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

1997 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents

INTRODUCTION

B’nai Brith Canada has been at the forefront of the battle against antisemitism, racism and bigotry for more than a century. Through the League for Human Rights, B’nai Brith monitors the activities of hate groups in Canada and documents all reported incidents of antisemitism. The Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, published annually since 1982 by the League for Human Rights, is a major vehicle for reporting our findings to the public.

In 19976, we witnessed, as in the past few years, that incidents of antisemitism continued to become more diffuse in nature. In the early 1990s, trends in hatred and bigotry directed at Canada’s Jews were linked to specific activities, including the Gulf War and the rise of the Heritage Front and other neo-Nazi groups in Canada. However, the last four five years have seen a more random pattern of antisemitism in this country. As in the past, Metropolitan Toronto, Canada’s largest and most ethnically diverse city, had by far the largest number of reported antisemitic incidents. This is primarily due to the size of the Jewish population, the continued presence of many of the "leaders" of Canada’s hate movement, and the ethnic frictions which are usually evident in all large and ethnically diverse cities. (See Appendix A for demographic details on the Jewish community in Canada.)

This year has also seen many of the leaders of hate group activity coalescing in Western Canada, on fundraising tours to Victoria, and Vancouver and the interior of British Columbia. Though not reflected in the statistics, since fundraisers and private speaking engagements are not included in the categories of vandalism and harassment, this activity has brought a lot of focus to the Western region. In 1997, several Nazi sympathizers ran for public office. In the Toronto municipal elections, Don Andrews, previously convicted for hate mongering, ran for Mayor; former teacher Paul Fromm, who had been fired for contravening Board policies by speaking at a National Alliance gathering, and Freedom-Site (hate-site) webmaster, Marc Lemire, each ran for the position of school trustee in their respective districts. This year has also witnessed increased tension on Canadian university campuses. Several campuses have been targets for heightened anti-Israel propaganda and for recruitment by organized hate groups, namely the Heritage Front, whose leader, Wolfgang Droege, has completed his jail time from an earlier assault charge several years past and is now back in action.

While reported incidents of serious violent crimes appear to be on the declinedeclined in 1997, the dateour data will show that thea continued propagationproliferation of hate propaganda, and a growing acceptability of mean-spiritedness in the media.

Although not documented as specific incidents for statistical purposes, monitoring of the Internet has revealed a continuing trend of the spread of antisemitism and Holocaust denial. First highlighted in 1995 by the League, this trend continues to have significant impact on the community.

Despite an apparent increase in incidents of systemic discrimination, positive steps have been made in combatting antisemitism, racism and bigotry in Canada this year. The influence and impact of organized neo-Nazi groups remains low; however, there are indications that the Heritage Front and others are starting to rebuild their grassroots movements and continue to recruit.

Bill C-41, citing hate motivation as an aggravating factor upon sentencing, was enacted into law in September 1996. This law amendment to the Criminal Code recognizes the increased victim impact of crimes directed at minority communities, and provides for penalties which reflect the hate motivated nature of these offenses. The effect of increased awareness of hate/bias crime by legal and law enforcement agencies was felt throughout 1997. Strong actions were taken by several police Hate Crimes Units and Crown Attorneys in utilizing the hate laws and adopting training and public awareness campaigns to further the fight against all forms of racism and hate. Several other sectors joined in the effort to counter hate with national campaigns, including the Canadian Human Rights Commission who launched education initiatives to deal with hate on the Internet. The Federal Departments of Canadian Heritage and the Ministries of Justice and the Solicitor General convened a national roundtable bringing experts together in Ottawa to discuss issues of concern and practical strategies to counter hate in all its forms. And the struggle was further enhanced by the long-awaited launch of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.

Several important court cases took place in 1997 involving the promotion of hatred towards Jews. Ernst Zundel was back in court this year facing a Human Rights Tribunal assembled to hear a complaint against him for his website that promotes Holocaust denial and hatred. The hearing will continue well into 1998. The case dealing with the telephone hate line of the Liberty Net was argued before the Supreme Court of Canada in 1997,; however, the decision will not come down until sometime in 1998. A Human Rights Tribunal in British Columbia, further to a complaint by the Pacific Region of the Canadian Jewish Congress, deemed an specific article by North Shore News journalist Doug Collins to be antisemitic but not hateful. Another complaint, launched by B’nai Brith’s Victoria representative, Harry Abrams, which will deal with a greater corpus of Collins’ work. Finally, the Somalia Inquiry was terminated in 1997, bringing in its wake many accusations of cover-ups and the inability of the government to deal with neo-Nazi behaviour and racism in its Defense Forces.

The Audit of Antisemitic Incidents is an important resource for government, human rights organizations, educators, police, media and others to gauge antisemitism in Canada. By providing an analysis of the nature and extent of reported antisemitic activity in Canada, the Audit provides a model for data collection and analysis, and helps guide decisions in resource allocation, legislative development, and plans for formal educational initiatives to confront racist attitudes and to sensitize all Canadians to the problems of hatred and intolerance. Finally, the Audit also serves as an important indicator of the general level of racism in Canada.

The Audit is part of the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith’s commitment towards combatting antisemitism. Canadians must be able to identify and name it if we ever hope to eradicate it.