The Honest Report

When Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a national address on antisemitism recently, he hit some high notes, but also missed critical details. In a recent opinion column in The Globe & Mail, Rabbi Steven Wernick of Beth Tzedec Congregation in Toronto, one of the largest congregations in the country, thanked the prime minister for speaking out on antisemitism but also noting that a lot was missing.

Rabbi Wernick joins us as our guest this week, in conversation with HonestReporting Canada assistant director Robert Walker

For nearly 300 years, Jews have played an integral role in Canada, from their origins working in the fur industry to today, where the country's 400,000-strong community remains central in the fields of arts, culture, philanthropy, business, science, medicine and more.

To help us understand the story of Canadian Jews over the last three centuries, we are joined by David Koffman, the J. Richard Shiff Chair for the Study of Canadian Jewry & an associate professor in the Department of History at York University. He is also an accomplished author.

David joins HonestReporting Canada assistant director Robert Walker in conversation this week.

Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.

Next month, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg is slated to open its "Nakba" exhibit focusing on Israel's 1948 war of independence and the displacement of Arabs as a result of the attempted destruction of Israel. Critics have said that the exhibit appears to be presenting a stridently anti-Israel narrative and could embolden anti-Jewish hate crimes by enshrining pro-Palestinian propaganda.

By presenting this exhibit, the museum - a recipient of taxpayer dollars - may be violating Canadian law, according to Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, a lawyer, human rights activist and founder of Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center.

Shurat HaDin recently sent a legal letter to the museum, warning them that unless they take concrete action to address these concerns, there may be legal consequences.

To tell us more, Nitsana joins us as our guest this week, in conversation with Robert Walker, HonestReporting Canada assistant director.

Following the terrorist attack at a Hanukkah event in Sydney, Australia in December, Toronto city councillors James Pasternak and Mike Colle called for an intergovernmental task force, led by the RCMP, to address violent acts of antisemitism.

But in the six months following, this task force has not materialized, even after repeated violent incidents. To help us understand what role such a task force might play, and why Ontario's lax bail conditions may be a big part of the problem, HRC Assistant Director Rob Walker sits down with Councillor Pasternak.

Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.

In Israel's Negev Desert, which spans most of the country's land mass but home to only 8% of its people, sits Dimona, a town built from scratch to house new immigrants from across the Middle East and beyond, and it is where some of the biggest growth is happening.

In this episode, HRC Assistant Director Robert Walker sits down with Itai Tick, who is a reservist in the Israeli military and the Director of Mifalot Dimona, which works with underprivileged youth in Dimona.

We speak to him about the city's rapid growth, life in the desert, and about some remarkable events during the recent war with Iran.

In a scandalous but increasingly unsurprising story, Melanie Bennet, an investigative journalist with Juno News, recently broke that the Hamilton-Wentworth District School board in southern Ontario spent $70,000 on a training module to teach thousands of teachers about 'anti-Palestinian racism.'

Bennet got hold of the training transcript, and what was taught was not about combating racism, but demonizing Israel and spreading woke ideology to teachers, all paid for by the taxpayer.

Melanie Bennet joins us as our guest this week, where she sits down with HonestReporting Canada Assistant Director Robert Walker.

When it comes to combating anti-Jewish hate, it is important to look to leaders for inspiration and education, no matter where they are.

And in the fight against anti-Jewish hate, one of the loudest voices has been Cora Neumann, a Democratic Montana state senator, a state with a Jewish population of only about one-tenth of one percent.

Nevertheless, Neumann has been a vocal opponent of antisemitism, and has used her position to help educate other elected officials and the public at large.

In this episode of The Honest Report podcast, Neumann speaks with Robert Walker, HonestReporting Canada assistant director, offering her insight and experience in fighting history's oldest hatred.

How is it possible that Israel can be attacked on multiple fronts, from Yemen to Iran to Gaza and Lebanon, and yet be ranked the eighth-happiest country in the world? What is the secret to Israel's resilience?

How do Israelis cope with war, and more importantly, learn to thrive despite the circumstances? In this podcast, HonestReporting Canada assistant director Robert Walker speaks with Tzivia MacLeod, a Canadian-Israeli writer who lives in the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Haifa, who offers her first-hand experiences and perspectives.

The Carney government has faced unprecedented criticism, domestically and internationally, for what critics call a failure to address Islamic terrorism and anti-Jewish hate inside Canada.

What more needs to be done to meaningfully address the scourge of Islamic terrorism, and, in a directly related effort, the related upsurge in anti-Jewish hate?

In this episode of The Honest Report, HonestReporting Canada assistant director Robert Walker sits down with Sharren Haskel, Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, for her assessment of the war against the Iranian regime, and a candid assessment of Ottawa's fight against extremism.

One of the most historically ignorant lies told about Israel is that it is a colonialist enterprise with no history in the land, despite three thousand years of Jewish presence in Israel.

Such historical revisionism aside, the reality on the ground tells a very different story, and in this powerful interview, HonestReporting Canada assistant director Robert Walker sits down with Crystal Lavallee. She is a leader in the Metis community living in southern Ontario, and founder of I am Compelled Collective, a First Nations charity.

She visited Israel in the fall of 2025, and has since produced a film about her experiences, The Lands Between Us. The virtual screening is Tues, April 7 at 8:30pm ET. Sign up at www.thelandsbetweenus.ca