By Jerry S. Grafstein*
“Are some universities across Canada now quietly instituting “de facto quotas” against Jewish students?”
The roots of antisemitism in Canada are deep, tangled, and growing. Nowhere in Western democracies has the rise been so swift, obvious, and evident. The B’Nai Brith Canada annual report tracking anti-semitic incidents across Canada with impeccable statistics proves the point. Metro Toronto Police statistics also confirm this fact. There are more per capita hate incidents against Jews and Jewish institutions than all other minority groups in Canada. Moreover, per capita, the anti-semitic incidents in Canada are highest in the Western world. Toronto leads the world in per capita anti-semitic incidents.
The cancer of antisemitism, like a pandemic, is evident in public unions, amongst many teachers, at all levels of schooling, especially universities, and amongst administrators at all federal, provincial, and municipal levels of government. Using the term “university” to describe egregious institutions of higher learning may be misleading advertising.
Obviously, Canadian union leaders have no historical memory. Have they forgotten politicians like David Croll, a Jewish mayor of Windsor and later the Minister of Ontario, who decided to resign and said during an auto strike in the 30s that he would rather walk with the workers than drive with General Motors? Or union leaders like Kalman Kaplansky, NDP leader David Lewis, or Louis B Fine, a deputy minister in Ontario in the 1950s and who led Canada in implementing hours for work and other workers’ rights pioneer legislation? And where are public union leaders and members who breach their own bylaws when discriminating against Jewish workers?
Jews recently directed their outrage towards the Federal Food Agency that outlawed kosher meat. Fortunately, the Federal Court granted an interlocutory injunction to slow down this incredible regulatory act of lawlessness. No such issues occurred with Hallal meat.
Moreover, regular vandalization and burning of synagogues and Jewish schools were met with mostly silence from most government leaders and most leaders of other faiths.
Some years ago, a well-documented report on systemic antisemitism at the University of Toronto Medical School was released. To this day, no reported changes were made. Neither were any egregious faculty members or administrators dismissed. None. The medical school has neglected its three operating principles – the Doctors’ Hippocrates Oath, the University of Toronto rules of ethical conduct, and the systemic failures to uphold the Rights and Freedoms under the Constitution of Canada.
A recent egregious NDP motion in Parliament condemning only Israel was met with a loud, standing ovation by all but a few members of Parliament.
Ms. Olivia Chow, the Mayor of Toronto, refused to attend a long-established Israeli flag-raising ceremony.Mayor Chow seems to believe she is the mayor of only some Torontonians. She chose to forget that Nathan Phillips Square, where her office sits, is named after the first Jewish mayor who prided himself as “the mayor of all the people.” Nor is she aware that Tel Aviv hosts the third-largest gay pride parade in the world. Nowhere else do such parades take place in the Middle East, even in more secular countries like Turkey. Why else would she choose not to attend a tradition of raising the Israeli flag yet days later attend the Gay Pride flag raising?
But Mayor Chow can redeem herself. The Metro Police are overworked and underfunded, but they have done a good job prosecuting anti-Semitic incidents. Indeed, with Toronto flooded with crime, going after these incidents is not at the top of their agenda. She could set up a special unit in the police, as they have done for drugs, gangs, and car theft, dedicated solely to prosecuting egregious antisemites.
The University of Toronto recently signed an ‘amnesty’ agreement with protestors who spewed vitriol and manifested aggressive conduct. If not an act of obstruction of justice, it is contrary to all their own rules of conduct. No doubt, this ‘amnesty agreement’ will only invite further egregious conduct on the campus.
Moreover, are some universities across Canada now quietly instituting “de facto quotas” against Jewish students?
The Liberal caucus in Ottawa has isolated some Jewish members and their few supporters. The NDP, with no exceptions, has broken with their revered founder, Tommy Douglas, who was a fervent supporter of Israel. The Green Party expelled its first black and Jewish leader contrary to its own rules.
Perhaps, like others, the Minister of Transport has forgotten what triggered a tax on each traveller worldwide after 9/11.
Recently, a six-year-old Jewish student, luckily accompanied by her father, was attacked on a school bus in BC only because she was Jewish. Yet, not a word was heard from anyone in authority.
Why are church or other leaders silent? Silence is complicity. President Macron, when a synagogue in a small town was firebombed in France, immediately declared that ‘any attack on a synagogue is an attack on France.’ Similarly, the French Prime Minister, when a Jewish student recently was attacked, declared that “any attack on a Jewish student is an attack on France.”
Since 9/11, in every synagogue across Canada, there are security measures to protect its members. My synagogue, Beth Tzedec Congregation, the largest in Canada, requires members to go through a guarded backdoor. Not so for Timothy Eaton Church, just a mile away in mid-Toronto! Or the steadfast critic of Israel, the United Church.
Where is the black community that was itself subject to systemic racism in the federal public service? It was a Jewish hotel owner in Toronto who opened its rooms to Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, Louis Armstrong, and other black entertainers when other hotel doors were closed to them in Toronto in the 1950s.
The CBC is regularly in breach of its mandate by its biased coverage of the Hamas-incited war in Israel. Follow Honest Reporting Canada on this issue.
Another Canadian scandal is the attack on the Giller Prize for novelists by writers who have caused Scotiabank to withdraw its public sponsorship. The litany of bias continues among writers. The late Ms. Giller was a staunch supporter of Israel. In contrast, support for Salman Rushdie was voracious by writers who forgot who savagely attacked him for his novels and attacked him twice for his views. And who were his attackers? All writers know!
So, what can be done?
The erudite Federal Minister of Justice, Arif Virani, can fulfill his sworn duty to uphold federal law. He can immediately call together joint strike forces of RCMP Intelligence agencies and provincial police forces as rapid response teams in each province to prosecute these egregious breakers of the criminal code, just as the federal government did during the Emergency Act crisis – an emergency that was not nationwide. Similarly, at the next federal-provincial meeting, the activist Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc could persuade the Provincial Premiers to have their police forces join these joint strike forces to prosecute relevant egregious protestors in each province.
The war against Jews now rages across Canada nationwide. Every synagogue and Jewish institution recently received threatening messages. The enforcement of the criminal code — the one significant barrier to criminal behavior that protects Jews and others — should be prosecuted strenuously. Canada is not a democracy if it allows antisemitic hate to become normalized. It could also prosecute those who call for breaches of the Canada-Israel Free Trade or Investment Agreements, both now federal laws, and bring it to public attention. Perhaps, a non-partisan task force could probe this issue, headed by a bipartisan trio of respected public figures – such as Bob Rae (who probed the Indian Air affair), Jason Kenny, and Tom Mulcair?
Jews ask why the Federal government does not vigorously enforce the Charter of Rights and Freedoms under the Canadian Constitution. A democracy is defined by its equal treatment of all citizens under the rule of law. O Canada, does it no longer stand on guard for all?
*Former Liberal Senator. Author of several books, including “A Leader Must Be A Leader – Encounters with Eleven Prime Ministers”. His most recent book is “The Fractured 20th Century”.