“Vancouver has an antisemitism problem and we need to address it,” said local byelection candidate Jamie Stein in his concession speech last Saturday, following a campaign that found him facing threats and vandalized signs. “My message to the two councillors who are coming in is very clear: stand up for Vancouver’s Jewish community.
“Do not incite any more hatred against the Jewish community of Vancouver,” emphasized Stein, who said his comments were “a little off-script” after coming in sixth place on a ballot, where he ran for the right-leaning party ABC Vancouver.
Subsequently, purported evidence of what Stein was talking about surfaced—in the form of past public social media posts by incoming city councillor Sean Orr.
So it would appear that @seanorr has lots to say about Jews … it explains why he was so committed to twisting my words and getting me fired…. He seems to have it in for Jews. The hate is real.
— Selina Robinson (@SelinaMRobinson) April 9, 2025
Have a look: pic.twitter.com/rnbDWjsHk0
It was 23 days after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023 that Orr initially accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
A year later, in response to British Columbia premier David Eby expressing disgust following news of Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam being chased by crowds, Orr wrote, “This is what happens when your party (the BC NDP) is infiltrated by CIJA (Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs).”
In another post, also he appears to endorse the position of a fellow X user supporting the destruction of Israel and Canada.
Other posts attributed to Orr read, “Harper is a Jew baby?” and “Hitler called Jews animals. Then he gassed them.”
Mayor Ken Sim, the leader of ABC Vancouver, offered his perspective on these discoveries in an email to The CJN.
“Many of these posts can only be viewed as incendiary or hateful by the Jewish community and other communities. Representing this city and taking a seat in this chamber is a privilege and comes with the expectation that you will represent all Vancouverites irrespective of race, creed or religion.”
Sim called for Orr to apologize, and acknowledge the harm caused by his past postings, a sentiment echoed by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver in conjunction with CIJA.
Joint statement from the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs @CIJAinfo strongly condemning the antisemitic social media post made by Councillor @seanorr. pic.twitter.com/ubltm3vbyj
— Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver (@JewishVancouver) April 8, 2025
Among the many statements Orr posted about Jews and Israel, one dating back Aug. 31, 2021, has garnered particular attention: “Everyone knows Vancouver City planners are controlled by a secret cabal of Jews who have a bunker in the earth’s core fml.”
Orr responded on April 8 by saying he was being sarcastic and quoting Jewish comedian David Cross to condemn “an antisemitic dogwhistle,” in an effort to defend Karm Sumal, the CEO of the Vancouver-based website Daily Hive, which was subsequently purchased by Zoomer Media.
“It’s unfortunate that this was taken out of context and misrepresented. My platform called out antisemitism by name and committed to fighting it, along with Islamophobia and other forms of racism,” Orr posted on social media. “I am always willing to listen if people who feel I can do more for their communities.”
He added that he did not feel it was wrong to criticize the Netanyahu government for, what he deemed “committing war crimes against civilian populations.” Nor did he think such criticism is antisemitic. Rather, he argued, it falls in line with the positions of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.
“In this climate of resurgent fascism and the rise of the far right, we must all be vigilant and stand up against hate. I will always stand up for communities who are attacked or scapegoated,” he said.
Orr’s party, the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE), responded to the assertions by the Vancouver Federation and CIJA later on Tuesday. It labelled CIJA “a right-wing Israel advocacy organization which has refused to criticize the far-right president of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu during this horrific war.”
COPE knew exactly who Sean Orr was, and that’s why we asked him to run for us and fight for Vancouver.
— COPE: Coalition of Progressive Electors (@COPEVancouver) April 10, 2025
People in Vancouver know who Sean is and what he stands for, too.
That’s exactly why they voted for him. https://t.co/MBwtpT3oKl #vanpoli
COPE said it stood by its candidate and that the election results, in which Orr received more than 50 percent of the votes, provided a “resounding mandate” for a platform that opposes all forms of racism, including antisemitism.
“Sean Orr promised he would fight for Vancouver and the people in it, and we’re going to deliver on that promise,” said COPE co-chair Shawn Vulliez. “We are always open to meeting, to discussion, and to dialogue – including to those who have felt harmed by seeing screenshots of online discussions that have been so recklessly weaponized.”
In February 2024, Orr shared video footage of Selina Robinson—who was then serving as British Columbia’s NDP minister of post-secondary education—that would ultimately lead to her ouster from the cabinet.
In the video taken from a B’nai Brith webinar, Robinson lamented that many young people “don’t understand that (Israel) was a crappy piece of land with nothing on it” when it was established. Those remarks went viral, leading to protests, a public rebuke from Premier Eby, vandalism to her office and death threats against her.
Robinson was forced to step down from her post and decided not to seek reelection in October 2024 for her seat in the riding of Coquitlam-Maillardville.
“People who chose to endorse (Orr) were warned of his obsession and what appears to be hate and derision of Jews and still chose to endorse him,” Robinson posted on social media this week, noting that many of Orr’s statements were made before Oct. 7.
“As a result, Jews in Vancouver are less safe.”
A recent survey conducted by the Jewish Federation found that 62 percent of Jewish community members have experienced at least one antisemitic incident; 61 percent have struggled with mental health issues since Oct. 7; 85 percent of those surveyed said antisemitism had “increased a lot”; and 93 percent of community members feel “less secure” now than they did before Oct. 7.
