A report from city staff is expected to be released May 14 on whether Toronto should adopt a new “bubble” bylaw that would help protect Jewish buildings from raucous, sometimes violent, anti-Israel and antisemitic protests. The bill would cover all vulnerable communities and faith-based groups, but Jews are the ones most often targeted by hate crimes.
The decision marks one of two key tests for the city’s mayor, Olivia Chow, as she tries to strengthen her relationship with the city’s Jewish community. The other? Whether she will attend the 2025 UJA Walk With Israel.
At a recent gathering for Jewish leaders during Passover at Toronto City Hall, Chow said that “Jewish people must feel safe” in the city. She explained why it has taken the city a long time to study the feasibility of passing such a bubble bylaw, and told The CJN Daily that it would help things at the local level if Prime Minister Mark Carney keeps his campaign promise to pass similar legislation at the federal level.
Meanwhile, while the mayor has been invited, she did not attend the Walk With Israel in 2023 or 2024. Her office told The CJN Daily that Chow’s schedule for May has not been finalized.
On today’s episode, we speak (briefly) to Mayor Olivia Chow, and we hear from some Jewish leaders about what they are looking for from the mayor: City Councillor James Pasternak; the chair of the Centre for Israel Jewish Affairs, Elan Pratzer; and Michael Gilmore, the executive director of Kehillat Shaarei Torah synagogue, which has been vandalized more than a half-dozen times.
Related links
- Read more about Mayor Olivia Chow’s relationship with the Jewish community in The CJN from 2024.
- Read a critique of the mayor’s efforts to placate the Jewish community in a Doorstep Postings column from Oct. 2024.
- Hear why Toronto city council deferred bringing in a draft bylaw to protect Jewish buildings in December 2024, on The CJN Daily.
- Learn more about how Mayor Olivia Chow voted to defer bubble legislation bylaw last May 2024 back to city staff for a report, in The CJN.
Transcript:
Olivia Chow: Chag Sameach and. Welcome, everyone. It’s a time for us to come together and understand the power of family, of community, of faith.
Ellin Bessner: That’s what it sounded like a month ago at Toronto City Hall when the mayor, Olivia Chow, welcomed a group of specially-invited Jewish leaders as her guests to a Passover reception. The event was held April 16th in the council members’ lounge right above council chambers. There were kosher hors d’oeuvres, including matzah crackers with lox, charred eggplant and pomegranate salad, and a gluten-free tabbouleh couscous salad. When I arrived, some of the city staffers were standing near the entrance practicing pronouncing the appropriate Hebrew greeting correctly.
Staffer: Chag sameach..
Ellin Bessner: Hello. Practicing, right?
Staffer I just want to get it right. Chag sameach.
Ellin Bessner: Awesome. Perfect.
Staffer You can head in right now..
Ellin Bessner: Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Ellin Bessner: It’s actually the second time the mayor has hosted a Passover reception since Olivia Chow was elected in June 2023. But after a series of actions and statements since October 7th badly strained her relationship with Toronto’s Jewish community, in recent weeks it appears the mayor has been making a concerted effort to fix things, to show up more for the Jewish community. Community leaders tell me they’ve also noticed a change. Some say they now have a direct line to the mayor’s office.
Although some Jewish people are still skeptical. They remain skeptical because of her early public social media posts after October 7, when she lumped in Palestinian suffering even though Israel hadn’t yet launched a military campaign in Gaza. A year later, Chow didn’t attend the one-year anniversary memorial event for October 7, with her office saying she hadn’t been invited, which turned out not to be true and she later apologized for that. But fast forward to now, and on top of the Passover meet and greet, Chow’s recently attended a flurry of Jewish events: the ROM’s new show on Auschwitz, a vigil for the Bibas family, a tour of the Nova music festival exhibit, and the next night she attended a community Yom HaShoah Holocaust commemorative evening at a local synagogue.
Last summer, she came to that Jewish girls’ school that was shot at several times and to the Pride of Israel synagogue which had been vandalized. Still, the feeling persists that the mayor of Canada’s biggest city failed to take a more visible and louder public role sooner in the wake of skyrocketing incidents of hate crimes against the Jewish community. She hasn’t done much concrete yet to stop these intimidating anti-Israel, anti-Jewish protests outside local schools, community centers, synagogues, and businesses. Which is why many eyes will be watching this week when the city’s long-anticipated report is released on whether Toronto can and should adopt so-called bubble legislation that would keep protesters a safer distance away from the front doors of vulnerable community buildings and waiting to see what Mayor Chow will say about it.
I’m Ellin Bessner and this is what Jewish Canada sounds like for Wednesday, May 14, 2025. Welcome to The CJN Daily, a podcast of The Canawdian Jewish News, made possible in part thanks to the generous support of the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation.
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When the city’s protocol office sent me an email inviting us to the Mayor Chow Passover reception, the email came on April 2, so I actually thought it was a joke. But it turned out to be legit and I accepted eagerly because it would give us the chance to try to get an in-person interview with Olivia Chow.
We’ve tried for months since October 7th, but our requests were never accepted. So, although Chow was scheduled to deliver prepared remarks during the formal part of the evening, I went up and introduced myself before the program began, as she was mingling with her guests. While I didn’t get that sit-down opportunity to ask her all the questions on my list, she did give me a preview of what her official message to the community would cover.
Ellin Bessner: I would like to just know what you hope to do having this reception. What was the idea behind it?
Olivia Chow: Yeah, well, it’s Passover. It’s reflection, deliverance. It’s about coming together. It’s a Seder dinner. And it’s also a time to come together in difficult times because the hostages are still, still not free. Not all of them. And the hate is continuing in this city. So, the antisemitism. It’s important for all of us to come together in our city. We have a Jewish staff team, and they will be speaking, our councillors will be speaking and hosting and having a reception here, meeting some of my friends I haven’t seen for a while, all coming together, united in our desire to have a city where everyone belongs.
Ellin Bessner: Will you be speaking about things that people have asked, like bubble legislation and protests, more police presence?
Olivia Chow: I talk a bit about the police. The police, the last I saw, I think spent about $20 million on the “Project Resolute.” [Ed. Note: Project Resolute is the name the Toronto police gave to their efforts since Oct. 7 to patrol Jewish neighbourhoods, mainly, but also areas with mosques, place mobile community police stations at strategic buildings, as well as provide surveillance and crowd control at thousands of protests–mostly anti-Israel–since Oct. 7].
And we have hired and planned to have a five-year staffing plan, that’s 700 more police officers. For the last 10 years, the police never had a staffing plan. So there are years where they didn’t hire people and because there were a lot of retirements, the numbers went down quite a lot. So I had put my budget chief on the Police Services Board, she’s Shelley Carroll, she is now the chair, which is why you saw a very speedy negotiation in five weeks with the police association and the chief. They’re all working very well together to make sure that people are protected.
So yeah, the bubble one is going through, I believe, consultation right now.
Ellin Bessner: May 1st is the cutoff date.
Olivia Chow: Yeah. It’s coming back. I think it was important to make sure there’s good consultation because different folks might want different places protected. So we’ll see what comes back.
Ellin Bessner: Now Mark Carney has now said he’s going to legislate it federally if he gets elected.
Olivia Chow: Oh yeah? What did he say?
Ellin Bessner: Last week. Just that. That they will bring in bubble legislation federally if he gets [elected].
Olivia Chow: Oh, okay. That would make it even easier because we were one of the, one of the previous, one of the earlier conversations, when they first came to council [asking for bubble legislation] before, the city solicitor said that legally it won’t, you know. You heard what she said.
Ellin Bessner: And Michael Kerzner, Ontario’s Solicitor General, also said the same thing, provincially, a couple of weeks ago.
Olivia Chow: So anyway, so we’ll, we’ll see what the feds do.
Ellin Bessner: Do you want to say. Just say Happy Passover. No? Okay. Thank you. Bye.
Olivia Chow: Oh, here are my old friends. I want to give people hugs.
Ellin Bessner: The long-promised so-called bubble bylaw first came before city council in Toronto a year ago in May 2024, around the time the city of Vaughan had introduced theirs. Other cities would soon follow, including Mississauga and Brampton. Oakville and Ottawa are now debating adopting some too. Last May, city council said no bubble law and instead decided to ask the Province of Ontario to bring in a law. That also got defeated, and instead, council sent it back to staff for an “action framework”. That meant months of studies and public consultations. Groups and people were encouraged to submit presentations online through a portal on the city’s website. The closing date was May 1st.
Facilitator for the city of Toronto’s public consultations: And just thinking of the past few years. Have you personally taken part in a public demonstration? So you should see that question on your screen with the options of yes, no, or unsure.
Ellin Bessner: I attended one of those public consultations. It was conducted online on April 30. You couldn’t see or hear any of the other participants. Staff asked us a series of questions and then shared the results live.
The answers were very one-sided. 90% of the people completely opposed a bubble bylaw. The City of Vaughan and other municipalities have protesters required to stay back about 100 meters. And if Toronto were to adopt a bubble bylaw, 80% of the participants in my meeting said they don’t want safe zones established at any distance from the buildings.
The city wants to try to balance the mayor’s commitment to keep Toronto safe from hate while also respecting the right to protest and freedom of expression enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Indeed, the City of Calgary’s bubble bylaw is being challenged in the courts now.
Here’s Mayor Chow, again, from her formal remarks.
Olivia Chow: I know that makes this Passover another difficult one. Many are thinking about the 59 hostages. Many are worried about the rise in antisemitism. Many are gripped by fear and insecurity. Toronto is one of the most important centres of Jewish life in the world. It’s unacceptable that Jewish Torontonians are worried about practicing their faith, that they are forced to confront hate on and offline.
Jewish Torontonians should not be worried about their safety when going to community centres, local schools, or synagogues—places so important to communal life and vital to the fabric of our city. There’s no place for antisemitism here. Toronto remains a place where Jewish people must feel safe. As your mayor, working closely with the police chief, our wonderful city councillors, our staff, including Councillor [James Pasternak], and always listening to you.
Councillor Rachel Chernos Lin, thank you for that heartfelt conversation and reflection. By working together, we will do everything we can to make sure people feel safe and that you belong in this city.
The Passover Seder is a unique and powerful tradition, symbolizing the perseverance of the Jewish people. It represents the resilience of the people and the strength of the community in the face of persecution.
The most impactful ritual of the Seder to me is the questioning of why this night is different from all other nights. This tradition of inquiry and interpretation is powerful and led by the youngest participant. It sparks the dynamic and timeless story of Passover, which has been told and retold over thousands of years. It’s a story of people, led by a prophet, rewarded with deliverance.
It can bring comfort in dark times like this and strengthen the trust and faith needed to shepherd a people from slavery to the promised land. It can provide a path forward, as from that strength, we must summon the courage to say with one voice that Toronto must remain free of hate for everyone. Clapping…
Ellin Bessner: So how have the mayor’s supportive remarks and gestures resonated with some Jewish leaders? Some groups, like CIJA, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, worry the bubble legislation might go ahead but be limited in scope, restricted to just synagogues or places of worship but not schools or community centres. CIJA says Toronto needs this bylaw now because if the federal government keeps Mark Carney’s Liberals’ election campaign promise to change the Criminal Code and bring in a federal bubble law, it would take a long time to happen. There has to be something clear on the books in the meantime that Toronto police can enforce.
Elan Pratzer is chair of the CIJA board.
Elan Pratzer: Well, what I’m looking for is what the community is looking for. The community in Toronto and Canada at large feels insecure, feels underrepresented by their political leaders, and is expecting people to stand up for what’s right. That’s what I’m looking for and that’s what the community’s looking for.
Ellin Bessner: I know we’re talking in the middle of a federal election, but here it’s a municipal situation. You’re talking about leadership. Specifically, what has CIJA asked the city to do in terms of bubble legislation?
Elan Prarzer: I know we don’t like to refer to it as bubble legislation, but both the bubble legislation and that protests should be conducted–It’s not that protests shouldn’t happen, protests are part of our society. But protests should occur in a way that’s appropriate for our Canadian values and legal system, and I’m questioning whether they are, and whether we’re addressing inappropriate and illegal behavior.
Ellin Bessner: Michael Gilmour’s synagogue, Kehillat Sha’arei Torah in Toronto, was vandalized eight times since October 7. Police have charged a Toronto man with some of the arson attacks, but other suspects are still at large.
Were you surprised that there’s been an invitation for Passover, or is this something you’ve done before?
Michael Gilmore: No, I was surprised. It was a welcome surprise. But it’s nice that Kehillat Sha’arei Torah isn’t flying under the radar concerning our needs and what our community’s been going through. It’s a nice change to feel recognized and, like, we can be heard—not necessarily that we have been yet, but there’s a possibility for us to be heard and acknowledged, and for the whole Jewish community as well.
Ellin Bessner: What do you want her to hear from you?
Michael Gilmore: My goal is to really stress the importance of speech and how when you allow negative hate speech to fester in a community, it boils over and can’t be put back together once it falls apart. If we can really push toward stopping hate before it starts, especially against the Jewish community, it would be a big step toward preventing synagogue vandalism, schools getting shot, things like that.
Ellin Bessner: Okay, so they’ve maybe arrested the guy who committed some of your synagogue arson, but not all of them. There are others out there. Are you pushing for speedy bubble legislation still?
Michael Gilmore: Yeah.
Ellin Bessner: From the city?
Michael Gilmore: Yes. It’s terrible, but no, I really am. That would be very helpful. You can’t arrest an ideology. The more our elected officials stand up initially and say, “This is not okay,” statements like “From the river to the sea” is a call to genocide [and] are not okay. Waving terrorist organization flags is not okay. If that gets addressed from the start, it can go a long way. But we need legislation that will help our community.
Ellin Bessner: Toronto City Councillor James Pasternak’s Ward has seen many antisemitic and anti-Israel hate crimes since October 7th.
Hello, Councillor, how are you? Good to see you.
James Pasternak: You here for a scandal or something?
Ellin Bessner: No, I got actually invited.
James Pasternak: Oh, you’re kidding.
Ellin Bessner: So I’m hoping that it’ll make a nice story.
James Pasternak: Good.
Ellin Bessner: So why is the mayor having a Pesach reception? And is this something you had a hand in?
James Pasternak: Well, look, you know, Passover is a holiday of religious significance. It is a period of where we read the Haggadah and celebrate and talk about freedom. You know, the mayor has decided to reach out to the Jewish community to host this reception and share remarks. And I’ve been asked to participate and I look forward to speaking.
Ellin Bessner: Is this the first time any mayor has done something for Pesach, I mean, they’ve had flag raisings, they’ve had other things.
James Pasternak: No, I think, I think we’ve done Hanukkah and Pesach and Rosh Hashanah receptions in the past. With Hanukkah, it’s either out on the square or we’ve done some stuff inside City Hall. With Pesach we did it last year. It was a pre-Pesach reception. And with Rosh Hashanah, we do something as well. We’ve done it small, we’ve done it big. But we’ve always recognized the holidays. At most of the holidays, of course, there’s sombre, more sombre events such as Holocaust remembrance that we’ve done as well. We do the Israel flag raising and of course…
Ellin Bessner: Which she didn’t come to because it was “divisive”.
James Pasternak: Yes. I just strongly disagreed with those comments.
After seeing mobs on the streets for a good part of a year calling for the destruction of Israel, I found it a little odd and offensive that the flag raising, a sign of unity, would be considered divisive.
Ellin Bessner: Okay, what do you hope the message is going to be to her today from the people?
James Pasternak: Well, I think it’s an attempt to reach out. It’s an attempt to speak to the Jewish community. There are profound differences. This community is very upset and very frustrated. There’s been a lack of leadership. Bubble legislation has been delayed across the country from Ottawa down to the local level. It’s a societal failure where there’s been a lack of leadership to grapple with these hateful mobs and these hate crimes that are gripping our city.
Ellin Bessner: While we wait for the bubble report and see how the council votes on it and what the mayor does, many leaders are hoping that she will reverse her previous precedents on another upcoming event: the Walk for Israel, the community’s signature solidarity march. She didn’t attend last year or in 2023 when she was running for office. This year’s walk is on Sunday, May 25. She has been invited. I asked her office if it’s on her schedule. They said her schedule for May isn’t set yet.
And that’s what Jewish Canada sounds like for this episode of The CJN Daily, made possible in part thanks to the generous support of the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation.
Our show is produced by Zachary Judah Kauffman and Andrea Varsany. Executive producer is Michael Fraiman and our theme is by Dov Beck Levine. Thanks for listening.
Credits
- Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
- Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
- Music: Dov Beck-Levine
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