
Rochelle Wilner President	Frank Dimant Chief Executive Officer	Prof. Stephen Scheinberg National Chair	Ruth Klein National Director of Advocacy

1996 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents

ANTI-SEMITISM IN CANADA — CURRENT CLIMATE AND TRENDS

Highlights of Issues and Trends

As in past years, several trends in hate activity and anti-Semitism can be discerned from the statistical data. Two provinces worthy of highlighting are British Columbia and Quebec. B.C. has seen an increase in organised hate group activity, especially after several eastern-based hate mongers sought “greener pastures” in the west. Since the referendum last year, the political climate in Quebec continues to cause deep anxiety within the Quebec Jewish community. Another issue worth noting is that despite a decline in most right-wing groups, there has been an upsurge in the growth of the Polish skinhead movement. A number of reported incidents of hate and anti-Semitism on college and university campuses indicates that this remains an important issue to be addressed. Finally, anti-Semitism continues to be fueled by blatant anti-Semitic slurs and rhetoric in several so-called “ethnic” newspapers in Canada.

The Climate in British Columbia

Overt anti-Semitism and racism appeared to have increased in British Columbia in 1996. The circle which includes Doug Christie, Eileen Pressler, Paul Fromm, Ron Gostick, Ernst Zundel, Tony McAleer, Bernard Klatt, and Glen Kealey continues to hold and attend meetings in various parts of the province.

Several important meetings of known racists and anti-Semites were held during the past year in B.C. The “Second Canadian Free Speech Conference” met in Surrey on March 23^rd; the “Canadian Free Speech League” conference took place on October 26^th, in Victoria; the Canadian League of Rights “Third Option” scheduled a conference for October 18-19 in Edmonton, but this was later moved to Leduc, B.C. The hotel in Edmonton cancelled the conference after being advised “that the main speakers are well known promoters of anti-Semitism and racism.” Speakers at these meetings included most of the individuals listed above as well as speakers from the Heritage Front (e.g., Steve Dumas).

With Charles Scott’s move to the Creston-Yahk area at the end of 1995, 1996 became a year of intense white supremacist Christian Identity activity and recruiting in the Kootenays. The Canadian League of Rights also met repeatedly in the Kootenays, holding nine meetings in as many days in Crescent Valley, Creston, Trail, Slocan City, Nakusp, Cranbrook, Meadow Creek, Nelson, and New Denver.

A cache of militia weapons and Christian Identity literature was found in Smithers, B.C. during the summer, and reported by the RCMP in October, suggesting a probable pathway of safe houses for adherents to the U.S. militia movement in B.C. and across the Canadian West.

In Victoria, a mixed message was sent to those groups, who might want to use public facilities to hold meetings to promote their racist hate causes. While the Victoria city councillors agreed to restrict hate groups from using public facilities, the Victoria Public Library voted against such a measure. The issue arose when anti-racist activists and the local B’nai Brith Canada lodge learned that Doug Christie’s Free Speech League was holding meetings at the Victoria Public Library. The objection was raised that their presence created a poisoned environment for other users of the library, including Holocaust survivors and various visible minority groups.

The Climate in Quebec

The year 1996 was distressing for the Jewish community in post-referendum Quebec. On October 30, 1995 the Quebec population voted by a very narrow margin not to separate from Canada. Following the infamous referendum night remarks of former Premier Jacques Parizeau — blaming the sovereignist defeat on “money and the ethnic vote,” long-time separatist hard-liner Pierre Bourgault called the Jewish, Italian and Greek communities racist for their block vote against Quebec sovereignty.

Against the backdrop of this tense post-referendum atmosphere, in 1996 there were a number of high profile incidents involving the Jewish community of Quebec in one way or another. When analyzed individually, most may seem to be isolated cases. When combined, one cannot ignore the perception of a pattern that has emerged — and many have concluded that anti-Semitic demons from Quebec’s past history have been reawakened.

In March, the community was in an uproar as Quebec’s language watchdog, l’Office de la langue française, urged some stores to remove imported Kosher for Passover products from their shelves because they did not have labels in French. Despite the fact that l’Office eventually reached a deal exempting the limited Kosher for Passover products from labeling requirements, many Jews felt that their community was being unfairly targeted. This feeling was reinforced by the decision of l’Office shortly thereafter to pursue Schwartz’ delicatessen for minor sign law violations. While Schwartz’ delicatessen is no longer Jewish-owned, it is still perceived to be a Jewish institution.

During the summer, senior Radio Canada reporter Normand Lester caused a stir with his claim that he could not be treated in French at the Jewish General Hospital. The isolated case of one nurse who was led to believe that Mr. Lester was English speaking and apparently insisted that he speak English, became front-page news in the French media. An episode such as this sends out a very negative and false signal to the francophone majority about the attitude of the Jewish community. The Jewish General Hospital is a fully bilingual institution, and has served the Quebec population admirably for over half a century.

Much was also made last summer of the religious background of English rights activist Howard Galganov. In an apparent attempt to slur him, La Presse journalist Gilles Paquin established an irrelevant link between Galganov’s recent political campaign and his participation in a Jewish Defense League activity over 20 years ago. The JDL organization today is considered by many to be racist and it is banned in Israel. Bloc Quebecois leader Michel Gauthier and columnists Pierre Bourgault and Michel Vastel called on the Jewish community to dissociate itself from Galganov, thus exhibiting the intolerant, misguided view that the man’s political ideology was related in some form to his religion.

In September, concern reached its apex on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year on the Jewish calendar, when convicted FLQ terrorist Raymond Villeneuve, in a newsletter entitled La Tempête (the Storm), denounced English speaking Montreal Jews for their long standing opposition to Quebec separation and warned that Jews could face confrontation if they continued to oppose separation. “If there is trouble after Quebec becomes independent, nationalists will remember who was against them.” In a subsequent radio interview he spoke of intimidation and even Molotov cocktails.

The Jean-Louis Roux affair and its troubling aftermath erupted later that year. It was disclosed that Quebec’s Lieutenant Governor had drawn a swastika on his University lab coat during the Second World War and participated in an anti-conscription demonstration that eventually degenerated into a riot where storefronts of Jewish merchants were smashed. Sovereignists called for the immediate resignation of Roux who is a committed federalist. Both Canadian Jewish Congress and B’nai Brith Canada asked for an explanation and apology. Roux opted to resign before meeting with Jewish community leaders where he offered an apology. Some members of the French media irresponsibly laid blame on the Jewish community for Roux’s resignation, most notably Pierre Foglia of La Presse who wrote a cynical and inaccurate portrait of the community’s involvement in the Roux affair. Jewish community organizations, which he maliciously called “le Grand Tribunal Permanent de l’Antisemitisme” did not call for Roux to resign. Foglia’s column prompted numerous anti-Semitic hate messages, many quoting him. This episode presents us with an illustration of how careless misinformation can be used by people with an anti-Semitic or racist inclination to justify and to bolster their own hatred. It also aided in unleashing a great deal of antagonism and name-calling, which compromises relations between the francophone majority of Quebec and the Jewish community.

The Roux affair reopened important debate about Quebec’s anti-Semitic past. B’nai Brith Canada sees this as a positive opportunity to confront a very dark period in the province’s history and by so doing, to illustrate how this is in contrast to the Quebec of today. In that vein, late in the year, B’nai Brith Canada made a request of the Montreal Urban Community Transit Corporation (MUCTC) to have the name of the Lionel Groulx metro station changed. The late cleric Groulx had published extensive anti-Semitic and xenophobic writings. The removal of his name from this very public landmark would send a very powerful message to Quebec’s ethno-cultural minorities. To date, the MUCTC has refused to consider changing the name, but B’nai Brith will pursue the matter further.

Reacting to the approach taken by B’nai Brith, Le Soleil columnist Michel Vastel outrageously ranted in a radio interview that the Jews should apologize to Christians for crucifying Jesus Christ. The charge of Jews as “Christ killers” has sent millions of Jews to their deaths through the ages. This myth has been denounced by Vatican II. B’nai Brith Canada called on all Quebecers to condemn Vastel’s remarks.

There were some positive signs in 1996 in that mainstream francophone opinion leaders denounced the likes of Villeneuve and the zeal of l’Office de la langue française. The Canadian Judicial Council in 1996 recommended that Justice Jean Bienvenue be removed from the bench for his insensitive remarks diminishing the suffering of Jews in the Holocaust. In March, B’nai Brith officials accepted the invitation of Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard to attend his speech at the Centaur Theatre, yet were disappointed that his government followed up that meeting with Bill 40, an initiative to reincarnate the Commission de la protection de la langue française, “Quebec’s language police.” However, later in the year there was another positive sign as the governing Parti Quebecois officially abandoned its policy of French unilingualism on outdoor commercial signs, which had been deemed a violation of freedom of expression guarantees in both the Canadian and Quebec Charters of Rights and Freedoms. The adoption of Bill 40 was also put on hold. Although these were all seen as steps in the right direction, many are skeptical and believe that these political maneuvers were for political expediency only.

Fortunately, despite the heated rhetoric and emotion in 1996, there was no appreciable link to a rise in actual anti-Semitic incidents, compared with previous years. However, there remains an undercurrent of suspicion that if emotions really begin to heat up again, there will be genuine cause for concern by the Jewish community of a renewed wave of anti-Semitic sentiment.

Polish Skinheads (Polskas)

In the midst of a general decline in skinhead activity in Canada, there has been a rise in activity amongst Polish skinheads or “Polskas in Toronto.” It is estimated that there are approximately 80-100 Polskas in the Metro area. Their ages range from fifteen to late thirties. Recruitment by Polish skinheads is aggressive and new Polish immigrants to Canada are heavily targeted. Some young Polish immigrants maybe susceptible to recruitment as they are in a new country and are often seeking cultural, social and linguistic links with other Poles. In addition, new immigrants who arrive from Poland, which is a particularly homogeneous society, maybe overwhelmed by Canada’s cultural diversity and may find it difficult to socialize and to relate to other ethnic Canadians. It is reported that the Polish skinheads, who are well organized, generally hang-out in the west part of Toronto in the Bloor and Jane Street area, Roncesvalles Avenue, Lakeshore Boulevard, and the Islington-Kipling area.

The Polish skinhead movement in Canada is intricately linked to the flourishing skinhead movement in Poland, where there are a large number of neo-Nazi skinhead bands, such as Konkwista 88, Sztorm 68, and Deportacja. In addition, there are a large number of fan magazines (fanzines) for these bands, such as Falanga Iskra and Odlam Skiny full of anti-Semitic images and lyrics. Many of the Polish language neo-Nazi records and fanzines, such as the skinhead magazine Szcczerbiec, have been imported to Canada. Local Canadian Polish newspapers, as described below, also fuel their anti-Semitism.

Recently, there have been approximately ten reported incidents involving Polish skinheads in Toronto. In one incident reported to police, Polish skinheads brazenly attacked several Black individuals in the Toronto Lakeshore area. The three skinheads were charged with assault with a weapon. In another incident, a group of Polish skinheads marched through a schoolyard intimidating other students and teachers. The impetus of the march was a dispute between Polish and Portuguese youth attending that school.

The Climate on Campus

University and college campuses are often viewed as islands of tranquillity and reflection, of academic debate and civil discourse. However, campuses are also apparently hot beds of hate incidents and anti-Semitism. The League has recorded a proliferation of incidents in the campus environment in the last few years. Outside of the large urban universities, Jewish students feel particularly vulnerable to anti-Semitic incidents because of the lack of Jewish institutions there to assist them. Requests for assistance have come from Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Toronto, Kingston, Montreal and Halifax.

During 1996, there were a variety of reported incidents of anti-Semitism at campuses across the country, but the types of incidents have varied greatly. In Halifax, a woman at Dalhousie University reported being harassed by a fellow classmate over her decision to convert to Judaism. At both McMaster (Hamilton) and Western (London) Universities in Ontario, there were several reported incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti in the residences. Another persistent problem found on university campuses is anti-Semitism in the form of exaggerated anti-Zionism. At both the University of Toronto and the University of Calgary there were reported incidents of anti-Israel posters that contained anti-Jewish themes. Several universities reported that swastikas were drawn on the posters of Jewish student clubs, and Jewish campus groups received several threatening and harassing phone calls, particularly during Israel week.

Dealing with anti-Semitic incidents on campus is problematic. At most universities, Hillel or the Jewish Student Unions are commonly the groups that deal with incidents. Unfortunately, these groups are usually ill equipped to deal with anti-Semitic incidents due to lack of training, not knowing to whom to report such incidents, and because of the usual high turnover of individuals in student governments. The League has prepared and distributed Anti-Semitism on Campus — A Handbook for Student Action to assist groups in countering anti-Semitism constructively and practically. The League has also made Jewish campus groups aware of its hotline (1-800-892-BNAI) to report and seek assistance in handling anti-Semitic incidents.

Anti-Semitism and the Ethnic Press

Due to the large number of immigrants to Canada and the federal government’s policies of promoting multiculturalism, Canada has a large and flourishing ethnic media (radio, TV and print). During 1996, there were several reported incidents of anti-Semitism in various ethnic language newspapers, in particular the Arabic and Polish press. All the reported incidents came from readers who speak the languages in which the papers were written. Complaints were also received from people who had read various issues of The Final Call, the newspaper of the U.S. based Nation of Islam (NOI).

Tracking and responding to anti-Semitism in the ethnic press is difficult for two reasons. First, the ethnic press is not as systematically monitored as is the English or French language media because of lack of easy accessibility. Therefore B’nai Brith relies largely on individual complainants calling in to report and to translate. Secondly, those reading or writing for the ethnic press are not always sensitive to anti-Semitism and therefore do not necessarily note instances of anti-Semitism.

Generally, there are two types of anti-Semitism found in the ethnic media — deliberate and non-deliberate. The deliberate type is characterized by anti-Jewish stereotypes, anti-Israel rhetoric used to disguise anti-Semitism, Jewish conspiracy theories, and Holocaust denial. An example of this type of article was published in the Polish newspaper Glos Polski in September 1995. The article titled “Do the Jews Rule the World,” is about Jewish domination of both capitalism and communism. The article was featured with a cartoon depicting two hooked nose figures wearing pointed hats decorated with Stars of David, dropping humans in a boiling cauldron. Both the article and the cartoon were reminiscent of Nazi propaganda. Another example of deliberate and vicious anti-Semitism appeared in the May 4, 1995 edition of the newspaper Gazeta in the form of a lengthy letter-to-the-editor. Henryk Dambrowski, the author of the letter, in a short treatise on Jewish economic dominance, writes “every now and then, the Canadian economy is driven artificially, this has been going on for dozens of years now, and Jews are the main engine. They never do anything with their own money, but always with ours or the government’s.” Several such letters appeared in 1996 on the editorial pages.

A frequent complaint about the Arabic media is the use of anti-Israel or anti-Zionist rhetoric as a disguise for anti-Semitism. While criticism of Israel and its policies may be legitimate, the Arabic media often depicts Israelis as Nazis and the policies of Israel as akin to those of Nazi Germany. A poem in the May 15, 1996 edition of Al-Miraat compares Israel’s occupation of the security zone in southern Lebanon to German occupation of Nazi conquered Europe.

Another troubling source of anti-Semitism in the media has been the Nation of Islam’s (NOI) newspaper the Final Call. The paper’s intense and negative coverage of Israel and Jewish affairs underscores the NOI and Louis Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic agenda. There are few editions that do not have articles discussing Jewish/Israeli related issues. For example, in October 1996 there were several articles critical of Jews and Israel including articles dealing with Israel’s “theft of Arab lands;” Jews “arrogant view of themselves” as the (Chosen People); and the refusal by Jewish leaders in the United states to meet with Farrakhan. Overall, the paper creates a negative image of Jews and promotes disharmony and even hostility between Blacks and Jews.

The non-deliberate forms of anti-Semitism found in the ethnic media are generally of Jewish stereotyping. For example, there are many occasions when such notions as Jewish power and wealth are propagated as truisms in the ethnic media. Often these stereotypes are used in a seemingly positive manner, but they are nevertheless injurious and false.

Addressing anti-Semitism in the ethnic media generally receives mixed responses. On several occasions, certain Polish newspapers have acted defensively and aggressively when accusations of anti-Semitism are made towards them. The League’s pointing out anti-Semitic stereotypes and diatribes has even resulted in Jews being accused of harbouring anti-Polish sentiment. For example, Robert Varin, President of the Polish National Union of Canada, stated that “the problem is that we have a lot of evidence that shows a certain segment of the Jewish people have a lot of prejudice against Poles.”

Particularly troubling about the cases of deliberate anti-Semitism is that many of the newspapers involved receive funding from various levels of government in the form of grants and paid advertising. When complaints are filed with the government departments that support these newspapers, the response is often that they do not have the ability or resources to monitor the ethnic language papers for bias, and it appears that little is done. This is an area of serious concern, lest the fomenting of hatred between minority groups undermines the unity and social cohesion that is the goal of multiculturalism.