Ahead of budget, $50 million needed for Toronto Jewish security upgrades, millions more for guards: JSN CEO

Jewish leaders across Canada are looking to Ottawa later this week to see whether the Nov. 5 federal budget contains substantial funding increases and other commitments to protect Jewish communities from violent attacks.

While the community has been sounding the alarm since Oct. 7, 2023, this is the first budget since a synagogue in Belleville, Ont., was attacked on Yom Kippur. It also comes amid recurring vandalism and threats, including the latest suspected hate crime at Montreal’s Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom on Oct. 29, when five windows were broken, likely by pellets fired from a gun.

Last week, Canada announced its new National Security Strategy, although antisemitism was not mentioned. Just a month earlier, however, the government said “antisemitism could be a national security threat”. After three Toronto synagogues were shot at in March, Ottawa transferred $5.8 million to the Jewish Security Network (JSN). Then, in April, the federal fiscal update pledged $75 million over five years for community safety grants to at-risk faith communities across Canada.

Toronto’s Jewish Security Network CEO, Jevon Greenblatt, says the community is “substantially safer” than it was when the organization launched in September 2024. It now has a 24/7 command centre and 30 staff, while $15 million has been spent upgrading security at the community’s 180 Jewish schools, camps, offices and synagogues. But Greenblatt also says there is “a long, long way to go.”

Closing that gap will require tens of millions more, he says: about $50 million for physical security infrastructure, on top of the $20 million to $40 million “fortune” the community is already spending annually on security guards. But he’s optimistic the money will be forthcoming.

On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Greenblatt about the behind-the-scenes work being done to keep Toronto’s Jews safe, where the threats are coming from, and how smaller Jewish communities can better prepare for attacks.

Related links

• Learn how to contact the Jewish Security Network in Toronto to report suspicious activity or to ask for training or funding. Their emergency number is 437 222 3999
• Read about the $75 million for security funding announced in the April 2026 Fiscal Update, in The CJN
• Read about the various official and allied Jewish civilian security firms keeping Toronto’s Jewish community safe after Oct. 7, 2023, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner )
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer and video editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director)
• Music: Bret Higgins

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