Speaking Up and Standing Out: How Matthew Taub Became a Voice for Jewish Advocacy

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Matthew Taub is a leading Toronto-based mindset and addiction recovery optimisation coach, personal trainer, and mental health advocate. But since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, he’s taken up a different kind of advocacy – calling out the constant Jew-hatred, standing up for Israel, and boldly exposing antisemites.

He’s unafraid to speak his mind, taking to task various organisations, city officials, law enforcement, and politicians.

His online activism has gotten the attention of the Dave Matthews Band, major Jewish organisations, followers on different continents, among thousands of others. In one infamous example, now-former York Centre MP Ya’ara Saks sent him a “cease and desist” letter after he held her to account for what he believed was her enabling of Jew-hatred in Canada.

Taub recently gave a deputation on the topic of rising Jew-hatred to the Toronto Police, one of very many in the past year and a half. He spoke of how he was fed up with the antisemitic incidents year over year that have reached a fever pitch.

In recent days, he joined Eglinton-Lawrence MP Vince Gasparro in a private tour of the Nova exhibition in Toronto, and is making tremendous inroads with elected officials to help fight the growing hate against Canada’s Jewish communities.

Freedom to Offend has this Q&A with Toronto-based activist Matthew Taub:

How did you become what you refer to as “the accidental advocate”?

It started when October 7 hit. All that triggered me, emotions, and everything else, but my involvement started when the protesters came to the overpass (Avenue Rd., and Highway 401).

I live a block and a half from there; we could see it from our backyard. That became even more so when they drove through the neighbourhood in a convoy, playing their music and, you know, making a nuisance.

And my kids were terrified. You know, everything they saw on October 7 -- now the same (terrorist) flag from October 7 that was flying in Israel, was flying across their street, in front of their house. I couldn't sleep, and I started looking through all the video footage of who seemed to be the main players of the protests. I also started looking at who they were and what they said online. I made my first police report back in December of 2023.

Then, I started getting more involved by talking to the police. The biggest push came in April 2024 when we had the rally at Nathan Phillips Square, and the protestors were there making horrific comments.

I had a video of one of the guys making awful statements. I called the police the next day, and I said, “You know, this broke some hate speech laws and incitement laws, and can you have somebody give me a call tomorrow so that I can get a police report?” And he did. I had the police report done up to such detail, and this is where the real advocacy started.

That interview with the police went on Tuesday, and they arrested him Thursday morning. That was my first big win.

That then started a better relationship with the police, and I saw them at events or helped them here and there. At the Walk for Israel, they recognised me. Then it branched off into getting more involved, starting to speak at the Police Board. People began to ask me whether they should report this or that. I almost became something of a go-between between police and community.

The more I started doing it, the more I realised that my kids were watching, and you know, they have to see how to stand up to this, and to stand up for being Jewish.

What is your sense of what the Jewish community could be doing?

The community needs to start speaking up more and realising we are alone. We need to be vocal.

Years ago, when my parents were growing up, and even when I was growing up, we were told to keep our heads down. Don't make waves. Do well in school. Make a good living. Don't cause any problems. Don't draw attention to being Jewish. Be a proud Jew. Just don't make waves. And that didn't get us anywhere.

We’re fighting the same fight we fought 80 years ago. Yes, having people on our side will be better, but antisemitism isn't just going to go away. So our community must realise that we must stand up for ourselves and do it ourselves.

What do you think the legacy organisations could be doing better?

I've learned that there's a lot they can do and can’t do. I think a lot of the things, like “anti-Palestinian racism”, they kind of allowed it to happen. There was no pushback from the beginning.

The issue is that they are charities. They're bound by what they can and can't do. They're under complete scrutiny, especially now more than ever. You know, we have the example of the JNF.

The problem is that they're not giving the community any direction. When they talk about getting out the vote, they’re so wishy-washy because they can’t get involved in politics. The grassroots community is so upset by this.

These were great peacetime organisations; unfortunately, we’re no longer in peacetime. The shit hit the fan, and now we're finding out that they were not prepared for any of this.

It tested the grassroots leaders, as they’re not bound to the rules and limitations of the big organisations. That's why the grassroots are so good at what they can do: they can move quicker and just mobilise and go. They don't have to ask for permission.

How did you get involved in the police depositions?

I've been doing this for about seven months, since October 2024. I started by making a social media post on Sunday afternoon, calling out police board members in a video.

Someone else in our community sent me a message saying I shouldn’t email them because they don’t read emails. You have to go to the board meeting in person. He said that you have to register and choose something to talk about.

It’s not open mic, and you can’t just speak about antisemitism, or this or that. So I have to figure out how to pull a thread on it to see if there's something I can speak of.

I became one of the only people who had no problem putting their face out there saying, “This is what the Jewish community needs.” There have been times when I’ve seen police nodding their heads, mouthing the words “he’s right.”

So, how would you describe the police’s responses to your depositions?

I’ve been told that I move the needle, that I’ve been heard, and they’re having conversations about it.

When I first met with the chief a year ago, he made a good statement. So, you know, he didn't realise, after living here his whole life, how deep the antisemitism was, until October 8. He saw hatred’s underbelly.

We see things are changing. Police weren’t aware of many problems before, but are aware of them now. There are ongoing reviews, but police are also frustrated.

They're not making arrests because the Attorney General is not accepting 70% of the hate crimes, so it's challenging. That's why it's taking longer for people to get arrested: They're putting two or three months into these cases. And then the Attorney General knocks it down, and it's a waste of their time. So they're trying, but need to know from above that they will get the support.

In April, a report showed that Toronto Police had billed $20 million over a year for security for various political protests and demonstrations in the city. What did you say on this topic?

I said to them, “You know, we're spending twenty million so people can march around, calling for the death of Jews?!” At a recent screening of a Jewish documentary, we had to pay for our police to protect us from those very people. So we're paying with our taxes, and out of pocket.

It's a police failure that they haven't shut down these protests. We do have the laws to shut down these rallies and protests.

There’s a failure from above. The mayor can't direct the police on what to do, but the Police Board can. The Police Board has the policies, and the mayor has four appointees. They're there to speak up for the mayor.

What has been the response to your Instagram reels?

The outpouring of support. People stop me on the street—sometimes people who don’t know me—and tell me they appreciate what I do. I’m glad I can bring light and tell other people about what’s going on. It starts the conversation. We have to keep those conversations going.

All this activism made us a little more traditional and religious. People ask me, “What should I do if I just feel like I could do more?” I recommended to one person that they could just start off doing a little more for Shabbat dinner. She told me she was a “cultural Jew” and “really don’t do Jewish.” I said, “Why don’t you just light some candles on Friday night?”

She said, "Fine, one candle." I didn’t hear back for a couple of weeks, and she wrote back to tell me that she remembered walking to bed and seeing the candle alone in the dining room. Now they light two each week.

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