves. “This comprehensive legal and evidentiary analysis confirms what too many still deny: that sexual violence was used strategically—as a weapon of war—against Israeli women. We must believe women when they bravely come forward with their accounts of the horrific violence committed against them. That includes Israeli women.”
Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather first met Lyons when she was named Canada’s Ambassador to Israel in 2016, and said working “hand in hand with her through the last two challenging years… talking to mayors, police chiefs, universities or dealing with recommendations for our Justice Committee report on antisemitism or the Summit on Antisemitism held this March, she has been a great partner and friend and nobody could possibly have worked harder or done a better job in this role than Deborah.”
Heritage Canada told The CJN in a statement that Lyons is retiring to spend more time with her family “after reaching the milestone of turning 75 and a distinguished career in the public service,” adding the Office of the Special Envoy remains in place with a strong team “continuing the important work of combatting antisemitism and Holocaust remembrance. A new special envoy will be appointed in due course.”
