As American liberals head north to escape ‘fascism,’ some Canadian Jews are fleeing south.
Distressed by the second Trump administration, some American liberals are now moving, or contemplating a move to Canada.
“ I’ve never had so many Americans call and say, ‘This isn’t my country,’ or, ‘I don’t know what to expect,’ or, ‘I’m afraid,’ or, ‘I’m worried,’” said immigration lawyer Heather Segal, in an interview with National Review.
Among those who’ve left the U.S. for Canada are Yale University professors Marci Shore, Timothy Snyder, and Jason Stanley. In a video essay for the New York Times titled “We Study Fascism, and We’re Leaving the US,” Shore appeared to compare Trump’s America to Nazi Germany, saying “The lesson of 1933 is: You get out sooner rather than later.”
But while American liberals are convinced they’ll find a safe haven from “fascism” north of the border, many Jewish Canadians, alarmed by the recent explosion of antisemitism, have drawn the opposite conclusion.
As Americans flee north, they’re headed south.
I Don’t Have to Live Here
Georganne Burke, a veteran political strategist based in Ottawa, is among the Canadian Jews who are fleeing. Burke was born in the U.S. and moved to Canada in 1987. After making the effort to obtain Canadian citizenship, she’s now moving to Florida, where she already owns a home.
Burke told National Review it was her Jewish lifestyle that first brought her to Canada from Buffalo, N.Y.
“ The U.S. city we lived in didn’t have a Jewish high school. [So] we decided Toronto was a good choice. It was because we had multiple choices of schools for our kids, a big Jewish community that we could live in, and it was not too far from where we were living. So it was perfect for us,” she said.
Fast forward almost 40 years, and she’s now planning to return to the U.S., citing both antisemitism and a rise in rabid anti-Americanism that has emerged in Canada following the swearing in of Donald Trump, a man Burke openly supports.
“I have received a series of really nasty emails. One was from someone who actually threatened to kill me.”
As part of her work as a political strategist, Burke maintains a public profile and has recently become worried about her safety.
“People know who I am, I’m on television, I’m on radio, I’m on social media, I don’t hide. But if that’s going to mean that people are gonna feel free to threaten my life. I don’t have to live here,” she said.
Canada’s Antisemitism Explosion
Canada has seen a 124.6 percent increase in antisemitic incidents from 2022 to 2024, according to Jewish human rights organization B’nai Brith Canada. Canada’s Jews make up 0.9 percent of the population but are the victims of 70 percent of religious hate crimes.
There have been weekly anti-Israel protests nationwide since October 7, often featuring praise for Hamas, calls for intifada, and celebrations of Islamist “resistance.”
Some of these rallies have also seen Nazi salutes; chants of “death to Jews,” “explode the head of zionists” and calls for a “final solution”; protesters dressing up as Hamas militants; the burning in effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with Israeli and Canadian flags; and the flying of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Taliban flags. Meanwhile, an anti-Israel protest against a NATO summit saw demonstrators torch cars and smash the windows of buildings.
Not content to hold their rallies on random street corners, anti-Israel protesters are targeting Jewish neighborhoods, synagogues, Jewish community centers, and even Jewish hospitals.
There have been multiple shots fired at Canadian Jewish schools, multiple synagogues have been firebombed and vandalized, and Jewish businesses have been hit with property damage and boycott campaigns. There has also been a coordinated bomb threat targeting over 100 Canadian Jewish institutions, and most recently, the national Holocaust memorial in Ottawa was desecrated.
Jewish university students have said it’s “best not to be visibly Jewish” on Canadian campuses amid rampant antisemitism and open support for Islamic terrorism, and Canada’s public schools have also seen an “alarming increase” in antisemitism, resulting in an “enrolment boom” at Jewish private schools.
According to a survey conducted by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), 82 percent of Canadian Jews feel less safe in their country post October 7.
“There’s definitely a long tradition of antisemitism in Canada. What October 7 did is it picked off the bandage,” said Vivian Bercovici, who served as Canada’s ambassador to Israel from 2014 to 2016, in an interview with National Review.
“ Toronto and Montreal seem to have become the standouts in the Western world. The velocity, ferociousness, intensity of the way in which antisemitism has sparked and spread in Toronto and Montreal, to this day, it shocks me,” she added.
As for law enforcement, some in the Jewish community feel police are not adequately doing their job, leading to allegations of “two-tier policing” similar to those leveled against law enforcement in the United Kingdom.
Canada’s Liberal government meanwhile has also been accused of abandoning the Jewish community.
The Jewish Exodus
Burke is not alone in fleeing Canada. Two of her children are also fleeing, but to Israel. Three of her other children also already live in the U.S.
Also looking to leave Canada for the U.S. is Dahlia Kurtz. She’s a Jewish radio host who left legacy media to become an independent journalist focused on antisemitism after October 7. Her reporting has brought her a lot of negative attention, and in an interview with National Review, she said threats to her and her family’s safety have made continuing to live in Canada untenable.
“I get death threats, I get rape threats. . . . Nazis in Canada are criminally harassing me. . . . I’ve had people tell me that the gas chamber is waiting. I’ve had people show me images of me burning to death, I’ve had people send me my address and tell me they know where to find me. . . . [There’s been] threats to my family as well. My dog’s life was [also] threatened,” she said.
“ I am easily identifiable for two reasons, my hair and my size. I’m five feet tall,” she added. “I get harassed in my own building, walking down the street. I’ve been spat at.”
“It is a lot to deal with on my own. I’m not going to stop [speaking out]. But there’s a lot of crazies on the other side. And I need to be smart about my safety. I can’t be reckless with it. I already have the police refusing to protect me. So it’s not safe for me to be in Canada,” she added.
Avi Glina, a Jewish real estate developer and investor based in Toronto, is also looking to relocate himself and his family to the United States. For him, antisemitism is just the tip of the iceberg in a country that is fundamentally broken socially and economically, and therefore no longer a viable place to live or do business.
“Antisemitism is a symptom of a broken economy and nation state,” he told National Review.
He said that a combination of Liberal government’s unsustainable immigration rates, erasure of Canadian history, bail reforms that have caused a spike in crime, and the confiscation of legal firearms, compounded by a decline in national pride, a declining economy, and high taxes, has caused harm to the social fabric of Canada and created an environment that allowed antisemitism to explode when the Israel-Hamas war began.
“Historically the Jews have been the canaries in the coal mine, if you look back in history. And when I put all those factors together, I’ve got three kids and I’m evaluating what that could look like for their future. And all of those factors combined have led me to decide to try to move the family to Florida,” he noted.
The Free (and Safe) State of Florida
Burke, Kurtz, and Glina are all attracted to Florida, a red state that former left-wing MSNBC personality Joy Reid once described as “fascist.”
But they don’t see it that way in the slightest. They instead see Florida as a pro-business place with a nice climate and, most important of all, a safe place for Jews.
”I love Florida. It’s beautiful, it is safe, I feel welcome there. Everybody there, whether they’re Jewish or not, no matter where they come from, they’re respectful,” said Burke.
“ The police keep the streets safe. The governor, [Ron Desantis], is a strong supporter of keeping a safe, peaceful, and prosperous Florida,” she added.
“It’s a wonderful place to live.”
How Widespread Is This Exodus?
Segal, who is Jewish, said that for now, in her practice, Americans who want to move to Canada outnumber Canadian Jews who want to leave.
She also said Canadian Jews seem to primarily want to leave Canada for Israel, rather than the United States.
“ What I find with Jews is that it’s not necessarily the U.S. that’s the destination. They talk about Israel. I think Israel had a very big increase [of Canadians moving there] since October 7,” she said.
“A lot of Jews are quite left-wing and are [also] concerned about Trump,” Segal also noted.
Bercovici, who is currently in Israel, however, said that in her Canadian social circles, the U.S. is a place where many Jews are looking to move to.
“ I know a lot of people who’ve left, I know a lot who are leaving, and I know many more who are talking about it,” she said.