Canada, as a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), holds a position of some repute as a country on the cutting edge of eliminating hate. When compared to many OSCE member countries in Europe that have seen a resurgence of the most aggressive type of antisemitism, Canada is often described as a model in terms of the way it collects statistics on hate and discrimination, trains police, assists victims of crime and supports programming to combat prejudice and bigotry in all sectors of society.1
When viewed in this context, the results of the 2008 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents are paradoxical. How can a country that is looked to for best practices in combating hate be the same place where, in 2008, 1,135 antisemitic incidents were reported to the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada, an increase of 8.9% over the 2007 figures? Furthermore, this increase is not an aberration, but the continuation of a growing trend of anti-Jewish prejudice and bigotry on the Canadian scene, that speaks both to the pure resilience of antisemitism, and to the fact that multiculturalism, whether in policy or in practice, does not, in itself, guarantee tolerance and respect.
This increase in Canada must also be viewed in the context of data from other jurisdictions with the same values and aspirations as this country, which recorded a decrease in antisemitic incidents in 2008. For example, in the United Kingdom, the Community Security Trust recorded 541 antisemitic incidents, a 4% decrease from the 561 incidents in 2007.2
The increase of 8.9% in Canada was also higher than the 2% increase noted in Australia, where 652 incidents were documented in the reporting year used in that country, which ends on September 30, 2008. The nature of Australian society, with its longstanding democratic traditions, makes it an appropriate point of comparison.3
Given the League’s findings, which document increasing levels of antisemitism in Canada, and the growing tensions in society relating to the current economic downturn, there is reason for concern.
Indeed, in the absence of the type of significant Middle East triggers that traditionally spark spikes in antisemitic incidents, the fact that 547 incidents, close to half the total in Canada overall, took place in the last four months of 2008, can indeed be linked to fall-out from the developing economic recession and such high-profile fiascos as the Bernard Madoff scandal. Historically, antisemitism has increased in this type of climate, as disgruntled citizens seek a scapegoat to blame for their personal difficulties. Cyberspace has indeed been buzzing with conspiracy theories linking Jews to the global financial crisis, with Canadian opportunists being just as active as bigots elsewhere.4
Although the war in Gaza did not begin until the final days of 2008, tensions in the Middle East were present in explicit form in 211 incidents during 2008, compared to 90 in 2007. As well, given the undertones of anti- Jewish sentiment in much of the rhetoric against the Jewish State, it is likely that anti- Israel agitators using innuendos, distortions and falsifications, may have prompted other 2008 incidents that did not have an obvious Middle East link. In this context, in order to understand what is included and what is not represented in the Audit’s findings, it is important to reiterate that the findings presented in this report only include incidents that are consistent with definitions used by the League to document antisemitism for the past 27 years (see Appendix I). Anti-Israel incidents, therefore, are not included unless there is a clear anti-Jewish link.
However, we also recognize that this model, consistent with past years’ definitions and therefore useful for the purposes of comparison, gives an incomplete picture of the totality of the prejudice that currently targets the Jewish community. This new bigotry often masquerades as anti-Zionism, that unholy hybrid of age-old and new-age bigotry which purports to be merely legitimate criticism of the State of Israel and therefore respects no boundaries of civility, fact or logic.
In reality, however, activities such as the campus “Israeli Apartheid Week” (IAW), for example, or the deviously discriminatory stratagems of CUPEOntario’s Sid Ryan, stray far beyond this type of discourse. Such campaigns set out to delegitimize the Jewish State, deny its right to exist and defend itself from attack, and criminalize its citizens and supporters. The IAW signature poster in 2008, for example, depicted Israel raping “Palestine”. In 2009, the poster depicts the Jewish State collectively in the role of a child killer, with a gunship helicopter targeting a toddler holding a teddy bear. This is the epitome of the modern-day blood libel.
All these elements – delegitimization, demonization, criminalization – put such activities squarely within the European Union Monitoring Centre (EUMC) definition of antisemitism (see Appendix II), which encompasses such modern-day variants of what has been called “the world’s oldest hatred”. The possibilities of this grim masquerade have been well-noted in circles with considerable experience in manipulating the more traditional forms of antisemitism. In the past, the neo-Nazi website Stormfront has exhorted its supporters to “Remember to say “Zionists”… or “Israel Firsters” instead of “Jews” when making public speeches or writing arcticles … It is entirely possible to stay within the bounds of the law and still promote our cause.” [sic] 5
Iran’s President Ahmadinejad has long recognized the inherent link between Jew-hatred and hatred of the Jewish State. In a message of support to the Holocaust denial conference, held in Iran in early 2009 entitled "Holocaust? A Sacred Lie by the West”, he stated that “the Zionist regime is the ‘illegitimate child’ of the Holocaust phenomenon”. His words are an example of the indelible thread running through both traditional antisemitism, which historically targeted the Jew as an individual deemed unworthy of the same basic human rights enjoyed by all others, and its newer variant, which disallows the Jewish people as a collective entity the same basic right to self-determination in its own homeland as all other peoples.6
An academic paper recently published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution further examined linkages between antisemitism and anti-Zionism, finding a clear correlation between the two. In this study of European respondents, the authors found that those who defended Palestinian terrorism were more likely to also hold views like “Jews don’t care what happens to anyone but their own kind”, “Jews have a lot of irritating faults” and “Jews are more willing than others to use shady practices to get what they want”. These findings suggest a level of closet antisemitism even in countries far from the Middle East war zone that needs to be monitored closely.7
Bearing these points in mind, it is clear that the figures reported in this Audit paint only one side of an increasingly ugly picture.
A word here is necessary about our use of the term ‘antisemitism’, as opposed to the more commonly used format ‘anti-Semitism’. Increasingly, there is a move to deny the Jewish people the right to define their own victimization, a stratagem that has long been in use by members of the anti-Israel bloc in meetings of human rights agencies of the United Nations. “We are Semites too,” the argument runs, “therefore how can we be accused of anti- Semitism?” This deliberate smokescreen is used by those seeking to distance themselves from the still politically incorrect taint of antisemitism, at the same time as they enable it. It has been noted that “they inoculate themselves against charges of anti-Jewish bias by pre-emptively predicting that ‘the Jewish lobby’ will accuse them of it.”8 This stratagem allows the purveyors of rabid anti-Zionism to claim immunity for their ceaseless messages of divisiveness and imported hatred that have no place in Canadian society.
Nowhere is this campaign more obvious than in the Durban process, and it is with pride that we note Canada was the first country to recognize the antisemitism integral to the conference’s agenda. Following Bnai Brith Canada’s request, the Government refused to participate in the Durban II conference. However, the battle is not yet won. Campaigning has begun in earnest here in this country to appropriate and distort the terminology that describes hatred against Jews. This is demonstrated in a March 9, 2009 communiqué issued by the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) that claims “Arab Canadians are Semites and hail from various faiths, including Islam, Christianity, Judaism and other faiths.” With such claims in mind, clarification on this issue is crucial.
As noted by the League in a previous Audit:
For many years, scholars including Professor Yehuda Bauer and Rabbi Emil Fackenheim, have advocated dropping the hyphen from the term anti-semitism, and in most academic writing, the new spelling has become the norm. Originally, with the hyphen, it was a concept coined by Wilhelm Marr in 1879 to connote Jew-hatred. But grammatically it was incorrect, implying that there is such a thing as semitism which it is against, or that it is equally applied to all Semites, neither of which is the case.9
In order to counter such attempts to muddy the waters and obscure the issues, the League continues to encourage the usage of the non-hyphenated word “antisemitism” by all stakeholders of good faith.
In general, it is our hope that the findings of this Audit will alert government and citizens from all communities to stand up in a principled fashion, just as Canada did regarding Durban II, whenever antisemitism, or any form of racism, rears its ugly head here at home. This reminder from south of the border, therefore, comes at a most opportune time:
May every conscience remember that anti- Semitism is always wrong and is always dangerous, may every voice speak out against anti-Semitism, and may all of us have the civic courage to take action against anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance whenever and wherever they arise.
The Jewish people have seen, over the years and over the centuries, that hate prepares the way for violence. The refusal to expose and confront intolerance can lead to crimes beyond imagining. So we have a duty to expose and confront anti-Semitism, wherever it is found.10
In 2008, the League for Human Rights recorded 1,135 incidents across Canada. Once again, this figure breaks through previous thresholds set since the League began recording incidents 27 years ago, constituting an overall increase of 8.9% from the 2007 data. The findings represent a more than fourfold increase over ten years.
This increase in 2008 is even more significant in the absence, until the very end of the year, of the type of trigger events in the Middle East, such as Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, that so commonly contribute to a rising trend of antisemitism, either explicit or implicit.
Looking south of the border, hate crime statistics released in 2008 by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation show that while incidents motivated by religion decreased in 2007 from 1,462 to 1,400 incidents (a 4.2% decline), there was only a very minimal decrease in hate crimes against the Jewish community, from 969 in 2006, to 967 in 2007. In fact, Jews were targeted in 68% of all religiouslymotivated hate crimes in this period, up from 64% in 2006. The net result is a smaller body of hate incidents overall targeting all groups, but an increase proportionately in the number of these incidents that specifically target Jews.11
The findings are similar to data in a Statistics Canada study released in 2008 based on hate crime data from police services in Canada during 2006, when nearly two-thirds of hate crimes motivated by religion were directed at the Jewish faith. There were 63 incidents targeting the Jewish community in the data studied in that report, compared to the 21 cases against the next most targeted group, the Muslims.12
The Audit findings clearly show an ongoing, disproportionate targeting of the Jewish community and its members compared to other ethnic and religious groups in Canada. This is especially significant at a time when the Jewish population is declining in numbers. The Jewish community makes up less than 1% of the total Canadian population, according to the 2006 Census released by Statistics Canada. In 2001, Jews ranked 17th in size on the basis of ethnic origin; by 2006, that figure had dropped to 25th.13 By comparison, the Black and Muslim communities, which also report victimization, make up 2.5% and 2% respectively of the total Canadian population.
Given the relatively small population base of the Jewish community in Canada, it is significant that Toronto Police, which recorded 153 hate-related occurrences in 2008, documented 45 incidents against Jews who, as in past years, were the single most consistently targeted group. Other groups mentioned in the police report were Gays (34), Blacks (24), and Muslims (7).14 A similar trend was noted by the York Regional Police, which recorded 81 incidents of hate, 26 against the Jewish community, with the next highest group being Blacks (19).15
Incidents took place across the country, in both urban and rural settings. While in 2007, the Audit noted a marked increase in antisemitic activity in rural settings across Canada, that trend was not as significant in 2008. However, there was a significant increase in antisemitism in smaller municipalities in British Columbia and Quebec.
Canadian antisemitism continued to reach out to infest a variety of venues, including unions, retail outlets, service industries and social clubs. Antisemitism was expressed in face-to-face encounters on campuses and on the street but, ever increasingly, it has become a hate expressed using the Internet, text messaging, Facebook and other social networking means. This type of web-based hate is up by 16.4% over last year’s figures.
The 1,135 incidents reported across Canada are broken down into the following categories: Harassment (803), Vandalism (318) and Violence (14). The definitions of these categories (see Appendix I) have remained the same throughout the history of the League’s Audit, in order to ensure consistency and allow for accurate year-by-year comparisons.
Harassment continued to be the method of choice for hatemongers, with the 803 cases in 2008 making up 70.7% of the total number of recorded incidents. To complete the picture, the 318 incidents of vandalism constituted 28% of the total, while the 14 cases of violence represented 1.2%.
Harassment increased by 14.9% over the previous year. The ugly language used in these cases often contained open threats of physical harm; 80 incidents of harassment - or 10 % of all cases in this category - contained such threats.
Vandalism cases increased slightly (1%) overall in Canada when compared to 2007, but individual areas such as the Atlantic Region, Montreal, Quebec Region, Saskatchewan and Alberta saw a significant increase in this category.
There were 14 incidents of violence in 2008, compared to 28 in 2007. While the number of incidents dropped over the previous year’s figures, there is no room for complacency. It should be noted that violence as a separate category was only introduced for the first time in the 2002 Audit, so this alarming phenomenon is still a relatively new addition to the arsenal of Canadian antisemitism.
Violence was down in all regions that last year reported such incidents. However, there were three cases in the Quebec Region, an area where no incidents in this category were reported in 2007. These included a case where a young man was assaulted in a face-to-face encounter on a public street in rural Quebec while on vacation. Also, one incident of violence was recorded in Alberta and one in Ottawa, where no such cases were recorded in 2007.
There were 50 incidents targeting synagogues in 2008. Incidents included 27 cases of harassment involving threatening calls and emails to synagogue staff and clergy, as well as 22 reported cases of vandalism and one case of violence. The 50 incidents represent a significant increase over previous years: 22 reported incidents involving synagogues in 2007, 42 in 2006 and 35 in 2005. Such incidents were perpetrated right across the country, including Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Barrie, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Vancouver and Kelowna.
In addition, antisemitic graffiti was found in a variety of locations, including 17 community centres, ten of which were Jewish institutions, compared to six in 2007. The language was, at times, vicious and threatening. Many of these graffiti attacks suggested gangs had adopted neo-Nazi symbolism.
In 2008, 105 private homes were targeted by vandalism, compared to the all-time high of 132 in 2007. These cases included mezuzah desecration, a traditional form of antisemitism, since the mezuzah immediately identifies the home as Jewish. In a number of regions, individuals found their homes and cars vandalized with swastikas. A car owned by one Jewish resident was defaced with the slur “jewboy”. Harassing phone calls that left families fearful were frequent occurrences.
There were 40 cases directly related to the victim’s workplace, a 29% increase over the 31 incidents in 2007. These incidents related to on-the-job harassment by colleagues, and by supervisors who refused to make any reasonable accommodation for religious observance days. Eight of these cases took place in government settings. In many of these cases, employees found themselves the subject of acts of reprisal after making their requests.
There were 57 incidents in school settings, compared to 82 cases recorded in 2007. In nine cases, Jewish day schools or their students were targeted.
Incidents included vandalism of school buildings, with swastikas and other symbols of hate, as well as neo-Nazi references such as “I love Hitler”. Individual teachers and students were singled out for acts of hate in public schools. One teacher received threatening calls to her personal residence. In one reported incident, a Jewish student was assaulted. In a widely publicized case in Winnipeg, a sevenyear- old child was sent to school with a swastika drawn on her arm.
At the university level, anti-Israel protesters ratcheted up the tension on campuses across the country,16 often bringing in outside agitators. The net result of the tenor and rhetoric of their coordinated propaganda campaign against the Jewish State was an increase in openly antisemitic outbursts, harassment, and intimidation against Jewish students. The figures from both 2007 and 2008 indicate that this campaign of hate is in danger of becoming entrenched in Canadian universities.
The concern is that 2009 will show further increases in this sector as the Mideast-related tensions of recent months deepen. In fact, initial figures from the first months of 2009 indicates that incidents are only increasing in both number and severity in the face of the inaction of campus administrations.
There were 76 reported cases of antisemitism on university campuses, continuing the sustained level of tension in 2007, when there were 78 incidents. These figures are both more than double the 36 cases reported just two years previously in 2006. Many students report hiding their Jewish identity and avoiding participation in classroom discussions, in order to avoid negative interactions both in class and subsequently in the corridors, where threats and intimidation are common.
The spectre of violence in educational settings has received major attention when it comes to the public school system, but there has been a much more lackadaisical approach to violent outbursts on campus and the threat of further agitation.
Commenting on youth violence in the educational system, Ontario’s Youth Commissioners, the Honourable Roy McMurtry and Alvin Curling, noted that "racism is worse than it was a generation ago, while there are fewer resources and structures to counter this great evil than existed in years past...Racism is alive and well and wreaking its deeply harmful effects on Ontarians."17 These comments apply as much to university campuses as to the school system.
The League’s Anti-Hate Hotline received 405 reports of web-based hate activity with a Canadian connection, whether in terms of content, perpetrators and/or victims. This is an increase of 30.6% over the 310 reports received in 2007. Nearly one-third involved threatening messages, directed at victims of all ages. The trend towards the use of a wide variety of today’s new media continued, including social blogs, online videos and text messaging. On campus, for example, students have reported that text messaging was used on a number of occasions to quickly assemble a group to harass Jewish students.
On Internet, email and social networking sites, Jews were blamed for bad economic times and catastrophic events such as a propane blast in the City of Toronto in August 2008. A YouTube video declared “Zionist control of world economy causing financial crisis”, while a Montreal-based group named "Nazi" was created on Facebook “for the promotion of racism and antisemitism”. Access to virulent hate material, including the notorious forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, was available on Internet sites, while white supremacists used the web to exchange flyers and strategies for upcoming programs to spread their brand of hate. Racist music was readily accessible to Canadians of all ages.
There were 42 cases of Holocaust denial reported in 2008, down from the 55 cases recorded in 2007, but a stark ten-year increase when compared to the 17 cases in 1999. International events such as the Holocaust denial conference sponsored by the Iranian President in December 2006, together with his ongoing efforts to spread this type of pernicious propaganda through yet another Holocaust denial conference in Tehran in early 2009, gave great encouragement to Holocaust deniers both on and off the Internet.
The swastika, the symbol of the twisted philosophy of the German National Socialist Party under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, and of its current neo-Nazi manifestations, was the most common symbol in graffiti incidents right across the country. In 176 of the 318 cases of vandalism (55%), the swastika was used as a symbol of hate and intimidation. This is a 17% increase from 2007, when there were 151 such cases of vandalism.
Holocaust denial was a recurring slur used in antisemitic postings on the web. The persistence of Holocaust denial in Canada was also encouraged by ongoing neo-Nazi and white supremacist activities in this country. The rhetoric of Holocaust trivialization also arose in political debate during the 2008 Federal Election.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups in the United States, found that 920 such groups were operating in that country, including in areas bordering Canada.18 It would be naïve to think that similar groups are not operating in numerous locations in Canada, although no current study has quantified the numbers here. The predominance of the swastika in vandalism cases reported year after year in the Audit certainly indicates that neo-Nazi ideals are being promulgated in Canada. A review of a forum where individuals who share white supremacist views frequently post messages suggests that such persons are located across Canada.
The increased presence of white supremacists on the streets of Calgary has also caused concern. Activities by similar-minded groups and individuals have been noted in other cities as well, including London, Ontario, where white supremacist flyers were distributed. In March 2008, a white supremacist group organized a “White Pride” march in downtown Calgary. In July of 2008, the same group posted on a forum board an offer to provide housing incentives to encourage potential members to move to that area. Other recruitment efforts were reported to police during August 2008.
Anti-racist activists have also alleged that white supremacists were connected to certain acts of vandalism and violence. Concern about this type of activity in the city, prompted a “Nazi-Free Demonstration” in September 2008, to encourage Calgarians to “stand up and say no to violent racist gangs”.
The League’s Anti-Hate Hotline received ten calls from concerned parents about recruitment efforts by neo-Nazi or white supremacist groups. A case in Winnipeg in which a young girl arrived at school in March of 2008 with a swastika drawn on her arm, which was later redrawn by her mother, led to considerable public condemnation and brought the family to the attention of Child and Family Services. This matter is still under review.
The ethnic origin of perpetrators was documented only where relevant information was available. This is generally the case in face-to-face encounters where self-identification is sometimes provided by a particularly strident perpetrator. In most cases, no perpetrator is ever identified since the cloak of anonymity, which provides immunity, is more attractive to the purveyors of hate. In 2008, there were 31 cases where the perpetrator self-identified as of Arab origin, up from 24 such cases in 2007. The concern here is that the virulent propaganda being disseminated against the Jewish State by so-called “mainstream” Arab/Muslim groups may be seen by some of their constituents as a virtual call to action against Jews in general.
There were also perpetrators of Aboriginal (7), Black (5), Chinese (2), German (3), Greek (2), Hungarian (3), Iranian (1), Polish (2), and Russian (5) origin. These incidents included cases of both harassment and violence.
Of the 1,135 reported cases, nearly one half (547) took place in the last four months of the year. The year-end spike can clearly be linked to the upsurge in concern about the economy and widespread coverage of the Madoff scandal. A recent Anti- Defamation League (ADL) survey supports this theory regarding the negative societal fall-out of the global recession, showing that 31% of Europeans cling to age-old antisemitic canards about alleged Jewish wealth and power in their belief that Jews have caused the economic downturn.19
As well, the beginning of the war in Gaza had an effect. Of the 151 incidents that occurred in December, the month with the highest total of the year, 70 related to the emerging Mid-East crisis. Of these, 36 occurred in the last few days of the year as tensions heightened. This is typically a very quiet period due to the holiday season.
Although there were regional differences, a further concentration of incidents (101) was noted in July in Canada overall. Increases during the summer were particularly noticeable in Quebec during July and August, when 63 out of the 245 cases reported in the province occurred. That is 25.7% of the total for the entire year in just two months. In rural Quebec, 33 out of the 44 incidents reported during 2008 (75%) occurred during those two summer months. This can be explained in part by ongoing prejudice against members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, who customarily vacation in the countryside each year. This is, in fact, a continuation of a trend noted in the 2007 Audit.
Saskatoon, SK – White power symbols and swastikas are used as part of an ongoing graffiti spree defacing public property.
Edmonton, AB – A synagogue is vandalized, and its windows smashed.
Toronto, ON – A dispute between two businessmen, one of them Jewish, ends with antisemitic slurs and an assault against the Jew.
Toronto, ON – Chants at a rally against anti-Black graffiti at a university campus degenerate into antisemitic rants.
Vancouver, BC – Audience members participate in antisemitic tirades following a talk by an anti-Zionist speaker in the Vancouver Public Library.
Ottawa, ON – Antisemitic stickers showing the Jewish Magen David (Star of David) being thrown into the garbage are posted on public sites throughout the city.
Toronto, ON – Debate at a public school board about a proposed Afro-centric school turns into antisemitic rants against trustees who did not support the proposal, one of whom is Jewish.
Regina, SK – Charges against Terry Tremaine for online hate result in antisemitic tirades on neo-Nazi, white supremacist sites.
Winnipeg, MB – A young Jewish boy traveling with his mother on a public bus is threatened and taunted with antisemitic slurs.
Hamilton, ON – “Death to Jews” is shouted repeatedly at an anti-Israel rally held on the McMaster University campus.
Calgary, AB – A neo-Nazi march features antisemitic rants about “Jewish lies”.
Saint-Sauveur, QC - A swastika marked with the word ”Jew” is scrawled on a Jewish teacher’s classroom display board.
Ottawa, ON - A threatening antisemitic letter is sent to a Jew at his home address.
Winnipeg, MB – A seven-year-old is sent to school with a swastika drawn on her arm.
Toronto, ON – A government health worker is called a “Christ Killer” by her supervisor.
Winnipeg, MB – A man protesting the City’s budget carries a sign comparing the Jewish Mayor to Hitler.
Thornhill, ON – An email in Russian repeats an ageold blood libel, warning recipients to watch over their children lest they be kidnapped by Jews who will, it is alleged, use the infants’ blood to make matzas (unleavened bread) for Passover.
London, ON – Public facilities on the University of Western Ontario campus are defaced with antisemitic graffiti.
Calgary, AB – A high school student is harassed by fellow students who repeat antisemitic slurs.
St. Catharines, ON – A high school is hit by spates of ugly antisemitic graffiti twice in one week, including KKK signs, swastikas and a Star of David, along with several hate messages.
Toronto, ON – A synagogue renting space in a public school facility is vandalized by local teens, following several weeks of intentional disturbances during services.
Georgina, ON - High school students are arrested after a swastika is found scrawled above a German flag at a local high school.
Winnipeg, MB – An antisemitic letter is sent to the Rabbi of a synagogue.
Toronto, ON – A Jewish organization receives mail blaming Jews for the removal of the Lord’s Prayer from the daily proceedings in the provincial government, as part of an alleged conspiracy to wipe out Christianity.
Vancouver, BC – A home-made newspaper featuring antisemitic content is printed and distributed.
Moncton, NB – Cars are defaced with swastikas.
Kelowna, BC - Hate-filled antisemitic slogans and swastikas are spraypainted on the Okanagan Jewish Community Centre and synagogue, as well as local schools and other public sites.
Ottawa, ON – A Jewish student is forced to face ongoing harassment from fellow students.
Quebec City, QC – A customer is told not to be “a Jew” when he requests reimbursement.
Richmond Hill, ON – A Jewish high school student is sent antisemitic threats on Facebook.
Montreal, QC – A blogger writes antisemitic comments about Hassidim in Quebec.
Winnipeg, MB – A billboard for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is defaced with swastikas and threatening messaging such as “Kill all Jews”.
Moncton, NB –A number of city sites, including a university, are defaced with antisemitic slurs as well as swastikas, as part of a vandalism spree.
Regina, SK –A synagogue is vandalized twice in one month.
Cloyne, ON – Teenagers berate Jewish camp counsellors with antisemitic slurs, which is followed by vandalism of a local Jewish camp.
Mississauga, ON – A park is defaced with antisemitic graffiti, including the signature “Hitler youth”.
Sainte-Agathe, QC – A visibly Jewish man visiting the area is assaulted while walking to synagogue, while bystanders watch.
Toronto, ON – A newspaper designed to assist the homeless contains antisemitic articles.
Sainte-Agathe, QC – Messages are sent to a local synagogue threatening to burn it and calling for “Death to the Jews”.
Toronto, ON – Blogs blame Jews for the propane blast that rocks the Downsview area of the city.
Montreal, QC – An antisemitic email is sent to hundreds of addresses, warning recipients to beware of Jews.
Toronto, ON – A mezuzah is torn down from a house, and smashed into pieces.
Montreal, QC – A clerk at a coffee shop refuses to serve a Jew after she sees a Magen David (Jewish Star) on the customer’s necklace.
Toronto, ON – A Jewish judge is sent an antisemitic letter.
Victoria, BC – An antisemitic rant, complete with anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, is posted to a chat forum for horse enthusiasts.
Moncton, NB – The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an age-old antisemitic forgery, is posted on a YouTube link.
Barrie, ON – A synagogue is defaced with the word “Nazi” just prior to the High Holidays.
Thornhill, ON – Worshippers are threatened and harassed as they walk home from Saturday morning services at their local synagogue.
Toronto, ON – A trailer on the property of a Jewish day school is defaced with antisemitic graffiti, including KKK signs and the wording “I love Hitler”.
Hamilton, ON – Antisemitic slurs and swastikas deface public sites throughout the city.
Montreal, QC – Bricks are thrown through the windows of a synagogue.
London, ON – A neo-Nazi website posts complaints that the City has too many Jews.
Sault Ste. Marie, ON - Public sites are defaced with swastikas.
Kingston, ON – A Rabbi receives a threatening, antisemitic call at his home.
Montreal, QC – An antisemitic image is found on the packaging of a Russian product on sale in local stores.
Saskatoon, SK – The message “Bomb Israel” is spraypainted on a local synagogue.
Toronto, ON – Antisemitic slurs are posted on a mosque website.
Kingston, ON – A Jewish student’s car is vandalized with swastikas and the words “dirty Jew”.
Toronto, ON – The epithet “Heil Hitler” is found on a community centre in a predominantly Jewish area.
Stratford, ON –A residential area is defaced with antisemitic graffiti as part of a vandalism spree.
Calgary, AB – A posting on Facebook calls for a “Kick a Jew Day”.
Huntsville, ON – Threatening antisemitic messages are posted on Facebook after the victim broke up with her boyfriend.
Charlottetown, PEI – A Revenue Canada employee tells a taxpayer not to worry, the agency is “Not Jewing” him.
Wolfville, NS – A caller to a local radio show blames Jews for the Mumbai attacks.
Thornhill, ON – An email is circulated in the workplace calling for a boycott against Jews.
Ottawa, ON – A Chanukah display in front of a Jewish home is destroyed.
The majority of incidents reported in Canada occurred in Ontario: 682 incidents or 60.1% of the year’s total. In 2007, the 582 Ontario incidents constituted 55.9% of the total number for that year. The Ontario figures constituted an increase of 17.2% over 2007.
The number of cases of harassment increased by 43.3% from the 342 cases in 2007 to 490 cases. Vandalism, however, dropped by 16.4 % to 184 from the 220 cases reported in 2007. Violence also decreased from 20 to 8 cases (a 60% decline).
Incidents in Ontario are broken down further into cases occurring in a) the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) which includes the City of Toronto and its immediate environs, b) Ottawa and c) Regional Ontario, which encompasses areas outside the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa.
The GTA remained the highest reporting area, as has consistently been the case in previous Audits. Of the incidents reported Canada-wide, 47.4% or 538 incidents took place in the GTA alone. This is up from 427 in 2007, a 26% increase.
The 538 incidents break down as follows: 409 harassment, 122 vandalism and seven cases of violence. Of these incidents, 442 cases were reported in the City of Toronto itself, up from 359 in 2007. There were 74 cases reported in York Region, almost double the 38 incidents in 2007, and a significant increase over the 51 cases in 2006. There were 55 incidents in Thornhill, 11 in Richmond Hill, five in Markham and three in Newmarket. The incidents in Thornhill, the region in York with the highest Jewish population, increased by more than 100% when compared to the 25 cases recorded in the previous year. There were also 22 cases in Peel Region - 17 in Mississauga, and five in Brampton – but in Peel the 2008 figures are down from the 30 cases recorded in 2007.
Cases of harassment rose significantly from 284 cases in 2007 to 409 cases in 2008, an increase of 44%. Vandalism remained at almost the same level: 122 cases in 2008 compared to 123 cases in 2007. Violence was down 65% from the 20 cases in 2007 to seven in 2008.
Incidents included antisemitic graffiti on homes, university property and a wide range of public sites, as well as harassment at work, on campus, in schools and at synagogues. Of the cases of violence in Canada, seven of the 14 cases occurred in the GTA.
There were 62 cases in Ottawa in 2008, a marginal increase over the 60 cases in 2007 (3.3%). Cases involving harassment rose by 41.9%, up from the 31 cases in 2007 to 44 in 2008. Vandalism, on the other hand, dropped significantly (by 41.4%), from 29 cases in 2007 to 17 in 2008. There was one case of violence, whereas no such incident was reported in 2007.
In 2007, there had been a number of cases of cemetery desecrations, something not repeated in 2008. Incidents included antisemitic graffiti on private homes and public buildings, harassment at government workplaces and Internet sites, as well as incidents of intimidation on campus.
In Regional Ontario (parts of the province that do not include the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa), 82 cases were reported in 2008, down from 95 in 2007, a decrease of 13.7%. Most of the cases occurred once again this year in urban areas, including London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Barrie, Hamilton, the Georgina area and Kingston.
Cases of harassment rose from 27 in 2007 to 37 in 2008, an increase of 37%. On the other hand, vandalism dropped by 33.8% from 68 cases in 2007 to 45 in 2008, a pattern similar to that in Ottawa and the GTA. No cases of violence were reported in Regional Ontario, as was also the case in 2007.
Incidents included vandalism targeting synagogues, graffiti sprees defacing public sites and private homes and harassment on campus.
There were 245 cases reported across the province of Quebec, representing 21.6 % of the total incidents recorded across Canada. Incidents in Quebec dropped by 15.8% from the 291 incidents in 2007.
There were 164 cases of harassment, 76 of vandalism, as well as five of violence. Harassment cases dropped by 31.7% from the previous year’s figure of 240 cases, but vandalism increased sharply by 72.7% from the 44 cases reported in 2007. Violence dropped from the seven incidents recorded in 2007 to five cases in 2008 (a 28.6% decrease).
Quebec figures are further broken down into Montreal and Regional Quebec, the latter constituting the areas outside Montreal and its immediate environs.
In 2008, 201 incidents were reported, compared to 249 in 2007, representing an overall decrease of 19.3%. There were 153 cases of harassment, 46 of vandalism and two of violence. While harassment cases decreased by 28.5%, down from 214 in 2007, vandalism increased by 64.3% from the 28 cases in 2007. Incidents of violence dropped from seven cases in 2007 to two in 2008.
The high profile cases such as the firebombings recorded in 2007 were not repeated in 2008. Instead, hate propaganda intensified, and public sites were vandalized.
There were 44 cases in Regional Quebec, up slightly from the 42 in 2007, an increase of 4.8%. This figure included 11 cases of harassment, 30 of vandalism and three of violence. Harassment cases dropped by more than half (57.7%), down from 26 cases in 2007, while cases of vandalism increased by 87.5%, up significantly from the 16 cases in 2007. There were three incidents of violence, whereas no such cases of violence were recorded in 2007.
Incidents included vandalism of cars and businesses belonging to ultra-Orthodox Jews, vandalism of election signs and verbal harassment. The incidents of violence involved assaults and attacks on visible Jews.
There were 34 cases in 2008, compared to 41 cases in 2007, representing a decrease of 17.1%. However, this is still a significant increase compared to the 25 incidents recorded in 2006. All reported cases took place within the City of Winnipeg.
The figures are broken down into 26 cases of harassment and eight cases of vandalism. Vandalism dropped by half from the 16 cases recorded in 2007, while harassment rose by 8.3%, up from the 24 cases in 2007. Despite the drop in vandalism, a number of cases elicited public reaction in the region, including the swastikas and hate messaging that defaced a billboard for the high profile Museum for Human Rights.
In 2008, 25 cases of antisemitism were reported in Saskatchewan, an increase of 56.3% over the 16 incidents in 2007. While in the previous year all incidents were classified as harassment, in 2008 there were 16 cases of harassment and nine of vandalism. There were no incidents of violence reported. Eighteen of the incidents took place in Saskatoon and seven in Regina.
Some of the cases of harassment were fuelled by negative reaction to the human rights case against Terry Tremaine, as well as the then-ongoing criminal proceedings against aboriginal leader David Ahenakew. (See Law Enforcement and Judicial Interventions section.) The incidents of vandalism included an attack against a synagogue, as well as defacement of a number of public sites.
There were 50 hate-related incidents in 2008, an increase of 78.6% from the 28 reported in 2007. This is even higher than the 45 cases reported in 2006, which was an all-time high for the province.
Thirty-two of the 2008 incidents took place in Calgary and 18 in Edmonton.
The 50 cases were made up of 38 cases of harassment, 11 of vandalism and one of violence. Harassment doubled over a one-year period, up from the 18 cases in 2007, while vandalism remained at the same level as in the previous two years.
There were 80 reported incidents in British Columbia, an increase of 31.1% from the previous year when 61 cases were reported. This continues an upward five-year trend.
Incidents took place in Vancouver (48), Victoria (13) and the remainder in the interior of the region (19). There were 60 cases of harassment, 20 of vandalism and no cases of violence. Harassment increased by 46.3% from the 41 incidents reported in 2007, while vandalism remained at the same level.
Cases included vandalism targeting a synagogue, as well as public sites and private residences. The cases of harassment included hate propaganda on and off the Internet, at work places, on campus and in public venues.
There were 19 cases reported in 2008 in this region, representing a drop of 17.4%, from the 23 incidents in 2007. Incidents were reported in Nova Scotia (10), New Brunswick (6) and PEI (3).
The number of cases of harassment dropped by 50% from 18 in 2007 to 9 in 2008. However, vandalism doubled from 5 to 10 cases. The 2008 total for this region is only just below the 20 cases reported in 2006. Incidents included white supremacist activities, vandalism of a synagogue and hate propaganda on the Internet.
This region is made up of the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut. There were no cases in this region. However, inquires about hate-based activities were received by the League for Human Rights, particularly about hate propaganda seen on the Internet. A synagogue
The struggle to strengthen protections against hate crimes and hate-related activities continued throughout 2008.
Little more than one-quarter of the cases of antisemitism reported to the League were also reported to police by the victims (301 out of the total 1,135 incidents). In each of the previous two years, that figure was more than one-third of the total. This decrease might reflect the fact that a higher percentage of the reported incidents involved harassment, where a criminal remedy is unlikely. In such cases, there appears to be a chronic hesitation on the part of victims to contact the police for fear that they will not be taken seriously. In fact, the number of charges laid by police dropped from 18 cases in 2007 to 15 in 2008.
In other instances, victims explained away their lack of reporting, indicating that they thought the behaviour had become so commonplace that they simply accepted it as inevitable. This problem is further compounded since sociologists and police estimate that only 10% of victims of hate crimes ever come forward to report their victimization.
A case which highlights some of the difficulties in seeking redress for criminal acts of hate involves a 2008 attack against two gay women. Police refused to label this as a hate crime, in spite of the ugly epitaphs shouted at these women that were made in the presence of several witnesses. Police stated that the matter fell outside of the legislative provisions of inciting hatred. A coalition of community groups, including the League, had urged that hate motivation be an integral part of the investigation.20
In February 2009, after a year-long investigation, police in Hamilton, Ontario announced that no hate crime charges would be laid relating to a 2008 rally on McMaster University campus where agitators shouted “Death to Jews”. Hate crime officers indicated that they did not have the necessary evidence to proceed, even though they believed that some individuals had indeed “crossed the line”.21
Where charges have been laid, sentencing has been met with mixed reviews. In November 2008, a Quebec court convicted Rouba Elmerhebi Fahd as an accessory after the fact in her son’s 2004 firebombing of the United Talmud Torahs Jewish Day School. B’nai Brith Canada-Quebec Region characterized the sentence of 12-months probation as a “punishment that does not befit the seriousness of the crime”.22
In February 2009, Omar Bulphred, one of two individuals charged in connection with the firebombing of Jewish institutions in Montreal that took place in 2006 and 2007, was given a seven-year sentence after pleading guilty. His co-accused, Azim Ibragimov, received a lesser sentence of four years imprisonment in late 2008. In Bulphred’s case, the League noted that the sentence captured “the seriousness of his offences, which had the potential to bring about devastating human consequences.” However, in the case of Ibragimov, the League felt that the sentence fell short of what was necessary to deter such dangerous crimes.23
In Calgary in 2006, Mustafa Taj attacked four teenagers after ascertaining that they were Jewish. In July 2008, he was sentenced to one year in jail with credit for time served, raising questions about the deterrent value of such a limited prison term.24
In October 2008, the Ontario Court of Justice imposed a 45-day jail sentence on Luke Granados for willfully promoting hatred, to be followed by one year probation. He was arrested in connection with a black plastic skeleton that had been mounted on a flagpole flying the Confederate flag. The skeleton, in full public view, was suspended by the neck with a noose. This case, as well as other hate-related activity in the same area targeting Asian fishermen, was applauded as a model for what “a coordinated effort by law enforcement officers and the judicial system” can achieve.25
Other cases that had their day in court included the November 2008 retrial of Aboriginal leader David Ahenakew on a hate crime charge, relating to remarks he made at a conference and then to a journalist in 2002. A Saskatchewan provincial court decision handed down in February 2009 acquitted him. As the League commented at the time, this has left the law in a state of disarray, since the threshold to meet a conviction appears to have been set too high, particularly as a new criterion - the issue of spontaneity - was introduced. Whether or not the Crown decides to appeal this acquittal or not, B’nai Brith Canada has called for the federal government to step in and review the existing hate crimes legislation.26
The criminal system stepped in to deal with virulent hate on the Internet in the case of Bill Noble, who was convicted of “willfully promoting hatred against identifiable groups, namely Jews, Blacks, homosexual or gay persons, non-whites and persons of mixed race or ethnic origin,” by a British Columbia court. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment followed by three years probation, which included terms restricting his use of the Internet.27 While such convictions are rare, the case highlights that the criminal system can be used to combat the evergrowing problem of web-based hate.28
An overburdened criminal justice system is not the sole redress for combating hate crimes. In fact, more often than not, Canada’s human rights system, which has increasingly come under fire, is the access point for many Canadians to seek recourse.
David Matas, B’nai Brith Canada’s Senior Legal Counsel, in his presentation to the London Conference on Combating Antisemitism, makes the point that legislation against antisemitism needs to be directed against both discriminatory practices and incitement to hatred against Jews, using both civil and criminal remedies. Criminal remedies can take the form either of prohibitions, or as an aggravating factor at sentencing. Civil remedies can take the form of human rights commissions, bars to entry or expulsion for foreigners, confiscation of materials, damages and injunctions.
Throughout 2008, there was much debate about the appropriateness of using Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which makes it a discriminatory practice to spread hate on the Internet.29 The Canadian Human Rights Commission tried to resolve the matter by commissioning a report by University of Windsor Law Professor Richard Moon. His report, submitted in October 2008, recommended that the section be repealed, leaving hate speech to be dealt with under the hate provisions of the Criminal Code. If the section were to be retained, he recommended that the provision be severely restricted.30
This debate was fuelled by high-profile complaints filed before several human rights bodies against Ezra Levant, then publisher of the Western Standard, and author Mark Steyn and the publication MacLean’s.31 These complaints were dismissed in 2008, but the debate about the role of human rights commissions in the fight against hate continues. The League published its recommendations upholding the need for Section 13, but calling into serious question the commissions’ continuing mandate to fight hatred, unless reforms – both substantive and procedural – are immediately put into place that would enable the commissions to face the new challenges they confront.32
While this debate continued during 2008, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal reached a number of decisions under the governing Canadian Human Rights Act in Internet-related complaints connected to white supremacist material. These cases highlighted the vile nature of hate material on the Internet today.
In CRAR v. BC Whitepride and Beck, the Tribunal examined a website which included postings that decried the alleged power of the Jewish community. One article, for instance, argues that the Jews use their “vast power and their unchallenged control of almost every walk of life” to manipulate and control “White nations”. In January 2008, a penalty of $6,000 was imposed on the site’s operator who was ordered to cease and desist from posting similar messages on the Internet.33
In September 2008, the Tribunal issued its decision in Warman v. Melissa Guille and Canadian Heritage Alliance, which included such postings as:
The holohoax is big business and the most important trump card for international zionism. Whether it is true or not doesn’t matter. All that matters is that it is important. It is all jewish Zionist bullshit. The media is controlled and not free.34
While the Tribunal found that the material was likely to expose hatred or contempt contrary to section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, it did not impose a penalty beyond ordering Guille to cease and desist.
The case of Warman v. Lemire35 in connection with a white supremacist Internet site is ongoing. Submissions were completed in 2008 and a decision is expected sometime in 2009, including a ruling as to the constitutionality of section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. The League is one of several intervenors in this case.
Another complaint that came before the Tribunal in 2008 was Warman v. Northern Alliance and Jason Ouwendyk. The Tribunal released its decision in March, 2009.36 Postings against Jews, among other identifiable groups, included Holocaust trivialization and such hate rants as “The Zionist is the greatest threat to our race...They cling onto a host until they kill it, and then move on in search of a new host...”37
In its 2009 decision, the Tribunal ruled that the respondents had communicated hate messages. However, while the Tribunal was prepared to issue a cease and desist order, it refused to impose any penalties or compensation in light of the complainant’s admitted postings on white supremacist websites similar to the Northern Alliance site.38
A complaint by Harry Abrams and the League against the Radical Press website operated by British Columbia resident Arthur Topham was launched in 2008, and will be proceeding before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in 2009. The complaint details a number of postings as antisemitic, including the virulent hate text of the notorious forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Some decisions of the commissions are seemingly inexplicable. For example, in December 2008, the Canadian Human Rights Commission rejected a complaint that a Montreal Imam was spreading hate propaganda on the Internet, thereby exposing Jews and others to contempt.
This left the complainant to charge bias: “It might be worth knowing,” he wrote, “for public interests, who are those individuals staffing these Commissions and find out if they do have some conflicting allegiances or a conflicting loyalty with Canadian and Quebec fundamental values.”39
His frustration is just one of the concerns regarding the human rights system. Another is the difficulty in enforcing decisions. For example, Terry Tremaine is reportedly still posting antisemitic material to the Internet, contrary to a 2007 cease and desist order issued by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.40
Clearly, the human rights system in Canada is at a crossroads. The ball now rests with the commissions themselves to address the concerns that have been raised, and to reform themselves in order to more meaningfully and efficiently respond to the needs of the day.
In the global arena, the year 2008 was punctuated by grim threats to Jewish communities worldwide: a government-endorsed Holocaust denial conference in Iran; references to the “end of Jewish domination” in a mainstream Greek newspaper; state-sponsored intimidation against Jewish institutions in Venezuela; an attack on a Jewish nursery school in Germany; torture of a Jewish youth in France and attacks on other Jews with metal bars, chains and brass knuckles; murder in Yemen; and mass slaughter at the Chabad House in Mumbai, India. Some individuals, no doubt, will be quick to dismiss the 1,135 reported incidents of antisemitism in Canada as insignificant by comparison. Those who do so ignore the lessons of history, which chart the inexorable march from propaganda to harassment, from private bigotry to state-endorsed intimidation, from vandalism to physical assault, from murder to genocide.
As Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper noted in a recent tribute to the victims of Mumbai:
Anti-Semitism is a pernicious evil that must be exposed, that must be confronted, that must be repudiated, whenever and wherever it appears. Fuelled by lies and paranoia we have learned from history it is an evil so profound... that it is ultimately a threat to us all.41
It is clear that we all have a collective responsibility to act. As Nobel Prize winner Albert Einstein warned: “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”42
At least here in Canada, the problem is being taken seriously in some circles. First, with the Federal Government’s 2008 decision not to participate in the Durban II hate fest, following B’nai Brith Canada’s request, this country took up a leadership position that has set the stage for other countries to withdraw as well. This is a blow to the hate propagandists who are fuelling much of the Durban antisemitic invective.
Second, our Government has introduced the Community Historical Recognition Program (CHRP) which, at its core, places the government in the position of taking responsibility for various historical wrongs committed by its predecessors against the most vulnerable of our society.43 When governments take responsibility, the stage is set for individuals, collectives and society in general to assume greater responsibility for their actions. Following the considerable efforts of The Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Canada is now well-positioned to become a full member of the International Task Force on Holocaust Research, Education and Commemoration. Plans are underway to use CHRP funding assigned to the Holocaust-era part of this historical recognition program for an innovative new project that will put Canada on the cutting edge of this field internationally.
Third, the Government has earmarked funding for Jewish community institutions - houses of worship, schools, and community buildings - to enhance security in the wake of an increase in vandalism and threats against the community in recent years. This was the first federal government to recognize and act on the need for such funding. So far, during 2008, 19 organizations received this support under the Protecting Communities-At-Risk: Security Infrastructure Pilot Program created by Public Safety Canada. This is a pilot program with a $3,000,000 cap, which clearly needs to be made part of the permanent arsenal of government programs, with an increased funding budget. We note that the Liberal Party, while in opposition, made a preelection pledge of $75,000,000 for a similar program. This is clearly a more realistic figure, that we hope will form the basis of government policy in the future.
The power of the individual in fighting change cannot be underestimated either. Senator Jerry S. Grafstein has been determined in recent years in his various efforts to bring the issue of antisemitism to the attention of the Canadian Senate. In 2008, for example, and once more in early 2009,44 he tried yet again to get the Senate to adopt a resolution condemning antisemitism that would mirror motions adopted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly in its 16th and 17th annual sessions. The fact that the Senate has yet to adopt such a resolution, hardly a flattering chapter in the history of the Canadian Senate, has not deterred Senator Grafstein from continuing his attempts to further the issue.45
The issue of legislative change must also be considered. As noted above, following the acquittal of disgraced Aboriginal leader David Ahenakew, a review of hate crime legislation by the Government is a necessity.
In 2006, Carole Freeman, a Bloc Québécois MP, introduced a Private Member’s Bill that proposed amendments to the Criminal Code to include educational facilities as a protected facility under hate crime provisions (Bill C-384). According to the text of the Bill:
This enactment amends the Criminal Code by making it an offence to commit an act of mischief against an identifiable group of persons at an educational institution, including a school, daycare centre, college or university, or at a community centre, playground, arena or sports centre.46
However, the Bill only made it to first reading before the parliamentary session ended. The proposed legislation would be a useful tool and the League recommends that it be re-introduced. Had this amendment gone through prior to the United Talmud Torahs School firebombing, hate crime charges could have been brought at the outset, rather than only being introduced as a factor at sentencing.
A British Columbia case highlights another problem, that of jurisdiction. A man known as Bill Noble was convicted in 2008 of disseminating online hate propaganda. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment, with three years probation.
Police are currently investigating complaints that Noble has allegedly accessed the Internet, contrary to the probation order. Police have explained that one difficulty they face is enforcing a provincial probation order in a neighboring jurisdiction where Noble apparently moved on release from prison. Clearly, such barriers to enforcement must be remedied by legislative change.
Implementing existing provisions is also an issue. According to the OSCE’s 2008 Hate Crime Report,47 Canada has been reprimanded insofar as it has failed to fully implement the provisions of Article 4 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 60 years after its enactment. Article 4a of the Convention, which was highlighted in this report, notes that state parties:
Shall declare an offence punishable by law all dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, incitement to racial discrimination, as well as all acts of violence or incitement to such acts against any race or group of persons of another colour or ethnic origin, and also the provision of any assistance to racist activities, including the financing thereof.48
One way to meet this obligation, would be to make racist motivation part of the offence, rather than just a factor in sentencing.
This is exactly what former Edmonton hate crimes officer Stephen Camp has proposed: the introduction of changes to specific offences to permit recognition of the hate-related factors from the outset of the investigation, rather than awaiting the sentencing when it is currently most often raised. This proposal was endorsed by community group delegates to the Community Alliance Forum arranged by the League for Human Rights in November 2008, with the funding support of the Attorney General of Ontario.
Given Canada’s pending full membership in the International Task Force on Holocaust Research, Education and Commemoration, it would be fitting for Canada to follow some of its European partners and declare Holocaust denial as a form of hate propaganda. Such conduct could then be rightly recognized as a hate crime under the Criminal Code.
As recommended in the past, the banning of racist groups and their symbols should also be implemented. However, it would be necessary to ensure careful screening mechanisms to prevent abuses, such as the malicious targeting of legitimate organizations in frivolous complaints.49
It is clear that a holistic approach is necessary to eliminate antisemitism in all its manifestations, one that includes legislative reform and strict implementation of existing international obligations, as well as training for police and government, educational outreach, community awareness and capacity-building. The recent London Declaration on Combating Antisemitism issued by parliamentarians and human rights experts from across the globe, takes this approach and as such is fully endorsed by the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada. It is recommended that this Declaration, endorsed by the Government of Canada, be placed front and centre in the battle to eradicate antisemitism in Canada and beyond.50
What emerges from the 2008 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents is that the essence of Canada’s civility is being threatened; as part of the global community, it is clearly not immune from hatreds, both home-grown and imported. Failing to act now, and hiding instead under the cloak of multiculturalism, will set Canada on a path along which so many other countries are being propelled, one that sees these hatreds turn ever more vicious and violent.
1See, for example, Hate Crimes in the OSCE Region – Incidents and Responses,Annual Report for 2007, ODIHR, Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, Warsaw, October 2008, http://www.osce.org/publications/odihr/2008/10/33850_1196_en.pdf.
2Antisemitic Incidents Report 2008, Community Security Trust, London, UK, 2009, http://www.thecst.org.uk/docs/Incidents_Report_08.pdf.
3Jeremy Jones, Report on Antisemitism in Australia,December 14, 2008,
http://www.antisemitism.org.il/eng/2008%20Report%20on%20antisemitism%20in%20Australia%20-%20By%20Jeremy%20Jones.
4Financial Crisis Sparks Wave of Internet Anti-Semitism; Extremists Exploit Financial Crisis,ADL, October 24, 2008.
5Cited in the 2003 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents (Toronto: League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada, 2004),
http://www.bnaibrith.ca/publications/audit2003/audit2003-05.html.
6Iran News Daily, cited in MidEast Watch, January 30, 2009,
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/mideast-watch/2009/1/30/irans-ahmadinejadendorses-another-holocaust-denial-conference.html?s_cid=etRR0222.
7Edward H. Kaplan & Charles A. Small, “Anti-Israel Sentiment Predicts Anti-Semitism in Europe: A Statistical Study”, Journal of Conflict Resolution,
August 2008, http://www.h-net.org/~antis/papers/jcr_antisemitism.pdf.
8Jeff Robbins, “Anti-Semitism and the Anti-Israel Lobby”, The Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2007,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118912590978320145.html.
91998 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents (Toronto: League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada, 1999),
http://www.bnaibrith.ca/publications/audit2003/audit2003-05.html.
10Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism: A Report Provided to the United States Congress, March 13, 2008, US Department of State.
11Hate Crime Statistics, 2007, U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, October 2008,
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2007/index.html.
12Hate Crime in Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice, Statistics Canada, 2008,
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85f0033m/85f0033m2008017eng.htm.
13Jeff Heinrich, “Number of Jews in Canada declining, according to census”, The Province, April 03, 2008.
14Interview with Detective Gary McQueen, Toronto Police Force, February, 2009.
15Interview with York Regional Police experts, February 2009.
16James Cowan, “York Jewish Students claim intimidation”, National Post, February 13, 2009.
17The Honourable Roy McMurtry and Alvin Curling, The Roots of Youth Violence, Government of Ontario, November 14, 2008,
http://www.rootsofyouthviolence.on.ca/english/reports.asp.
18“Monitoring Hate and Extremist Activity”, Intelligence Report, Spring 2009, Intelligence Project, Southern Poverty Law Center,
www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid+1027.
19Attitudes Toward Jews in Seven European Countries, Anti-Defamation League (ADL), released February 21, 2009,
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASInt_13/5465_13.htm.
20Criminal Code of Canada, R.S.C. 1985, c C-46, for further details on the hate provisions of the Criminal Code, see the 2004 Audit of Antisemitic
Incidents, Appendix C, http://www.bnaibrith.ca/audit2004_AppendixC.html.
21Joey Coleman, “No charges after year long investigation of mac rally”, Maclean’s, January 31, 2009,
http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2009/01/31/no-charges-after-year-long-investigation-of-mac-rally/.
22“Sentencing of mother of UTT bomber sends precisely wrong signal, says B’nai Brith Quebec Region”, B’nai Brith Canada Press Release,
November 25, 2008, http://www.bnaibrith.ca/prdisplay.php?id=1409.
23“La condamnation d’Ibragimov souligne le besoin d’efforts soutenus et de longue durée pour combattre la haine”, B’nai Brith Canada Press
Release, November 17, 2008, http://www.bnaibrith.ca/prdisplay.php?id=1439; “Message of deterrence reflected in sentence handed down in case
of Montreal firebomber”, B’nai Brith Canada Press Release, February 12, 2009, http://www.bnaibrith.ca/prdisplay.php?id=1463.
24Atara Beck, “Muslim Man Gets Year in Jail for Assaulting Jewish Teen”, Jewish Tribune, July 28, 2008,
http://www.jewishtribune.ca/TribuneV2/index.php/20080728805/Muslim-man-gets-year-in-jail-for-assaulting-Jewish-teen.html.
25“B’nai Brith Canada welcomes verdict in Georgina hate crimes case”, B’nai Brith Canada Press Release, October 29, 2008,
http://www.bnaibrith.ca/prdisplay.php?id=1400.
26“Canadian hate crime legislation thrown into disarray following Ahenakew acquittal”, B’nai Brith Canada Press Release, February 23, 2009,
http://www.bnaibrith.ca/prdisplay.php?id=1459.
27AFP “B.C. court deals rare Internet hate crime conviction”, February 6, 2008,
http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/story.html?id=e2e1261e-dae0-4267-8454-a5c401a3a284. See also “Hate Crime Conviction and
Sentencing of Noble commended by B’nai Brith Canada”, B’nai Brith Canada Press Release , February 5, 2008,
http://www.bnaibrith.ca/prdisplay.php?id=1289.
28“Hate Crime Conviction and Sentencing of Noble commended”, B’nai Brith Canada Press Release, February 5, 2008,
http://www.bnaibrith.ca/prdisplay.php?id=1289.
29Canadian Human Rights Act, R.S.C, 1985, c. H-6, s. 13, see http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/H-6/index.html.
30Richard Moon, Report to the Canadian Human Rights Commission Concerning Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act and the
Regulation of Hate Speech on the Internet, October 2008, http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/publications/report_moon_rapport/toc_tdm-en.asp.
31See, for example, Rex Murphy, “Coming to a human rights commission near you”, Globe and Mail, January 25, 2008,
http://ago.mobile.globeandmail.com/generated/archive/RTGAM/html/20080125/corex26.html.
32David Matas, Hate Jurisidictions of the Human Rights Commissions: The Need for Reform, B’nai Brith Canada, August 2008,
http://www.bnaibrith.ca/files/290808.pdf.
33CRAR v. BC White Pride, Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, January 9, 2008,
http://www.chrt-tcdp.gc.ca/search/view_html.asp?doid=885&lg=_e&isruling=0.
34Warman v. Guille, Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, June 24, 2008, http://www.chrt-tcdp.gc.ca/search/files/t1089_7005rechrt28.pdf.
35Warman v. Lemire, Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, interim decision pending final ruling, June 6, 2008,
http://www.chrt-tcdp.gc.ca/search/view_html.asp?doid=837&lg=_e&isruling=0.
36Warman v. Northern Alliance and Jason Ouwendyk, 2009 CHRT 10, March 13, 2009,
http://www.chrt-tcdp.gc.ca/search/view_html.asp?doid=964&lg=_e&isruling=0.
37Ibid., paragraph 32.
38Ibid., paragraphs 62-64.
39See http://pointdebasculecanada.ca/spip.php?article682.
40Warman v. Tremaine, 2007 CHRT 2, February 2, 2007,
http://www.chrt-tcdp.gc.ca/search/view_html.asp?doid=822&lg=_e&isruling=0; for contempt charges, see Kirk Makin, “Far right group leader
faces contempt charge”, Globe and Mail, March 5, 2009,
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090305.wcontemptregina0305/BNStory/National/home.
41Meagan Fitzpatrick, “Harper denounces anti-Semitism as ‘pernicious evil’ ”, Leader-Post, Canwest News Service, March 12, 2009.
42Quoted in the Harvard University Gazette, February 22, 2001, President and Fellows of Harvard College.
43See http://www.cic.gc.ca/multi/rdrss/chrp-eng.asp.
44Hansard, January 29, 2009, http://www.parl.gc.ca/40/2/parlbus/chambus/senate/deb-e/003db_2009-01-28-
E.htm?Language=E&Parl=40&Ses=2.
45Hansard, January 29, 2009, http://www.parl.gc.ca/40/2/parlbus/chambus/senate/deb-e/003db_2009-01-28-
E.htm?Language=E&Parl=40&Ses=2.
46Bill C-384, Act to amend the Criminal Code (mischief against educational or other institution), first reading, November 22, 2006,
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3084581&Language=e&Mode=1.
47Supra, note 1.
48International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, adopted and opened for signature and ratification by General
Assembly resolution 2106 (XX) of December 21,1965; entry into force January 4,1969, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cerd.htm.
49Hate Jurisdictions of Human Rights Commissions: A System in Need of Reform, Submission by the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith
Canada to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Toronto, August 2008.
50The London Declaration on Combating Antisemitism, Conference on Combating Antisemtism, Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism,
February 17, 2009, http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/corporate/pdf/1151284.pdf.
51Supra, note 1.
Incidents that involve or reflect an increasing worldwide trend toward virulent anti-Zionist rhetoric have been included only if there is a clear anti-Jewish component.
