With anti-Semitic incidents on the rise in Toronto and across the globe, two non-profit organizations recently launched a city-wide campaign that features hot pink billboards in a bid to get the message across that this type of hate will not be tolerated.
The billboards will be visible until March 27 in three locations: Spadina Avenue, the Don Valley Parkway, and the Gardner Expressway, and feature bold slogans calling for change.
“We’re just 75 years since the gas chambers. So no, a billboard calling out bigotry against Jews isn’t an overreaction,” reads one billboard.
“Does your church need armed guards? ‘Cause our synagogue does,” states the other.
The ad campaign is the brainchild of U.S. organization JewBelong, an online resource with a mission to make Judaism more accessible, in partnership with StandWithUs Canada, an NPO dedicated to informing the public about Israel, and combating anti-Israel rhetoric in Canada.
“We are proud to join JewBelong on this awareness campaign,” said Rebecca Katzman, senior campus director of StandWithUs Canada in a statement. “Billboards are immediate, visible and impart a message that is quick and easy to understand whether driving down a highway or waiting for public transit.”
The campaign couldn’t come at a more appropriate time. Just last week, anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered at three Toronto District school boards. Police Chief, James Ramer, said in a tweet that they would be investigating the graffiti as possible hate crimes.
Anti-Semitic incidents have been an unfortunate reality taking place across Toronto schools.
Back in February, three separate incidents occurred in classrooms that involved swastikas and the Nazi salute.
“These are just examples of what has become routine practice. They underscore how critical this ad campaign is in educating about the danger of anti-Jewish bigotry,” said Katzman.
Worldwide, there’s been an alarming surge in antisemitic incidents. In the United Sates, racist propaganda remained at historic levels last year, according to a study by the Anti-Defamation League. In the UK, a Community Security Trust poll shows that more antisemitic incidents were reported in 2021 than in any other year since they first begin documentation in 1984.
The billboards, which first launched in New York’s Times Square in June 2021, were soon followed by campaigns in Philadelphia, Washington, Miami, Boston and Las Vegas. The Toronto billboards marks the campaign’s Canadian debut.
