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Rochelle Wilner |
Frank Dimant |
Prof. Stephen Scheinberg |
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Rochelle Wilner |
Frank Dimant |
Prof. Stephen Scheinberg |
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Reprinted from Canadian Social Studies, Summer 1995, Volume 29, Number 4, pp. 143-146 (Special Issue on the Holocaust)
The catalyst for Canadian anti-hate Legislation was undoubtedly the Holocaust. It showed the world that unchecked racism and hate propaganda could lead even a highly educated and cultured society to justisfy the most heinous crimes against humanity. To counteract the recent rise in racism, anti-semitism, and hate crimes in Canada today, it is essential to recognize and report all incidents. To combat racism and bigotry and to promote human rights for all Canadians, it is necessary to use the three most important tools we have: the law, community action, and education. This article describes some of the current realities and remedies in the struggle against racism and hate in Canada, stressing the importance of protection, prevention, and partnerships.
The goal of inclusive education and quest for equality and justice involves us in the struggle against racism and bigotry and the obligation and responsibility to promote human rights for all Canadians. However, a necessary first step in achieving human rights for all is for Canadians to become aware of and come to terms with the extent of racism and the promotion of hatred in this country. Only through awareness and acceptance of the realities will we be able to mobilize the energy and resources necessary for the remedies.
The goal of hate propaganda and hate mongers is to portray a group as inferior, even less than human, undermining the norms and values of a society by potentially taking control of the culture through power or sheer numbers. The targets of hatred are the objects of prejudice and stereotyping, often characterized as taking advantage of the rest of society and a threat that ought to be removed. People are most receptive to hate mongering when they are looking for someone to blame for their problems so that they can feel better about themselves. Difficult economic times inevitably lead to this pattern of scapegoating, and any identifiable minority group is at risk.
Throughout the history of the Western World, Jews have been the traditional scapegoat, and antisemitism can be considered the prototype of racism. Denied citizenship, the vote, land ownership, housing and employment, historically Jews have been blamed for the Plague, for partnerships with the devil, and for every form of economic, social, and political upheaval. The proliferation of hate propaganda was usually the prelude to pogroms or expulsions. The most dramatic example of the impact of hate propaganda was, of course, the Holocaust. The Nazi promotion of hatred against the Jews and other minority groups was so successful that many peoples across Europe participated in the Nazi attempt to systematically murder them.
Another goal of hate mongers is to instill fear or terror in their victims. Attacks are often particularly vicious, leaving entire communities feeling vulnerable and isolated. Hate propaganda can lead to a negative self-image in group members, and self-doubt, even to the point of self-hatred and a feeling of worthlessness. Individuals may try to assimilate or disappear as an identifiable group; but hate mongers would suggest that this is impossible. According to avowed racists and white supremacists, the minority traits remain as a contaminant of the society or pure race, and must therefore be eliminated to whatever extent possible. How well individuals and groups can tolerate such abuse depends on the strength of one’s ego defence mechanisms, group support, and experience. But the effect of singling out the group from the rest of society achieves the hate monger’s goal, regardless of the personal effects on the group and its members. As Ian Kagedan (1991) has pointed out, even when the audience is unreceptive, hate propaganda can do damage in that it plays on people’s doubts and fears, and feeds on misconceptions, increasing barriers to understanding.
Hate propaganda contributes to disunity in society, compromises democratic values, and maintains inequality and oppression. It is ironic that hate propagandists are among the most outspoken advocates of free speech, when they use that freedom to deny others their freedoms. The Holocaust did not start with guns and gas chambers. It started with words and propaganda. Canada learned this lesson of the Holocaust, so that in this country hate propaganda is NOT a free speech issue. It is the promotion of hatred against an identifiable group, and in Canada it is against the law.
It has been well-documented that racism and hate propaganda have long been part of the Canadian experience. Early European settlers promoted ideas that aboriginal peoples were less human than the colonizers, thereby excusing the abuses they perpetrated on the First Nations, some of which continue to this day. The unchecked campaign of dehumanization was so effective as to have allowed abuses to go unpunished and also to have resulted In low self-esteem and despair leading to high rates of suicide within many aboriginal communities.
ln addition to continued promotion of hatred against the First Nations peoples, there is evidence of rampant antisemitism in the early days of Canada. Regular attacks on Judaism and the Jewish community appeared in Semaine religiuse de Quebec and other religious publications; and the infamous antisemitic forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, was promoted by various religious leaders in Canada. From 1910 through the 1940s, prominent Canadian names like Edouard Plamandon, Adrian Arcand, Goldwin Smith, Henri Bourassa, and Mackenzie King were associated with virulent antisemitism, from justifying Russian pogroms against the Jews, to openly praising Hitler’s charismatic leadership, and denying safety in Canada to Jews who were fleeing Nazi persecution. During this period many other minority groups were also victimized by hate propaganda, most notably the Sikhs and Chinese.
Canada also witnessed the rise of hate groups during the pre-war years. According to Stanley Barrett’s definitive source, Is God a Racist? (1987), the 1920s and 30s saw the development of the Ku Klux Klan and the roots of the Western Guard and Aryan Nations. Such groups promoted hatred against Catholics, blacks, and Jews; and it was not uncommon in those days to see signs along the beaches or other "restricted" areas in Toronto or Montreal that read “No Jews or Dogs Allowed.”
There was a post-war decline in overt racism and antisemitism. However, with the increases in immigration, and the reduction of systemic racism in the immigration regulations, and the development of the multiculturalism and bilingualism policies, we have witnessed an upsurge in hate group activity and hate propaganda. Warren Kinsella’s recent book, Web of Hate (1993), describes the rise of organized hate group activity in Canada. Recently the Klan has been implicated in the anti-Mohawk agitating in Quebec; Klan propaganda has been distributed in Ontario and in some Montreal schools and the Eastern Townships; anti-immigration white supremacist telephone "hate lines" have attracted attention in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Toronto; racist skinheads have rallied regularly and have been implicated in and/or convicted of a number of racially motivated crimes; there have been various KKK style cross-burnings and Holocaust denial has increased as a new form of antisemitism in schools and public venues across the country, along with active recruitment of young people in high schools and campuses to the racist cause. In recent years, hate groups have become bolder, coming out of the closet and onto the streets. In 1994, they even came right into our schools and homes and onto our computers, as the spread of hate propaganda increases steadily on computer bulletin boards and the Internet.
The League for Human Rights has been documenting reported incidents of antisemitism in Canada since 1982. In the last six years, we have recorded a steady increase in reported cases of antisemitic vandalism and harassment, correlated with the recession, such that the 1994 data revealed a total at 290 incIdents. This represents a 11.7 percent increase over 1993, and the highest number of incidents ever recorded by the League in the 13 years of documentation. Our annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents serves as a barometer of racism in Canada. Members of the black, Chinese, and South Asian communities report their perception that there is indeed an increase in racism. Recent statistics from police Hate Crimes Units (In Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Winnipeg) as well as cases in the Human Rights Commissions, the courts, and reports from various multicultural and anti-racist organizations and networks corroborate our findings. *
The League for Human Rights believes that there is not just one way to combat hatred in this country, but that we can and should use many strategies to fight racism and antisemitism. It has been our experience that no one group can do it all, and that a co-ordinated effort on several fronts, using all the tools we have available, is the most effective way to ensure the struggle against hate will be won in Canada. This work must be about protection, partnerships, and prevention, not competition, contention, and controversy. In this, our three most powerful tools are the law, community action, and education.
Hate propaganda, the promotion of hatred against identifiable groups, became a criminal offense in Canada in 1970, when the laws were adopted as amendments to the Criminal Code (Sections 318-20). That some year, Canada ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which had been adopted by the UN in 1965, and signed by Canada in 1966. The Canadian Human Rights Act and various provincial human rights acts also address the issue of hate propaganda. While the League and several other organizations, and many studies and commissions have proposed changes to strengthen the effectiveness of the existing legislation (a summary and analysis of whlch are beyond the scope of the present article), there is almost universal agreement on the need for effective laws to deal with hate propaganda. The catalyst for such legislation was undoubtedly the experience of Nazism. It showed the world that unchecked racism and hate propaganda could lead democracy to self-destruct and could lead even a highly educated and cultured society to justify the most heinous crimes against humanity.
The Canadian anti-hate laws in the Criminal Code are the results of years of debate concerning the balance between individual and group rights. The premise underlying Canada’s hate propaganda laws is that in a democratic society, identifiable groups must be protected against racism, including its verbal manifestation, so as not to limit their basic freedoms and thereby their full participation in Canadian society. This notion is not only consistent with our international obligation under the Convention, but is based on a vision of our society which is also at the basis of the concept of muluculturalism and is entrenched in the Canadian Bill of RIghts (1960) and articulated clearly in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1987) sections I5 and 27. Keegstra in Alberta and Andrews and Smith in Ontario were charged and convicted under the hate propaganda laws, but the respective provincial Courts of Appeal reached opposite conclusions on the constitutionality of the section 3l9(2). The League for Human Rights was relieved that the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the hate propaganda legislation, albeit by the narrowest majority. Concern for the values inherent in the equality and multiculturalism sections of the Charter, as well as a strong position on the international agreements to which Canada is a signatory, played a significant role in that decision, a significant decision that underscored the delicate balance of individual and group rights that must be preserved to maintain a free and democratic Canadian society.
There are those who insist that taking hate mongers to court allows them a platform to spout their racist ideology, and so there are some who discourage publicity and prosecutions. Such detractors need to be reminded that pre-Nazi Germany had hate laws on the books that were not implemented with effective penalties. So hate propaganda proliferated without deterrent, and the world witnessed the results of the worst explosion of racism in the Western World. It is essential to continue to prosecute hate mongers and to impose penalties that will serve as deterrents. When the Alberta Court of Appeal overturned the Keegstra decision, we witnessed a dramatic increase in hate group activity and the dissemination of hate propaganda in Western Canada. However, we are convinced that a recent decline in the severity of antisemitic incidents is a direct result of the Supreme Court’s decision, increased awareness and vigilance of police hate crimes units, and longer sentences for those convicted than was previously the case.
Another aspect of protection is to ensure that appropriate security measures are implemented in schools and communities, in consultation with police, and to encourage that all incidents and suspicious activity is reported to the appropriate school authorities, community leaders and/or personnel. Concerned citizens need to trust that something will be done, not that the victim will be blamed or that the authorities look the other way.
Not only does the League encourage legal action to combat hate and hate propaganda, but during recent years we have demonstrated that co-ordinared community response is effective In fighting racism. In 1989, the first Canada Day Aryan Fest took place in Minden, Ontario. The citizens of Minden stood up against racism with an anti-racist campaign spearheaded by the local newspaper editor and United Church minister, in collaboration with the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada who rallied in support of the citizens of Minden, with the supervision of the local police. The League assisted the residents to create a Human Rights committee to develop local policies and guidelines to combat hate mongering in the future.
A year later, the 1990 Canada Day Aryan Fest attracted close to 250 skinheads and white supremacists to Metcalfe, Ontario, near Ottawa. The League gathered a multicultural coalition of concerned citizens to rally against racism and the distribution of hate propaganda. Once again, the police monitored the comings and goings of the racists, and our presence was felt. Because of the adverse publicity, the property owners did not allow the white supremacists to return the following year. Instead, the League for Human Rights sponsored a Multicultural Anti-racist Youth Leadership Camp, and made anti-racism, rather than racism, newsworthy. Young people learned what to do to stand up against racism in their schools and communities, and where to get support from police, government, and community organizations to combat hate group activity.
When the Heritage Front opened an anti-immigration "hate-line" that included racist diatribes against the black and Native communities in Toronto, the League responded to a request for help by assisting to file a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission (similar to the successful complaint filed by the League against the KKK (in Winnipeg). And when the Heritage Front pamphleteered the Riverdale community, we put a group of concerned citizens in touch with the police, the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, the Native Canadian Centre, and others who wished to take action. The Neighbourhood Watch then issued a counter-pamphlet, advising their neighbours to report any suspicious people, and to take action against the recruitment, particularly of young people. An ad hoc working group, calling themselves Citizens Against Racism, met regularly and planned a "Rally Against Racism" to commemorate March 21st, the International Day for the Elimination of Racism, and a rainbow coalition of speakers including the First Nations, black, Chinese, Jewish, and Sikh communities, exemplified the motto on the B’nai Brith banner: We will not be silent!
Community action and coalition building can draw attention to the issues and strengthen the cause. But it is essential that we assist the young people to develop activist strategies within the law. There has been a recent tendency for some anti-racist activists to turn to violence and to what is no better than gang street fighting to combat racism. The Human Rights Youth League brings young people from diverse backgrounds together to develop constructive, non-violent, lawful methods of countering racist and hate group activity in their schools and neighbourhoods. Co-ordinated community action nor only raises awareness and increases vigilance, but it also reduces fear and promotes security and solidarity in the fight against racism. When people from diverse backgrounds work together, they also learn more about each other, thereby reducing prejudice and stereotyping and promoting understanding and unity.
The battle against racism and hate propaganda will ultimateLy be won through increased efforts to incorporate multicultural, anti-racist, and human rights education in our schools, and to start as early as possible. Many school boards have race and ethnocultural equity policies on the books, but lack of in-service training of teachers and administrators often leaves staff powerless in knowing how to handle incidents when they occur, and may even result in staffs being more part of the problem than part of the solution.
It is important to remember that perpetrators often feel themselves to be victims, too. Students who are vulnerable to hate group recruitment usually have low self-esteem, may be marginalized from social groups at school, and feel hopeless about the future. They are looking for someone else to blame for their problems, at the same time as they are looking for acceptance, belonging, and a sense of purpose. They do not know history, so they have nothing to refute the propaganda and conspiracy theories they are fed by the hate mongers. They have no knowledge or understanding of human rights, immigration, or race relations, so they willingly accept the angry rhetoric of racist rock music, "Equal Rights for Whites," and the backlash against multiculturalism and equity initiatives. They are soon drawn in by charismatic older leaders, usually with the soft sell at first, but ultimately to abusive, violent neo-Nazi ideology and methods. Parents and teachers must be alert to the signs of hate group recruitment in order to counteract their insidious effects.
There is a need for education and awareness at every level of the system, from early childhood through post-secondary, from federations to the ministries and departments of education. We must move from students being victims and perpetrators of name-calling and harassment, to being confident to take risks to stand up to racism when they are victims or bystanders. We must give teachers the skills to handle incidents and to develop curriculum that is both proactive and anti-racist. We must turn Holocaust denial into Holocaust education, and cries of “reverse discrimination” into advocacy for employment and educational equity — all for the sake of our children and for the future of Canada.
Through our human rights and anti-racist workshops, the League has seen children’s behaviour change. Through our Student Human Rights Achievement Awards we have seen what they are capable of understanding. And we have seen wonderful leadership of dedicated principals and teachers. We have also witnessed tremendous resistance and backlash. We have a long way to go.
As we commemorate 50 years since the end of WWII, let us look back to our own past and to world history to see how far we have come. Because of our laws and our codes, the restrictive signs on the beaches are gone. Because of our commitment to a multicultural Canada, communities are working together to fight racism. I am optimistic we will achieve our goals of combatting hatred and bigotry aned achieving human rights for all, because of our commitment to democracy, equality, and social justice, and because of our shared vision of what it means to be a Canadian.
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