Olivia Chow Is Skipping Toronto’s Antisemitism Debate. for Jewish Torontonians, It’s About More Than One Event.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has decided not to attend a mayoral debate devoted specifically to antisemitism and public safety.

In isolation, a mayoral candidate missing one debate might not be particularly remarkable. Toronto candidates receive countless invitations during an election campaign, and no serious candidate attends every forum.

But for some members of Toronto’s Jewish community, this is unlikely to be viewed as just another scheduling matter.

It comes after more than three years during which Chow has faced repeated criticism from some Jewish organizations and community members — and at a time when Jewish Torontonians have faced serious concerns about antisemitism and heightened security around synagogues, schools and other community institutions.

And perhaps most strikingly, Chow’s stated reason for missing the debate is that her re-election campaign officially launches the very next day.

The Debate

Jewish Lawyers of Canada is hosting the event on Tuesday, September 8, bringing major mayoral candidates together to discuss antisemitism, hate, public safety and the protection of community institutions.

The location itself tells part of the story.

The debate is being held at a Toronto synagogue, but its exact location is not being publicly advertised. Registered attendees will receive the details, and police and professional security are expected to be present.

This is the environment in which Toronto Jews are being asked to participate in a municipal election debate in 2026.

When Jewish Lawyers of Canada announced the event on August 18, mayoral candidates Brad Bradford and Chris Alexander had already confirmed their attendance. The organization said at the time that discussions were underway with Chow’s campaign about her participation.

Those discussions apparently went back even further.

According to reporting by the Toronto Star, Jewish Lawyers of Canada says it had been communicating with Chow’s campaign since August 7.

Chow ultimately declined.

Why Isn’t She Going?

Chow’s campaign says the explanation is straightforward.

Her formal re-election campaign will not launch until Wednesday, September 9 — one day after the debate — and she will not participate in debates or candidate events before that launch.

Taken literally, that is a consistent campaign rule.

But it raises a question about the timing of the communication.

Jewish Lawyers of Canada told the Star that during its communications with Chow’s team, her September 9 launch date had not previously been raised as an obstacle.

The organization publicly announced on August 18 that it was still discussing Chow’s participation.

Then, with the debate approaching, the Jewish community learned that the mayor could not participate because her campaign officially begins approximately 24 hours later.

Technically, perhaps, that explains the decision.

Politically, it is difficult to imagine that explanation satisfying everyone.

The Jesse Brown Question

There is another wrinkle.

The debate was scheduled to be moderated by Canadaland founder Jesse Brown, who has previously criticized Chow’s handling of antisemitism.

Brown has strongly challenged Chow’s public statements about the safety of Toronto Jews.

The Star therefore asked Chow’s spokesperson whether Brown’s involvement had anything to do with her decision not to attend.

Her spokesperson did not answer that question, according to the Star.

Brown, for his part, told the Star that Chow’s campaign never asked organizers to replace him — and that if his presence were standing in the way of the mayor participating, he would step aside.

There is no evidence that Brown’s involvement caused Chow to decline the invitation. But given the question posed to her campaign and the lack of an answer, it is understandable that the issue is attracting attention.

This Didn’t Happen in a Vacuum

For some Jewish Torontonians and Jewish organizations, the significance of Chow’s absence will inevitably be viewed against the backdrop of the past several years.

Chow faced considerable criticism after missing the Toronto Jewish community’s October 7 memorial in 2024, marking one year since the Hamas massacre. She subsequently said she had missed an email concerning the event.

Earlier that year, she did not attend the annual Israeli flag-raising at Toronto City Hall, describing the ceremony amid the Gaza war as “divisive.”

Then, in November 2025, Chow drew criticism from Jewish and pro-Israel organizations after referring to “the genocide in Gaza” at an event hosted by the National Council of Canadian Muslims. Chow defended the statement by pointing to international reports that had reached that conclusion; Israel has strongly rejected the genocide allegation.

None of those episodes, by itself, proves that Chow is indifferent to Toronto’s Jewish community.

Nor would it be fair to pretend that Chow has never spoken out against antisemitism.

She has condemned antisemitic attacks, met with Jewish community leaders and law enforcement, and supported increased police presence around vulnerable institutions. Following the March 2026 shootings at Toronto-area synagogues, which political leaders described as antisemitic attacks, Chow denounced what she called acts of antisemitism, hate and intimidation.

Her campaign says the safety of Toronto’s Jewish community is a “top priority.”

Indeed, there is an unusual irony here: Chow herself has officially proclaimed September 8–13 “Jewish Leadership in Canada Week” in Toronto — meaning the very week beginning on the day of the debate she will not attend.

The proclamation states that Toronto “remains committed to confronting antisemitism and all forms of hate and discrimination.”

Those words are welcome.

But leadership is ultimately measured by more than proclamations.

An Extraordinary Antisemitism Problem

The backdrop to all of this is sobering.

According to Toronto Police statistics cited by Jewish Lawyers of Canada, 82 per cent of religiously motivated hate-crime occurrences reported in Toronto in 2025 were anti-Jewish.

That figure should be understood correctly: it does not mean Jews were the victims of 82 per cent of all hate crimes in Toronto. It means anti-Jewish occurrences constituted 82 per cent of those motivated by religion.

Still, it is an extraordinary statistic.

Police have increased patrols around Jewish neighbourhoods, synagogues and community institutions, particularly following the March 2026 shootings.

The debate itself is being held at an undisclosed synagogue with police and professional security.

Against that backdrop, asking the incumbent mayor to sit down before the Jewish community and explain what she has done — and what she intends to do next — hardly seems unreasonable.

Showing Up Matters

Chow will participate in debates during this election.

She has confirmed her attendance at a September 14 debate organized by the Daily Bread Food Bank focusing on issues including poverty, affordability and housing.

Those are enormously important issues, and there is nothing wrong with a mayor prioritizing them.

But antisemitism and the safety of Toronto’s Jewish community are important too.

That is why this decision lands differently.

Had Chow simply been unavailable, there would be little more to say.

Instead, organizers say they had been communicating with her campaign since August 7. Her participation was still publicly described as under discussion on August 18. Now her campaign says she cannot participate because she isn’t formally campaigning until one day after the event.

For Jewish organizations and community members who have criticized Chow’s record on these issues, that explanation is unlikely to resolve their concerns.

Does Toronto’s Jewish Community Matter?

It would go too far to declare that Olivia Chow does not care about Jewish Torontonians. Nobody outside the mayor herself can know what she feels in her heart.

But voters don’t elect feelings.

They elect actions.

And political leaders send messages through the events they attend, the invitations they decline and the communities before whom they are willing to answer difficult questions.

This was an opportunity for Chow to face Jewish Torontonians directly.

She could have defended her record.

She could have challenged her critics.

She could have explained what City Hall has done to combat antisemitism and acknowledged where more needs to be done.

She could have told frightened Jewish parents why Toronto will be safer for their children over the next four years.

She could even have forcefully disagreed with the premises of some of the questions put to her.

Instead, she will not be there.

Brad Bradford and Chris Alexander will.

And Toronto’s incumbent mayor will launch her campaign the following day.

For Jewish Torontonians who have spent the last several years watching how City Hall responds to antisemitism and concerns about community safety, that absence may speak considerably louder than another proclamation condemning hate.