canada 2004

 

Canada recorded a total of 857 antisemitic incidents in 2004, representing a 46.7 percent increase over the previous year. Incidents in the categories of violence and vandalism doubled. The year saw the continuation of a trend on university campuses of inflammatory anti-Israel campaigns and rallies demonizing the Jewish state. Despite some positive actions on the part of the authorities, anti-racism initiatives have been hampered by unwillingness among the wider community to admit that a serious problem of antisemitism exists.

 

JEWISH COMMUNITY

According to the 2001 census enquiry relating to ethnic origin, there were an estimated 348,605 Jews in Canada out of a total population of approximately 31.1 million. This represents 1.12 percent of the population of Canada, down from 1.2 percent a decade ago. The main Jewish centers are Toronto (179,100), Montreal (92,970) Vancouver (22,585) Winnipeg (14,760), Ottawa (13,450), Calgary (7,950) and Edmonton (4,925).

The main advocacy organizations are B’nai Brith Canada and the Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA), which was established in 2003 following reorganization by the United Israel Appeal Federations Canada. CIJA oversees the activities of the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Canada-Israel Committee and National Jewish Campus Life. B’nai Brith Canada maintains an independent parallel structure with its League for Human Rights (henceforth, the League), Canada Israel Public Affairs Committee (CIPAC), and Campus Action Initiative.

The Canadian Jewish community publishes some 20 newspapers and journals, including The Jewish Tribune and the Canadian Jewish News. Approximately 12,000 day school children are served by the Jewish educational system, while thousands more attend supplementary after-school programs affiliated with synagogues.

 

EXTREMIST GROUPS

Extreme Right

Much far right-wing activity in Canada during 2004 was related to the re-appearance in the country of Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel. The ongoing hearings into the reasonableness of a security certificate issued against Zündel in 2003 continued throughout 2004. These proceedings became a rallying point for extreme right activities in Canada. Protests were held in a number of locations across Canada and the United States in support of Zündel and in an attempt to raise funds for his legal defense. On 9 March 2004, for instance, there was a public protest in Toronto followed by an international conference of Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis convened in his honor the following month in Sacramento and attended by Canadian sympathizers.

There were numerous reports of the distribution of racist flyers, which appeared to originate from far right wing groups in British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and Ontario. For example, in Toronto, flyers referring to “Jews bedding niggers” were mailed to private residences, as were copies of a far right wing publication.

The swastika and other far right wing symbols including ‘SS’, ‘ZOG’, ‘White Power’ and ‘Heil Hitler’, as well as references to particular Nazi SS units, continue to dominate incidents of graffiti, as well as other hate-related messaging. For example, of the 369 cases of vandalism reported Canada-wide, more than two-thirds, or 218, involved swastikas, compared to one-third in 2003.

Attempts to recruit high school students to the far right wing/White Supremacist cause were recorded on a number of websites. In addition, there were two reported incidents of gang violence at schools in which groups referred to themselves in neo-Nazi terms.

            One source for a growing culture of hate, especially among youth, is ‘hate rock’, which continues to manifest itself as a growing presence in Canada. There were several references to hate fest events in Canada on far right websites, notably one in November 2004 in the Montreal area. Antisemitic and racist rock music is used as a major recruiting tool and source of funding for hate groups and several Canadian bands are under scrutiny. The dismissal of hate charges against an individual selling music CDs in the Toronto area is currently under appeal.

 

Extreme Left

The antisemitism of the far left frequently hides behind the guise of anti-racism as well as anti-globalization, as seen during the anti-Iraq war demonstrations when messaging and rhetoric erupted in several cases into anti-Jewish slurs.

Openly antisemitic signs at such protests were seen on the streets and on university campuses in Ottawa, Toronto, London and Montreal, among others. For example, at an anti-war rally in Ottawa during a visit by President Bush, on 30 November, protesters brandished signs, flags and T-shirts emblazoned with swastikas, antisemitic images and antisemitic and anti-Israel slogans. In addition, flyers protesting the war often repeated the canard of Jewish control of American foreign policy. Far left-wing factions frequently joined forces with extremist anti-Israel groups whose activities have been implicated in creating a poisoned atmosphere for Jewish students on campus (see below). For the most part, over the course of 2004, the far left tended to marginalize the experience of a Jewish community faced with an increasing amount of hate-related activity. Apart from instances when pro forma condemnations have been issued in high profile cases, antisemitism simply has not reached the agenda of anti-racist groups in the country in any meaningful way.

While a coalition of the far left and far right on some common issues has been identified, a number of violent clashes between far left and far right factions also occurred in 2004. In one key example, fighting broke out at a pro-Zündel rally in Toronto. Police forces in a number of Canadian cities have expressed concern about the growing propensity of far left-wing groups to violence.

 

Extremist Islamic Groups

Extremist Islamic groups continue to fundraise, recruit, disseminate propaganda and conduct operational planning, even though such activities are illegal under the country’s anti-terrorism legislation. The legislation is currently under mandatory review and there have been calls to weaken its provisions or even rescind the law on the grounds that it is ‘draconian’ and causes discrimination against Muslims. The legislation largely remains untested, with only one charge being laid since it became law in December 2001.

A Gaza-born Canadian, Jamal Akal, pled guilty on 24 November 2004 to conspiring to commit attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets in North America. Akal, who was born and raised in the Nusayrat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, moved to Canada in 1999. He was sentenced to four years in prison by an Israeli military court. There were reports that the Canadian government had intervened in an attempt to secure his early release.

 

ANTISEMITIC Activity

In total, 857 antisemitic incidents were reported to the League in 2004, representing an overall increase of 46.7 percent over the previous year. This figure follows a 27 percent increase in 2003 and a 60 percent increase in 2002. In fact, the number of reported events increased more than three-fold between 2001 and 2004, Incidents in the categories of violence and vandalism doubled in 2004, while one-third of cases of harassment involved threats of physical harm, including death threats. There were 40 incidents targeting synagogues, marking a significant increase (74 percent) over the 23 synagogue incidents recorded in 2003. The 2004 attacks included synagogues in Montreal, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Mississauga, St. John’s and Windsor. There were also 25 incidents targeting Jewish communal buildings and a more than three-fold increase in cases involving cemetery desecrations − up from three in 2003 to ten in 2004. These took place in Winnipeg, Toronto, London, Brantford, Montreal and Quebec City. Incidents against Jewish homes − as opposed to public facilities or community sites − increased from 95 to 151 (59 percent increase). In 2004, as in 2003, the single most active group in carrying out antisemitic incidents was found to be made up of persons who identified themselves as Arab. In fact, the number in this category more than doubled, from 36 in 2003 to 80 in 2004. In another worrying development, 66 antisemitic incidents took place in the public school system, up from only 22 in 2003, suggesting a growing trend there toward acting out anti-Jewish prejudices and biases. A further 47 incidents took place in workplace settings, more than doubling from the 2003 figure of 23.

Activity was recorded by both far right and far left groups, which often justify their actions by citing the freedom of expression guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. During 2004 the limits of such freedoms - and the need to balance them against the rights of minorities in a free and democratic society − often framed the debate on campuses, in legal proceedings and at human rights commissions (see below), with the result that statements likely to create a poisoned atmosphere were deemed acceptable. However, the intent of the Charter is to protect minorities, not to provide a justification for attacks on them. (For further details, see Legal and Legislative Activity below.)

 

Propaganda

The League documented 47 incidents relating to Internet sites (32 in 2003), which represents just the tip of the iceberg in terms of hate material on the web hosted on Canadian-based sites. A further 37 incidents involved hate by e-mail in which the perpetrator managed to obtain the victim’s personal e-mail address and invade personal space and privacy through the dissemination of hate propaganda.

In 2004, controversy raged around the application by cable providers to include the Arab language channel al-Jazira in their digital service. Despite numerous examples of hate speech broadcast by the Kuwait-based station, the Canadian Radio−Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ruled that the service could be included, provided the applicants met certain requirements − including steps to monitor all broadcasts for hate content, a condition with which cable providers expressed dissatisfaction. Al-Jazira is also accessible in Canada through satellite and website connections with no oversight whatsoever.

 

College Campuses

Jewish students − often visibly Jewish − were targeted in 47 antisemitic incidents reported on campus. The year 2004 saw a continuation of the trend of inflammatory anti-Israel campaigns, as well as rallies and events demonizing the Jewish state and delegitimizing its existence, and implicitly endorsing violence and terrorism against its citizens. The resulting poisoned atmosphere has led to desecration of Jewish symbols, antisemitic graffiti, dissemination of inflammatory literature, antisemitic canards by university faculty members, and intimidation and physical assaults on Jewish students. In one incident, a poster proclaiming that “Jesus and Hitler told the truth about the Jews” was sent to a student group active at McMaster University in Hamilton.

A furor arose over remarks made by Mohammed Elmasry, engineering professor at the University of Waterloo and president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, during a panel discussion, entitled “What Is a Terrorist?” broadcast on public television on 19 October 2004. Elmasry claimed that since Israeli civilians served in the Israeli Defense Forces at some time in their lives, they could not be considered civilians entitled to protection from terrorist attacks. The police were investigating following complaints.

Speakers disseminating Holocaust denial, extreme anti-Israel ideas and accusations of exploitation of the Holocaust by Jewish figures, such as Norman Finkelstein, have been welcomed on campuses at Montreal and Toronto, among others.. At the same time, Jewish students have not been able to host speakers of their choice, as was the case with a planned visit by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in October. This situation led to B’nai Brith Canada lodging a complaint against Concordia University, which is currently before the Quebec Human Rights Commission, and to its observing several other institutions which have ignored or condoned this growing problem. Meanwhile, hate-motivated activity against Jewish students is increasingly being treated as commonplace.

 

Internet

Hate on the Internet and the ability to combat it in Canada remains a real challenge. Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, who estimates the number of hate sites on the Internet at 5,000, has promised stronger measures to fight cyberspace hate as part of his national plan against racism announced in October 2004.

Although, an accurate count of Canadian-based hate sites is not available, the number of complaints to police and the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) regarding such sites provides some indication of the ongoing scope of the problem. Canadian websites that have been the source of complaints to the Commission range from ethnic-related sites (e.g., ukar.org), to left-wing sites (e.g., indymedia.ca), and sites run by far right and White Supremacist groups (Freedomsite, World Church of the Creator (Canada), etc.). A 2004 complaint focused on the Vancouver-based Indymedia site, which posted a piece entitled “Why They [Jews] Continue to Murder.” Comments following the article included derogatory references to Jews. A second complaint made against the same site involved an article entitled “Jewish Lies about Auschwitz,” and related postings denying the Holocaust. A third complaint was lodged against Bell Canada, which provided a website to Tomasz Winnicki, formerly of London (Ontario), who allegedly warned Jewish people, “We’re coming for you… and your servile dogs too.”

Hearings into complaints against the now defunct websites Canadian Ethnic Cleansing and Tri-City Skins and their suspected creators, James Scott Richardson of London and Alex Kulbashian of Toronto, concluded in 2004 with a decision expected in 2005. For the first time, the web hosting company was included in the complaint. In sending this matter to a hearing, a Canadian Human Rights Commission investigator ruled that the material posted on the websites, which allegedly included death threats to immigrants and racist jokes, posed a threat to ethnic groups.

The police have also made efforts to stem hate on the Internet. There were reports in 2004 indicating that both Edmonton and London police had initiated investigations regarding hate material posted on the web.

The zündelsite.org, the website found by the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2002 to contain antisemitic material, continues to operate from web servers in the United States and is run by Zündel’s wife, Ingrid Rimland.

 

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE HOLOCAUST AND THE NAZI ERA

Holocaust Denial

Holocaust denial is not a crime in Canada, and thus remains a common element in anti-Jewish, as well as anti-Israel activity, whether on campuses, or in racist flyers, Internet propaganda and street graffiti. It continues to be disseminated by both the far right and the far left. As noted above, Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel was the focus of much far right activity in 2004.

Winnipeg residents complained of finding flyers containing virulent Holocaust denial material plastered on the windshields of their cars parked outside a high school.

 

Holocaust Commemoration and Education

Holocaust Memorial Day, 19 April, is now commemorated nationally rather than, as previously, in certain provinces. Ceremonies honoring survivors take place with the support and endorsement of all levels of government. Raoul Wallenberg Day, an initiative of the federal Department of Canadian Heritage, is marked on 17 January.

 

RESPONSES TO RACISM AND ANTISEMITISM

Racist organizations are not prohibited in Canada, putting Canada in violation of Article 4(b) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that immigration provisions allowing deportation based on membership in a terrorist organization are constitutional. The implication of the judgment is that prohibiting membership in racist groups would also be constitutional.

There were some positive initiatives in Canada in 2004. For example, two City Councils in York Region (Ontario) passed resolutions condemning antisemitism following a rash of anti-Jewish activity in the areas under their jurisdiction, Further, the Law Society of Upper Canada resolved not only to condemn antisemitism but to dedicate resources to countering it.

The federal government announced a new five-year Anti-Racism Action Plan, backed by 56 million Canadian dollars in funding. It aims to assist victims and groups vulnerable to racism and related forms of discrimination, promote diversity and combat racism, strengthen the role of civil society, educate children and youth on diversity and anti-racism, and counter hate and bias.

Despite these actions, anti-racism initiatives have been hampered by unwillingness among the wider community to admit that antisemitism is a serious problem in the country. This point is illustrated by an episode that took place on 19 April 2004, during the Senate hearings on antisemitism. Professor Stephen Scheinberg, a former national chair of the League and a renowned expert on antisemitism, was prevented from presenting evidence on the grounds that antisemitic propaganda emanating from a Muslim community organization was irrelevant to the discussions. Senators Mobina Jaffer and Madelaine Plamondon interrupted Scheinberg and would not allow him to present or explain his evidence. Their move to dissolve the proceedings was supported by the chair of the committee, Senator Shirley Maheu. To date, the committee hearings have not been re-opened and there is still no resolution condemning antisemitism by the Canadian Senate.

Recent rulings by the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) have clarified its mandate to deal with hate material on the Internet (see ASW 2003/4). However, responsibility for dealing with hate propaganda broadcast on television, radio, or even satellite when the signal does not originate in Canada, is less clear. Presently, hate by telephone and the Internet comes under the jurisdiction of the CHRC, while television and radio comes under the jurisdiction of the CRTC. Hate by post comes under the authority of the Canada Post Corporation, but imported hate comes under the jurisdiction of Canada Customs and Revenue Agencies (CCRA). The League has recommended that hate speech jurisdiction be consolidated under the authority of the CHRC, which has experience in dealing with issues of racism and racial discrimination.

 

Legal and Legislative Activity

Both the legal and the human rights systems were used during 2004 to access protections for victims of hate-related activity, with varying measures of success. Of the 857 incidents recorded in 2004, only 13 resulted in charges. The person accused of perpetrating the 5 April 2004 firebombing of the United Talmud Torah Jewish Day School was charged with arson and on 18 January 2005 convicted and sentenced to 40 months imprisonment (the provision carries a maximum of 14 years). Hate, as an aggravating factor, was considered at sentencing as set out in the guidelines of Section 718.2 of the Criminal Code, but ultimately not recognized as an aggravating factor.

In August 2004, the League wrote to the provincial attorney general requesting that two additional charges against the perpetrator be considered. The first was the willful promotion of hatred contrary to Section 319(2) of the Canadian Criminal Code. This was requested in light of a note found at the scene of the firebombing which stated, inter alia: “Here is the consequence of your crime and your occupation… Here is where you are being led by the terrorist Ariel Sharon… this was only the beginning. If your crimes continue in the Middle East, our attacks will continue. We are not targeting Quebec. We are targeting you Israelis and Zionists… The Brigades of Sheik Ahmed Yassin.”

            The second charge requested was mischief against religious property, which is included in the Criminal Code as part of Canada\s anti-terrorism legislation.

In another case, Oral Vrba, a 29 year-old man with a history of mental illness, was charged with the hate crime of willfully causing damage to the synagogue in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in April 2004 when he smashed the windows of the building. It marked the first time hate crimes legislation was used in the province. In addition, Vrba was accused of uttering death threats to the president of the synagogue and the Jewish community. At trial on 4 November 2004, he was found to be not criminally responsible for his actions because “he was incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the acts or of knowing they were wrong.” The presiding judge found that the crime was hate motivated, although he concluded that Vrba was mentally ill at the time he committed the offenses. Vrba was remanded to a mental institution and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment.

Three individuals in the Toronto area charged with vandalism-related offenses were sentenced as well. Several other cases are still before the courts, including three individuals − one adult and two youths − who were charged with multiple hate crime and vandalism counts in a rash of antisemitic incidents that took place in Toronto in March 2004. In Alberta, police have laid hate crime charges in connection with material posted on the web.

            In the vast majority of complaints of antisemitism the perpetrator is unknown. Moreover, in over one-third of cases, no criminal charge under Canada’s Criminal Code would apply. Name calling, for example, even where there are repeated episodes, does not amount to a crime, unless ‘criminal harassment’ can be proven. However, the limitations of the law have been exacerbated by the apparent reluctance of the provincial attorney generals to apply the existing hate crime laws where they are applicable.

Perhaps the best example is a case that dragged on with no resolution throughout 2004, with a decision announced only in early 2005. A BC-based Arab community newspaper, The Miracle, published a piece by American Edgar Steele, which accused Jews of responsibility for all the major wars and misfortunes of the world. A complaint to the police resulted in a decision months later not to lay hate crime charges on the basis that ‘intent’ to incite hatred (mens rea) could not be shown on the part of the newspaper. Similarly, a complaint against the Alberta Arab News was dismissed without any charges. The paper had published a series of articles that disparaged Jewish community and political leaders and denied the Holocaust.

            Although most provincial human rights codes do not prohibit the publication of hate speech, three provinces – Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Manitoba – are notable exceptions. Such provisions could provide a model for the expansion of other provincial codes, as well as federal legislation on the scope of hate speech. In addition, amendments to the Canadian Criminal Code have been recommended by the League along the lines of German legislation so that the hate crime offense can encompass Holocaust denial.

Other hate crime proceedings have resulted in long delays. A case in point is David Ahenakew, former chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN), who was charged in 2003 in relation to comments he made in December 2002 to a Saskatoon Star Phoenix reporter that Adolf Hitler “fried six million Jews” to ensure they did not take over Europe (see ASW 2003/4). His trial on hate crime charges was postponed a number of times and began only in April 2005 In addition, demands to revoke his prestigious Order of Canada have been refused to date.

There has been remarkably restrained response to the October 2004 remarks of Imam Shaykh Younus Kathrada of Vancouver’s Dar Al-Madinah Islamic Society, who was reported to have preached in a taped lecture on the Society’s website that Jews were the “brothers of the monkeys and swine” and that “Once again they’ve shown their treachery… that they are cowards and that they cannot be trusted.” He is also reported to have urged Muslims to fight and kill Jews in what he termed an “offensive jihad.” Police spokespeople have indicated that an investigation is ongoing, but so far no decision has been reached.

 

Nazi War Criminals

The Seventh Annual Report on Canada’s Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Program 2003–2004, produced by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, Department of Justice and the Solicitor General of Canada, notes the urgency of bringing outstanding cases to justice. According to the report, since beginning work, the Department of Justice had examined over 1,700 files: “As of March 2004, 59 WW II files were still under active investigation and 122 initial allegations were being examined.”

In 2004, two new proceedings to revoke citizenship based on fraudulent disclosure were commenced. These involved Joseph Furman (formerly Furmanchuk) and Jura Skomatchuk, both former guards at the Travniki concentration camp in Poland. Federal Court proceedings continue in the case of Michael Seifert, who is also the object of an extradition proceeding.

Five cases are currently awaiting a decision of the minister of citizenship and immigration regarding deportation where Federal Court rulings found the individuals entered Canada by deception. They are Wasyl Odynsky, Vladimir Katriuk, Michael Baumgartner, Walter Obodzinsky and Jacob Fast.

 

Public Education

The League continues to offer its Taking Action Against Hate training program to raise awareness of vulnerable communities to the rights and protections afforded to them under the law and human rights codes. It also provides training for law enforcement agencies, school boards, public and private sector workers, and educators. Efforts are underway to secure government funding to expand this program across Canada. There are also a number of community-based initiatives in Canada that bring together organizations with a human rights mandate to focus on issues of racism and discrimination.