This Will Make You Uncomfortable

Brian Mirsky sits down with Dr. Rhonda Lenton, former president of York University and co-author, with Dr. Robert Brym, of the Canadian Jewish Barometer 2026, to unpack what the data actually shows. Lenton walks through the study's design, surveying both Jewish and non-Jewish Canadians, and its central finding: positive sentiment toward Jews and Israel has declined since 2024, driven mainly by people shifting out of the middle rather than a rise in outright hostility. She discusses the correlation between attitudes toward Jews and attitudes toward Israel, variation across demographic groups, and two factors respondents cited most often for the shift: criticism of Israel's conduct in Gaza and the role of social media in shaping perception. The conversation covers her critique of current EDI frameworks for marginalizing antisemitism, her frustration with the federal government's antisemitism advisory council for not consulting the researchers actively working in this space, and her case for reviving something like the old Canadian Jewish Congress to unify fragmented community efforts. 

Some of the top-line findings:

• Canadians with positive sentiment towards Jews has fallen from 90% to 82.
• 69% of Jewish parents worry about their children's safety at school because of antisemitism.
• 8% of Jews were physically threatened or attacked for being Jewish.
• 6 in 10 Canadian Jews worry about sending their children to university because of rising antisemitism.

Canadian Jewish Barometer 2026: Pressures on Canadian Jews and their Responses:https://doi.org/10.25071/1916-0925.40699

If anything you heard made you think or make you uncomfortable, reach out to Brian at his website: www.thiswillmakeyouuncomfortable.com

This episode shifts from personal history to a breakdown of Jewish identity itself. Mirsky walks through the core values of Judaism, including commitment to the Ten Commandments and the 613 mitzvot, the obligation of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), a culture built on questioning rather than blind acceptance, and a matriarchal structure for determining Jewish identity. From there, he turns to Canada's own history of exclusion, from Jewish quotas in law, medicine, and universities to housing bans and country club restrictions that persisted well into the 20th century. He credits Jewish Canadians with building parallel institutions (hospitals, law firms, social services) in response, and points to outsized contributions in science, medicine, and civil rights as evidence of what community resilience produced despite the barriers. 

If anything you heard made you think or make you uncomfortable, reach out to Brian at his website: www.thiswillmakeyouuncomfortable.com

In the debut episode of This Will Make You Uncomfortable, you’ll meet host Brian Mirsky, a fourth generation Canadian Jew who believes that Canada's reputation for tolerance toward Jews doesn't match reality, past or present. He traces his family history from his great grandfather's flight from Belarus to his father's WWII service and firsthand witness of the liberation of Bergen Belsen, through his own experience with antisemitism in university and corporate Canada, and how a posting in France showed him how bad things can get when a country looks away. 

If anything you heard made you think or make you uncomfortable, reach out to Brian at his website: www.thiswillmakeyouuncomfortable.com

Brian Mirsky, a Fourth Canadian Jew, talks about the harsh reality that Canadians are not as accepting of Jews as they think we are, and that Jews are still treated very differently than other minorities.

This is not another ‘angry minority with an agenda, but with no new talking points’ podcast.  That is not Brian, and not what this podcast is about.  Brian strives to make all fair minded Canadians aware that our country is losing its core values of tolerance and fair play. These values made us stand out from other countries and made us the envy of the world. 
Canada is fast becoming a country that accepts intimidation and intolerance. Violence against a community that has deep historic roots in this country and has contributed greatly to our country's success. Taken from a book about South Africa, the underlying theme for this podcast is that we should “Cry for our Beloved Country.”

Listen in to get the context you were never given, a clearer picture of what's actually happening in Canada, and a reason to care - whether or not you've thought much about Israel, Judaism, or the Middle East before.


Find Brian online at www.thiswillmakeyouuncomfortable.com