This article originally appeared in the Toronto Sun.
By Jay Rosenzweig and Kevin Vuong, November 10, 2025
True allyship is not tested when it’s easy to stand together, but when it’s hard. The measure of a real friend is whether they show up in difficult times.
That lesson runs deep in the histories of both Canada’s Jewish and Chinese communities — and it must guide us today.
On the heels of a dramatic escalation in violence on Nov. 5 of pro-Palestinian protesters forcing entry into a private Toronto venue and attacking Jews, leaving one guest injured by shattered glass and several students hospitalized, and synagogue Kehillat Shaarei Torah being vandalized a tenth time in 18 months, it is worth reminding Canadians of a forgotten chapter when it was not Jews but another community being targeted.
A century ago, being Chinese in Canada meant exclusion. The 1923 Chinese Immigration Act — more commonly known as the Chinese Exclusion Act — enshrined discrimination into law. Chinese Canadians were forced to register with the government or risk fines, detainment or deportation.
Jewish lawyer helped repeal Exclusion Act
In that era, many looked away. But Jewish Canadian lawyer Irving Himel did not. Alongside Kew Dock Yip, Canada’s first lawyer of Asian heritage, he played a pivotal role in the campaign that repealed the Exclusion Act in 1947. Their courage reminds us that solidarity is not an abstract concept. It is lived through acts of allyship across communities.
Another shared chapter in our histories can be found in how both communities responded to exclusion by building institutions that served not only their own people, but ultimately all Canadians. Confronted with barriers to medical care, Jewish and Chinese Canadians established hospitals born of necessity yet guided by purpose — Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto and the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal within the Jewish community, and the Montreal Chinese Hospital and early community medical centres in Vancouver within the Chinese community.
What began as a response to discrimination evolved into enduring institutions that continue to strengthen Canada’s health-care system today.
Today, the challenges are different, but the principle is the same.
In recent years, Canada’s Chinese community faced a surge of anti-Asian hate, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Canada’s Jewish community has confronted a sharp rise in antisemitism, intensified in the wake of October 7.
Not alone when facing threats of hate
Neither community can — or should — face these threats alone. Just as Himel and Yip stood together in the 1940s, we must recommit to that same spirit of solidarity now.
Bridge-building is never easy. It requires humility, courage and the willingness to see beyond our own struggles to recognize the struggles of others. Both Jewish and Chinese Canadians have known what it means to be singled out. Both have contributed immeasurably to Canada’s progress.
Allyship cannot be conditional. It cannot wait for convenience. It must be chosen precisely when it is hardest — when the temptation is to retreat into our own silos. That is the moment when solidarity matters most.
We write this together as members of two communities that have known exclusion and persecution, and answered with resilience. Our message is simple: Canada is stronger when we stand together.
Let us honour the legacy of Himel and Yip by renewing the bonds of friendship between our communities. Let us teach the next generation that Jewish and Chinese Canadians are not separate stories, but chapters in a shared story of courage, perseverance and responsibility to one another.
Because true allyship — the kind that changes history — is not forged in comfort. It is forged in challenge.
Jay Rosenzweig is CEO of Rosenzweig & Company, a leadership advisory firm, author of the Annual Rosenzweig Report on Women, and Board Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, dedicated to pursuing justice through the protection and promotion of basic human rights wherever they are threatened around the globe.
Kevin Vuong is the former Member of Parliament for Toronto’s Spadina-Fort York, he continues his public service as a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and as an entrepreneur and investor
