Toronto for All and Combatting Anti-Semitism in the City
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/08/06
Zenia Wadhwani is the Director of Social Policy, Analysis and Research with the City of Toronto’s Social Development, Finance & Administration division. Under her portfolio are files addressing some of the City’s most vulnerable populations, including the Poverty Reduction Office and the Toronto Newcomer Office. Zenia’s career spans all three sectors but in every position, her focus has been on community building and engagement, strategic planning and increasing diversity and inclusion. Prior to the City, she has given her time to Woodbine Entertainment, the Province of Ontario, the Organizing Committee of the 2015 PanAm / ParapanAm Games, CanadaHelps and United Way. Zenia is a children’s picture book author, and lives in Toronto with her family. Here we talk about the Toronto For All campaign from 2022 and its work in fighting anti-Semitism.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Today, we are with Zenia Wadhwani from Toronto for All. We will be doing a retrospective on the campaign against anti-Semitism. First question: What made 2022 a key year in combating anti-Semitism in Toronto?
Zenia Wadhwani: The Toronto for All campaign is a public education initiative about the city taking a stand against various forms of racism and discrimination. It’s a zero-tolerance educational campaign. While we look for specific events in the community or the world that spark a particular campaign, it takes time to develop these initiatives. It’s not necessarily an immediate response when you gather the community; it can take some time to get it out there. With anti-Semitism, we know it is one of the most highly reported hate crimes to the Toronto police. We’ve conducted many campaigns and are currently working on our 15th. We aim to address various communities experiencing hate, and anti-Semitism was one campaign we wanted to pursue to address an ongoing issue in the community.
Jacobsen: What were the main successes of the Toronto for All campaign against anti-Semitism?
Wadhwani: With this campaign, we can look at quantitative measures, such as the number of impressions and engagements on social media. For the anti-Semitism campaign, we had around 124,000 impressions and 3,400 engagements. Those are the quantitative numbers. However, the real success lies in the qualitative aspects. It includes the conversations happening in the community, the community coming together, and individuals who see the campaign and realize it could affect their friend, neighbour, or colleague. These successes are harder to quantify, but placing these ads in prominent spaces like Toronto bus shelters gets much attention. The city making a stand and demonstrating its commitment is a success towards anti-hate and ensuring that people recognize those campaigns. We even see it when we receive emails or comments; people acknowledge the campaign. One of the great successes I’ve loved seeing is other municipalities going, “Wow, this is a pretty great campaign. How do we do this?” Imitation is a great form of flattery, meaning they’re noticing it. They also recognize these issues in their communities and want to replicate them. That’s another big success for us.
Jacobsen: What can others learn from these successes to your point to reduce, at a minimum, the rate of anti-Semitic acts and words and the severity of those instances?
Wadhwani: If you look at the campaign and think about the general public, some get it, those who live that experience every day, and we’re not trying to address them. We’re trying to show them some solidarity and allyship. Some allies understand it and know that we all have a part to play in reducing hate and being allies with each other. Then, to the extreme, some are never going to get it. They will always be the haters, and a campaign ad will not speak to them in any way.
We’re not trying to address those people. However, many others may not realize their actions or inactions contribute to the hate. It’s about reaching those individuals, speaking to them, initiating a conversation, starting a dialogue, or sparking a question for them. Those are the things that can help reduce the hate.
Additionally, people need to think about all kinds of communities experiencing hate. Consider what you have said or not said, what you can learn more about, where to learn more, ensuring your kids learn the right messages, and helping your colleagues. Are there opportunities for greater learning, leveraging days of significance for those things, and speaking up? When you hear or see these things happening around you, are you speaking and saying something? Are you demonstrating your allyship in those ways?
Building understanding and trust between communities, reaching out to the community when something significant happens to show you are aware and caring—these seemingly little acts make all the difference because they build up to the big acts of building community and reducing hate.
Jacobsen: What are some community reactions regarding support when it comes to feedback on the 2022 campaign?
Wadhwani: Many people in the community want to see more of these campaigns. Some communities feel their representation is missing and ask, “What about my community?” There are those experiencing hate who believe the campaign needs to be bigger, bolder, and more prominent. They ask, “What else can we do?” Some don’t understand the campaign and are trying to grasp its purpose. They are unaware of the magnitude of what is happening around them and the lived experiences of those on the receiving end of hate. The community response varies depending on who you talk to, but there is solid support for these ads’ importance, continuation, and expansion of their reach. That’s what we’re working on.
Jacobsen: What dynamics in a large city make combating hate particularly difficult in some ways and easier in others?
Wadhwani: The challenge, for Toronto, is that there’s a lot of messaging and information flowing at people, especially through social media, which is one of the ways we try to get our message out. Getting people’s attention is hard, particularly in a busy city. Additionally, recognizing the limitations of what is essentially an ad campaign is important. While we put resources on our website and work with communities and organizations to spread the word and provide support, there is only so much an ad campaign can do in terms of education and awareness. The campaign’s strength lies in the support and amplification it receives from community, the other initiatives it leverages, and how it reinforces other messages.
It has so much potential, and we’re hearing from other municipalities that they are interested in doing something similar, which shows they see value in it. However, breaking through the noise of all the information to get our message into the right hands takes time and effort.
Jacobsen: Are these relatively inexpensive campaigns?
Wadhwani: The expense varies. Campaigns can range from about $70,000 to $120,000, covering development and printing costs. In some cases, we rely on bus shelter and space given in kind, and we depend on communities to do additional outreach on social media. There’s some social media you can pay for and other aspects you hope will generate organic reach and take off. While it’s not a campaign with big dollars behind it, I come from the nonprofit sector, which understands a zero budget. You get creative and make things work. We’re also trying to do that with this campaign to ensure we’re getting out there. Yes, they can be costly if you have the budget, but we sometimes don’t have that luxury.
Jacobsen: This form of hate is pretty perennial. What would a renewed campaign look like in the future? What improvements or additions could you make, and what would be your dream campaign?
Wadhwani: Oh, wow. One of the things we’re working on right now is, after several campaigns focused specifically on individual communities, we’ve decided to try a campaign that speaks to everyone. We know many groups are experiencing hate and discrimination, so this next campaign is focusing on allyship. It’s bringing all those groups together to say, “Look, when a person hates, they tend not to target just one group. They tend to hate many groups. We’ll be stronger if we band together and support each other.”
I’m working on that dream campaign right now. We’re taking a different approach this year. We’ve engaged more organizations, including the Toronto Public Library and their youth councils. We’re trying new things to reach the community differently. We’re increasing our distribution digitally and in various venues across the city, which had been limited before. We’re working on ideas to get the campaign into the hands of young people, such as through the Toronto Public Library’s youth groups and our recreation facilities.
We’re exploring different venues because young people get it. They resonate with the message and understand its importance faster and more easily than some adults do. While we have many adult allies and friends, the younger generation knows how to take the campaign and make something out of it. So, we’re trying a bit of that dream campaign right now. This is the first year we’re doing some different things, so we’ll see how it goes. The dream evolves based on what happens next.
Jacobsen: How can Torontonians continue to fight against anti-Semitism?
Wadhwani: It goes back to what I discussed earlier: the daily things that happen. It’s not necessarily about a big, bold policy move or program. It’s about the little acts within the community. Recognize who is in your network and who may be experiencing this kind of hate. Understand it, educate yourself, and stand up when you hear something wrong or inappropriate. Be an ally, talk about it, raise the conversation, and don’t be afraid. It can be uncomfortable to have these conversations, but we like to say, “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable,” and take a stand. There are sayings like, “Today it’s one group, and tomorrow it might be the group you’re a part of.” It’s about more than just the morality of being a good citizen, friend, and neighbour. In reality, hate can come to you one day, and you’ll want allies around you. Being one is a good place to start.
Jacobsen: Anyhow, thank you very much for your time today.
Wadhwani: Oh, thank you very much. I appreciate your work on this and getting the message out.
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