New B’nai Brith Canada CEO Simon Wolle set priorities. Now they’re being sorely tested

At a time he calls a “national crisis of antisemitism,” Simon Wolle has stepped into one of the most visible advocacy roles in the country: CEO of B’nai Brith Canada. He took over in October, leading the 150-year-old Jewish human rights organization at a moment of growing concern for Jewish Canadians.

He had little time to settle into the role before the security situation changed dramatically: Wolle calls it “seismic shifts".

In recent months, Toronto police foiled an ISIS-linked terror plot; a boycott campaign targeted Jewish summer camps; and protests continue to spread through Jewish neighbourhoods, often without police intervention.

Then, after Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran began again in late February, tensions escalated further. In the span of a single week, three Toronto-area synagogues and several Jewish-owned businesses were targeted in drive-by shootings.

Elsewhere, hate charges were dropped against a Montreal café owner who had threatened Jews with “the Final Solution”; a long-standing Holocaust education event at Vanier College was cancelled; and political rhetoric around Israel drew renewed national attention ahead of Sunday’s election of Avi Lewis, a Jewish anti-Zionist, as leader of the NDP.

When Wolle started the job five months ago, his priorities included encouraging mainstream Jewish organizations to put aside “their egos” and work together more closely to fight antisemitism. He also hoped to persuade Canadian Jews not to abandon this country, but to stay and help improve the situation –even if this will take time.

Wolle spoke with The CJN’s North Star podcast host Ellin Bessner in an interview recorded in mid-February, right before the latest escalation between Israel and Iran. In that conversation, he laid out how he believes B’nai Brith’s role must evolve — in ways that now feel even more urgent.

Related stories:

• Hear Simon Wolle in his first interview with The CJN in February 2026 as B’nai Brith CEO push back on the disturbing campaign financially targeting Jewish summer camps, or watch it on The CJN’s YouTube Channel.
• Simon Wolle made his national debut as CEO of B’nai Brith Canada at a press conference in Ottawa in January, among other things calling for a Royal Commission to be created on antisemitism, in The CJN .
• See what B’nai Brith Canada told the Quebec government about secularism and rising antisemitism, in The CJN .

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner )
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director), Yael Sher (graphic designer)
• Music: Bret Higgins

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