As the central organizing body for the Edmonton Jewish community, the Jewish Federation of Edmonton has always been concerned with community safety, but our role has significantly expanded in recent years with the increase of antisemitic incidents and violent hate crimes worldwide, even close to home. We work tirelessly to strengthen and streamline security protocols and infrastructure for local Jewish schools, synagogues, agencies and institutions. By doing so, we ensure that security stays at the forefront of each organization’s decision-making.

Our Mission

Is to create a culture of Security within the Edmonton Jewish community. We will accomplish this through communication, awareness, training and routine exercises. Our efforts will standardize a security program throughout the community.

What We Do 

The Jewish Federation of Edmonton has joined the National Community Security Program Initiative, the only national Jewish security apparatus under the auspices of The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, to develop a plan to make our community safer and to ensure the Edmonton Jewish community is prepared, in a proactive manner, to handle security issues within our community.

The Community Security Program (Edmonton), staffed by a full-time Director of Security, is charged with convening, preparing and equipping Jewish organizations with the information and trainings needed to be secure. The Director of Community Security will focus on four priorities:

• Implementing a community-wide communications platform to ensure timely critical responses to security incidents.

• Developing, convening and implementing a continuous training plan to ensure the safety and readiness of Jewish organizations.

• Assessing and providing recommendations to Jewish organizations about best practices related to their physical spaces including potential improvements to be more secure.

• Working to commissary security needs to reduce cost and/or increase quality of hired security personnel and equipment.

Security Measures to Date

✓ Assessed the baseline needs of our local Jewish institutions.

✓ Conducted security awareness and preparedness trainings for community members, organizations and synagogues.

✓ Allocated supplementary funding to local organizations to provide enhanced security.

Organizational Security

Faith-based and nongovernmental organizations extend far beyond faith, spiritual care, health and human services; they are an important component of our collective and cooperative effort. They own and operate infrastructure that remains vulnerable to attack. During times of crisis and other security events, it is neighborhood congregations, community organizations-the very fabric of Canada that are best positioned to become critical partners in local national security initiatives.

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