Canada is losing its Jewish population: The exodus of a community that feels betrayed by open immigration policies and rising antisemitism

Canada is experiencing a brain drain and loss of human capital that doesn't make the usual headlines about the economy or housing. It's not just about professionals seeking better salaries. It's about Jewish families who, after generations in the country, have decided they can no longer stay.

According to an extensive analysis by The Free Press, the most high-profile case is that of Gad Saad, a professor of marketing and evolutionary behavioral science. He arrived as a child, fleeing the violence in Lebanon in 1975. Nearly 50 years later, he announced that he is leaving. He has two reasons and makes no secret of them: first, the Canadian tax system, which he says makes it "nearly impossible to accumulate enough money to truly retire." The average Canadian pays about 70% more in income taxes than the average American.

But, according to Saad, the second reason has to do with a climate of growing hostility toward Jews that he considers incompatible with his family's safety. "The government’s open immigration policies have made it unsafe for my family to remain here (due to the exponential increase in Jew-hatred)," he wrote.

In a recent interview on The Joe Rogan Experience, the scholar was even more direct: "I'm now leaving in large part because it became difficult for me, if not impossible, to be a high-profile Jewish professor who supports the right of Israel to exist."

But Saad is no exception. He is the most recognizable face of a phenomenon that is quietly spreading.

The numbers that can't be disguised

By mid-July, the world's oldest Jewish service organization, B'nai Brith, had recorded 27 violent antisemitic incidents in Canada so far in 2026, compared to 10 in all of 2025. As reported in June by Rupa Subramanya in The Free Press, Jews make up approximately 1% of the Canadian population—about 41.6 million people—but in 2024 they were the target of more police-reported hate crimes than all other religious groups combined.

Attacks on Jewish bakeries in Toronto—one of which involved gunfire—arrests of activists linked to terrorist groups, and foiled plans for kidnappings or shootings targeting Jewish centers have become recurring news stories.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has publicly acknowledged that the country's "civic compact" is failing Jewish Canadians. The words sound right. The problem is that they come after years of visible deterioration and a widespread sense of impunity.

A symptom of something broader

Antisemitism does not arise in a vacuum. Those who are leaving attribute it to profound demographic shifts, a political culture that prioritizes certain identity narratives over social cohesion, and a lowering of standards that has allowed the normalization of rhetoric that would have been unacceptable a decade ago.

Last year, police arrested three men for allegedly attempting to kidnap Jewish women in Toronto; one faced terrorism charges for supporting ISIS. In April, a Pakistani national with a study permit in Canada pleaded guilty to planning a mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn on the anniversary of Oct. 7. According to prosecutors, he told an undercover agent: "We could rack up [kill] easily a lot of jews [sic]."

Meanwhile, Canada is experiencing the highest level of emigration in its modern history: more than ten thousand people per month. According to The Free Press, there is no official breakdown by religious background, but among those leaving there is a notable proportion of skilled professionals and affluent families. Applications for "aliyah" (migration to Israel) from Canada have skyrocketed in recent years.