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Rochelle Wilner |
Frank Dimant |
Prof. Stephen Scheinberg |
Ruth Klein |
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Rochelle Wilner |
Frank Dimant |
Prof. Stephen Scheinberg |
Ruth Klein |
It is indisputable that Canadians as a whole live in an enviable society where minority communities are enhanced by protections built into the Criminal Code and human rights legislation. The considerable encouragement given to fostering multiculturalism by the government also strengthens society, but the challenges facing a multicultural society are still formidable. The 2001 census indicates that Canada is becoming increasingly diverse, with immigrants making up almost one fifth (18.4%) of the population. In Toronto alone, 44% of the population was born abroad, indicating a broad ethnic mix that brings a vast pool of talent and potential to our shores.
However, some newcomers may import ingrained stereotypes of other ethnic or religious groups, or tensions relating to homeland conflicts. These negative feelings may be expressed in ways that are incompatible with Canadian values. The 2002 Audit has documented cases where such factors have come into play.
While the total population of visible minorities rose to 13.4% of the population in 2001, by contrast, the Jewish minority is just a tiny part of the picture. According to the 2001 census enquiry relating to ethnic origin, there were 348,605 Jews in Canada out of a total post censal population estimate of 31,110,600.x Hence, Jews represent just 1.12% of the total population of Canada.xi
A recent study tells us that in Canada today “discrimination and racism exist in subtle and systemic forms”.xii While the author’s intent was to apply this axiom primarily to people of colour, the same principle holds true for other minority groups. Data included in the Audit certainly indicates that this type of subtle bias is now manifesting itself in less than subtle ways in terms of the Jewish community.
The response that the issue of antisemitism elicits from different quarters tells us many things. The National Anti-Racism Council of Canada (NARC), for example, omits all mention of antisemitism in a recent report on racial discrimination in Canada,xiii an approach that has increased concern in the Jewish community that antisemitism is being routinely ignored or marginalized by anti-racist coalitions. Such an omission brings to mind words that are as relevant today as they were when spoken 40 years ago: “Bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problems. The most urgent… problem is silence.”xiv
A penchant for ignoring antisemitism is nothing new in anti-racist circles. On January 20, 1992, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Wansee conference in which the Nazi administration finalized its plans to exterminate the Jews of Europe, one of Toronto’s prototypical anti-racism groups, the United Coalition Against Racism, held a symposium at the University of Toronto. Not a single film, lecture, or discussion in the entire program dealt with antisemitism or the Holocaust. Jewish students at the University of Toronto were outraged, but organizers dismissed their concerns. Anti-racism studies generally tend to exclude antisemitism. The rationale — whether implicit or explicit — is that Jews have power, money and influence, and therefore share little common experience with the “real” victims of racism.
At the UN-sponsored Conference Against Racism held in Durban in 2001, the most overt expressions of antisemitism were either dismissed with some token expressions of distaste or ignored completely by the anti-racist community. This tacit compliance sent a message to society that antisemitic statements, literature and caricatures are nothing particularly untoward when measured against the greater goals of the anti-racist movement.xv It, in effect, gave permission for freer public expression of age-old antisemitic stereotypes and private biases.
Although many Canadian Non Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) were present at Durban, their reaction to the widespread antisemitism there was disappointing. The response of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) representative is instructive. In a report submitted by CUPE Ontario delegate Antoni Shelton, and posted to the CUPE Ontario website,xvi Shelton presented the CUPE perspective on the conference. Shelton described the equation of Zionism with racism with utter passivity and accepted it as a legitimate point of contention, along with other issues such as compensation for slavery. Shelton was amused by the “photogenic” qualities of the marginal anti-Zionist Neturei Karta sect. He had no comment on the Nazi caricatures of Jews and other antisemitic paraphernalia circulating at the NGO conference at Durban.
Given the ongoing participation of Jewish human rights groups such as B’nai Brith Canada in advocacy on behalf of persons of colour and other religious and ethnic minorities, it is a source of concern that little support for the Jewish contingency at Durban was evident from the NGO community in Canada, and little support has followed during 2002.
The police, on the other hand, approach the issue differently. The downward spiral from bias and discrimination to actual hate crimes is monitored very closely by police forces across the country, and they have demonstrated considerable sensitivity to the vulnerability that the Jewish community is currently experiencing. The League values the ongoing co-operation it enjoys with police forces across the country in dealing with this problem.
Police statistics confirm trends noted in the Audit. In Toronto alone, police statistics indicate that out of 219 hate crimes identified in 2002, there were 50 (23%) against Jews. The overall number of incidents reported to the police decreased by 35%, with crimes against Muslims, for example, dropping from 57 to 10. The decrease in crimes against Jews was not nearly so marked, and though the total slipped from 58 to 50, the proportion of crimes against Jews relative to the total was up from 17% in 2001 to 23% in 2002. The police statistics only include incidents that are classified as criminal offences and do not even claim to touch the systemic and societal bias they reflect.
In spite of such statistics, there are many observers who opine that the wave of antisemitism that has hit Europe over the last two years has little to do with the Canadian scene, and that antisemitic incidents are merely an insignificant aberration from the normally placid pace of Canadian life. However, one does not have to cross the Atlantic for substantiation of Canadian trends; statistics for hate crimes south of the border are also telling. Figures for the United States for 2001 indicated that 11% of all hate crimes and 55.7% (1,117) of all offences motivated by religious prejudice were directed against Jews.xvii The Canadian data highlighted in the Audit is thus entirely in line with North American trends, as well as developments seen elsewhere in western democracies, such as the United Kingdomxviii and Australia.xix
There are elements within the Jewish community that concede that there are concerns, but at times take an almost paternalistic approach in response. This says more about the community’s inherent need for reassurance, than about the scope of the problem. The attitude expressed by some community representatives that vandalism of Jewish buildings is “just a property crime”, for example, and therefore of only minor concern is similarly troubling, especially when one takes into account the words of Roy McMurtry, Chief Justice of Ontario’s Court of Appeal who recently stated: “While many hate crimes fall short of physical violence, they are, nevertheless, equally destructive of our social fabric.”xx
There are certain entities within the Jewish community that even attempt to undermine the findings of the Audit, under the pretext of avoiding “anxiety” in the community. The League does not agree with the notion that suppressing or censoring data is an approach that best serves either community interest or serious research on the topic. Shying away from unpleasant truths can only perpetuate the type of apathy and complacency that takes the place of serious efforts to approach the problem and look for creative remedies. B’nai Brith Canada feels the Jewish community is mature enough to make judgements for itself on all the data available. Furthermore, the attempts by some parties to query the Audit’s supporting data, which is based on victim statements that are checked and corroborated extensively, amount to a second guessing of the reliability of these individuals which is condescending in the extreme and borders on further abuse of the victimized.