"This prioritization of information is dramatically different from the April 21, 2026 Canadian Press article on the same topic, where October 2023 and the broader geopolitical context is mentioned in the fourth and fifth paragraph - of a total of 26 paragraphs."
To the Globe and Mail newsroom,
I’m writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) to express concern about the article titled “Jewish community top target for reported religion-based hate crimes, Senate committee finds” published on April 21, 2026 by the Globe and Mail.
In the second paragraph, the article highlights that “the Jewish community is the number one target in Canada for religiously motivated hate crimes reported to police” and that “such incidents made up around 70 per cent of hate crimes documented in 2023 and 2024”.
Any and all hate crimes are unacceptable. Readers - like myself - immediately ask themselves why has this happened in Canada? However, critical context regarding October 7, 2023 and its aftermath is only presented much later in the article, in paragraph 24 - of a total of 30 paragraphs.
This prioritization of information is dramatically different from the April 21, 2026 Canadian Press article on the same topic, where October 2023 and the broader geopolitical context is mentioned in the fourth and fifth paragraph - of a total of 26 paragraphs.
Further, in the Report of the Standing Senate Committee of Human Rights itself released on April 21, 2026, and referred to in your article, mentions early in the Introduction section that “In the wake of the attacks on October 7, 2023, by Hamas, and the ensuing war in Gaza, reported hate crimes in Canada have spiked, and Canadian Jews understandably feel unsafe.” In the same report, Senators urge Canadians to “avoid the conflation of Canadians with foreign actors based solely on their race or religion” and “recognize that the attacks of October 7, 2023, and the ensuing war in Gaza have been deeply traumatic for many and have been a significant factor fueling antisemitism in Canada”.
Presenting this important context incompletely, and so much later in the article, hinders the reader’s understanding of the contemporary factors that are influencing the reporting of antisemitic hate crimes in Canada.
I urge the Globe and Mail to revise the article accordingly, in order to align with the Canadian Association of Journalists ethics guidelines.
Sincerely,
Alison Jenkins