Episode 06: Jewish Canada by the Numbers, with Robert Brym

Over the past couple of years, no scholar has tried to understand what makes Canadian Jews tick with greater energy and enthusiasm than the sociologist Robert Brym. Since publishing his groundbreaking post-October 7 report, "Jews and Israel 2024: A Survey of Canadian Attitudes and Jewish Perceptions," in the spring of 2024, Brym has gone on to produce similarly pioneering research on Jewish intermarriage and continuity; visible, Indigenous, and gender minorities within Canadian Jewry; and antisemitism in Ontario's K-12 school system, among other topics. Brym's fascination with the sociology of Canadian Jewry dates back decades, and for his larger body of work the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies awarded him its Louis Rosenberg Distinguished Service Award in 2025. In this episode, Brym reflects on his recent findings with host Jonathan Slater while looking ahead to even more vital contributions, including a study on Jewish voting patterns in the 2025 Canadian federal election, coming out in the months ahead.  Please visit the website of the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies to learn more about its work, how it supports the research and study of Canadian Jewish life, and how you can contribute. The entire catalogue of Canadian Jewish Studies / Études juives canadiennes, an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal devoted to original scholarship that illuminates any and all aspects of the Canadian Jewish experience, is free to read online. The Association for Canadian Jewish Studies is based at the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at York University, in Toronto, ON.  For updates on the goings-on of the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies and Canadian Jewish Studies, sign-up for the ACJS's newsletter. If you have comments or thoughts about our podcast, please email us at [email protected].