Beth Ezekiel Synagogue in Owen Sound has received a provincial grant to launch a Regional Safety and Education Project in Grey and Bruce counties.
Aly Boltman, vice-president of Beth Ezekiel Synagogue, said more than 100 synagogues applied for the grant, with about 18 receiving funding.
The investment of more than $90,000 will fund “Building Bridges: Bolstering Rural Jewish Safety Through Multi-Sectoral Collaboration and Education.” Running through March 2028, the project takes a comprehensive, whole-community approach.
A cornerstone of the initiative is its cross-sectoral partnership network. Core partners include the Bluewater District School Board and the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board, which will help deliver board-wide professional development for educators, specialized Holocaust curriculum training and youth-focused learning.
“What we are doing is creating opportunities for all teachers to have hate training including anti-semitic hate and Jewish hate,” says Boltman. “We are creating opportunities for teachers, schools and administration to have groups like the Simon Wiesenthal Center come in to teach about holocast education, there Tour For Humanity bus will be here for an entire week next spring.”
Launched in 2013, the Tour for Humanity is a mobile, 30-seat, wheelchair-accessible, high-tech bus that travels to schools, communities and public spaces across Canada to teach about human rights.
The synagogue will also work with Victim Services of Bruce Grey to develop resources supporting victims and regional police forces handling hate-motivated crimes. The Owen Sound & North Grey Union Public Library, The Meaford Public Library and The Blue Mountains Public Library are partnering to host public educational workshops. The River District (Downtown Owen Sound Board of Management) and JunCtian Community Initiatives, a Dundalk-based, Black-led youth group, are key partners fostering intercultural dialogue and supporting educational workshops.
“It’s a chance hear each other, these opportunities, to be in the same room and learn from each other,” says Boltman.
Jewish Canadians face 70 per cent of religiously based hate crimes while representing only one per cent of the population. B’nai Brith Canada’s annual audit documented a historic high of 6,800 antisemitic incidents nationwide in 2025, and a federal government report in September 2026 identified antisemitism as a matter of national security.
Locally, reported hate crimes in Owen Sound have more than tripled since 2023.