Are Jews really the most-targeted group for hate crimes—or do we just call the cops more?

After someone in Winnipeg spraypainted this swastika on a house fence, a resident alerted B'nai Brith Canada, which contacted the police. (Photo courtesy B'nai Brith Canada/Twitter)

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For over a decade, Jews have been the number-one most-targeted religious group in federal and municipal hate crime reports. Just a few weeks ago, StatsCan released the latest edition of its annual paper, proving the trend correct yet again.

But headlines don’t tell the whole story. Is Jewish prominence on these lists the result of zealous Jewish communities over-reporting minor incidents? Or is it more indicative of other groups’ hesitance to even bother calling the police in the first place? To navigate these waters, we’re joined by Mark Mendelson, a former homicide detective with the Toronto police, current private investigator and crime expert for Bell Media.

Plus, David catches up with actor Jake Epstein about his latest theatre show, Boy Falls From the Sky, as well as a career that’s taken him from Degrassi to Broadway to Jewish Hallmark hero.

What we talked about

  • Read about the latest StatsCan report on thecjn.ca
  • Find tickets for Boy Falls From the Sky at mirvish.com

Credits

Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold, Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Michael Fraiman is the producer. Andre Goulet is the technical producer. Our theme music is by Socalled. The show is a co-production from The Jewish Learning Lab and The CJN, and is distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.