Hate crimes, campus fights and division: How the Hamas-Israel conflict is changing Canada

In today’s Big Story Story, shots fired at Jewish schools in Montreal. Slurs screamed as Muslims outside a mosque. Clashes of protesters on Canadian campuses and at weekend marches. General demands to pick a side, or be placed on the other one. While every day in Gaza and Israel brings more death and tragedy, and more allegations of atrocities, the fallout from the conflict here is taking its toll on the fabric of Canadian unity.

Dr. Mira Sucharov is a professor of political science at Carleton University who specializes in Israeli-Palestinian relations. She says that starting dialogue between people with opposing views on the conflict, needs to start with an acknowledgement of shared values.

“You have to go in with a baseline idea that rights need to be respected, everyone deserves the right to individual and collective safety, human and civil rights, and then you can start talking more effectively here in Canada,” says Sucharov.

So, where is the line between free speech and hate speech? What are police and governments doing to keep Jewish and Muslim Canadians safe? How can their neighbours help? And how do we find dialogue and push for human rights and freedom amid so much hate and death?