canada 2006

 

There were 935 incidents reported to B'nai Brith Canada's League for Human Rights in 2006, an overall increase of 12.8 percent over the previous year, and the highest number of incidents recorded in the 25-year history of the report. Quebec, where hostility toward minority issues has been especially noticeable, witnessed a 69.9 percent surge in antisemitic incidents.

 

the JEWISH COMMUNITY

Estimates of the size of the Jewish community range from 340,000 to 380,000, out of a total population of approximately 31.1 million. This represents little more than one 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). 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 Activity

Right-wing extremists were active across the country in 2006. Swastikas and Nazi-related symbols continued to feature prominently in vandalism incidents recorded from coast to coast (see below). In addition, Holocaust-related insults such as "Gas the Jews" were common in incidents of graffiti reported. This is just one indication that neo-Nazi and white supremacist activity intensified during the year.

Ernst Zündel remained in jail in Germany awaiting the verdict on hate crime charges which was to be handed down in early 2007 (see ASW 2005). His supporters made their presence known in Canada through pro-Zündel propaganda campaigns on and off the Internet. There were also reports of the presence in Canada of sympathizers of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which has lately seen a resurgence in the US (see United States). KKK supporters were allegedly present in the province of Ontario in 2006 during ongoing disputes over Aboriginal lands. KKK symbols were also prominent in graffiti cases during the year.

White supremacists continue to be among the most active extreme right groups. The Canadian-based website Stormfront Canada hosts a busy forum for neo-Nazis and their sympathizers. A number of militant white supremacists are facing criminal charges and/or human rights complaints in Canada. Decisions by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal against white supremacists for hate messages posted on the Internet were handed down in five cases (see below).

 

Extreme Left Activity

Antisemitic postings were once again reported on far left sites, such as the website Peace, Earth and Justice, which embraces anti-Israel causes. In a February posting to this site for example, an article was quoted which refers to "Holocaust Orthodoxy" as an "immensely profitable shake down operation for Israel. and the Zionist master plan to decimate Muslim society and culture." Anti-war protests organized in 2006 in Toronto and Montreal by left wing groups featured Hizballah flags and symbols. In one such protest, a Jewish prayer shawl was publicly desecrated in view of a local politician.

Apparently answering calls for the isolation of Israel by extreme left groups, a major labor union passed a motion supporting the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Members of a teacher's union began attempts late in 2006 to pass a motion to support the boycott, and even to seek support for the development of teaching materials to take the issue into the classroom. A task force of a faith-based group (Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada) voted to endorse a boycott against Israel as well. The fact that supposedly mainstream institutions such as church groups and teachers' unions are joining the anti-Israel camp indicates the growing influence of far left groups in Canada.

 

Muslim Extremist Activity

Canadian security experts continue to warn of a growing body of evidence indicating that terrorist groups, particularly Muslim extremist organizations, are active in Canada. According to recent reports, terrorist-related activities in Canada are in fact shifting from support roles such as fundraising and procuring weapons to planning and preparing terrorist acts.

Momin Khawaja, a Canadian-born software developer, was arrested in March, 2004, in connection with alleged links to a foiled British bomb plot. He was the first person to be charged under the Anti-terrorism Act in Canada passed in 2001; however, in 2006, an Ontario judge hearing matters in the case struck down that part of the definition of terrorism under the act dealing with the motivation behind the alleged act, finding that the definition violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom. However, the judge ruled that the charges could still proceed.

In June, seventeen individuals, including five youths, alleged to be "like-minded Islamic extremists," were arrested as suspects in an alleged bomb plot in Ontario. These charges raise concerns once again regarding home-grown extremists within Canada who share the al-Qa`ida ideology and who have become radicalized by parents, preachers and the Internet.

The Supreme Court of Canada heard a case brought by four individuals with alleged links to Islamic extremist groups, who challenged the government's power to issue security certificates leading to the deportation of persons posing a security threat to the country, including suspected terrorists.

A government inquiry into the Air India bombing, an act of terrorism targeting Canada's Hindu community, began in 2006. The League was one of a limited number of advocacy groups that were granted intervener status before the inquiry.

 

ANTISEMITIC Activity

In 2006, 935 incidents were reported to the League, an overall increase of 12.8 percent over the previous year, and more than a four-fold increase since 1997 (212 cases). Of the total, 588 cases (62.9 percent) were classified as harassment, 317 (33.9 percent) as vandalism and 30 (3.2 percent) as violence against persons.

The League's Audit attempts, where possible, to ascertain the ethnic origin of the perpetrators of antisemitic incidents. In some, the perpetrator will have declared his ethnic background to victims, bystanders or witnesses. In others, through the use of language or other clear signs, the victim will have been able to reliably identify the ethnic origin of the perpetrator. Only where the perpetrator has so identified themselves is an ethnic origin recorded. As noted in the past, persons who identified themselves as "Arab" made up the single most active group carrying out antisemitic incidents. The 68 such cases in 2006 represented a 21.4 percent increase over the 56 incidents in 2005.

 

Violence, Vandalism, Harassment and Graffiti

The harassment category (abusive/threatening behavior) increased by 10.7 percent over 2005. The number of outright threats in this category directed at Jewish individuals or community sites rose by 13.8 percent, from 72 cases in 2005 to 82 in 2006. These included bomb threats and threats of physical assault.

Cases of vandalism increased by 16.1 percent across the country over the 2005 figures. The provinces of Quebec and Manitoba, where the majority of attacks against synagogues occurred, showed significant increases above the national average. Of the 317 cases of vandalism reported Canada-wide, 188 cases involved swastikas on public sites, community buildings and private homes and property, a rsie of 17.5 percent over the previous year.

Forty-two incidents were directed at synagogues in 2006, compared to 35 the previous year, including synagogues in Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Toronto and Bellville, a small community in Ontario. In Edmonton, a synagogue firebombed in 2000 and vandalized in 2005 was defaced yet again in 2006. In addition, there were 27 incidents targeting Jewish communal buildings, representing a 42 percent increase over the 19 such incidents in 2005. Security remains a major preoccupation of all Jewish communities.

Cases involving cemetery desecration dropped to just one case in 2006 (in Ottawa), from two cases the previous year.

There were 118 incidents directed against Jewish homes compared to 113 in 2005, increasing the community's sense of vulnerability. In one case during the height of the Lebanese war, a decapitated pig was thrown into a family's private swimming pool.

There were 54 incidents in school settings (both private Jewish and public schools). This represents an increase of 12.5 percent from the previous year's 48 incidents, including the firebombing of an Orthodox Jewish day school in Montreal. This latter incident renewed fears of the Jewish community which experienced the firebombing of the United Talmud Torah School in 2004. The charges against the mother of the convicted firebomber in that case continued to be heard throughout 2006 (see ASW 2004).

In 2006 there were 49 cases related directly to the victim's workplace compared to 46 cases reported in 2005. The vast majority involved incidents of ongoing harassment by fellow employees and supervisors. Systemic issues continued to arise, mostly where employers refused to accommodate petitions for religious leave. Such requests were often the catalyst for subsequent harassment. Seven of the 49 cases took place in government settings.

Major international crises, especially in the Middle East, tend to cause a ripple effect in Canada, resulting in upsurges in particular months. During 2006, the months of July and August were clearly distinguished by a marked spike in antisemitic incidents relative to the rest of the year. In these two months there were 263 incidents, making up 28 percent of the year's total (146 in July and 117 in August). This compares to 50 incidents in July 2005 and 68 in August 2005. This leap can be traced directly to the Second Lebanon War.

 

Propaganda

Anti-Jewish propaganda was disseminated by representatives of several ethnic groups as well, for example, through foreign language media outlets based in Canada - Hungarian, Russian, German, Aboriginal, Pakistani, Chinese and Ukrainian. A Hungarian publication, for example, described Jews as greedy and excessive in explaining the ongoing Middle East crisis while an obscure Chinese paper blamed the bird flu problem on a Jewish conspiracy.

A subtle type of messaging reaching school-age children has recently emerged. This propaganda is likely to pose an increasing problem for Jewish students in the public school system. One example is a controversial book written by award winning Canadian children's author Deborah Ellis entitled Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak, in which the actions of suicide bombers are implicitly justified and condoned.

Jewish students − often visibly so − were targeted in 36 cases on university campuses, down from the 48 reported in 2005. This drop, however, may be more a reflection of a subtle yet insidious form of discrimination that continued to unfold in the classroom and on campus. In 2006, Jewish students reported that some professors and classmates dismissed experiences of antisemitism as irrelevant to discussions on racism. Students are therefore hesitant to report incidents due to concerns about being ridiculed, adverse repercussions to their academic standing, or lack of support from the administration. Students also report a reluctance to seek accommodation for religious needs for fear of being singled out. Rescheduling examinations due to religious holidays has once again become a problem on many campuses in Canada.

Inflammatory anti-Israel campaigns continue to be mounted, with events demonizing the Jewish state and delegitimizing its existence. At York University a rally against Israel with posters describing it as an apartheid state was allowed to proceed in a central location. On this same campus, a visit by the chief justice of Israel was greeted with a vocal anti-Israel protest calling for a boycott against the state in the lobby outside the meeting hall.

A lawsuit brought by Professor David Noble against York University and Jewish student groups on campus is ongoing (see ASW 2005).

 

Internet

In 2006 the League's Anti-Hate Hotline received 253 reports of web-based hate activity with a Canadian connection in terms of content, perpetrators and/or victims. This compares to 164 in 2005, representing a significant rise of 54 percent. The dramatic nature of the increase − compared to 47 cases in 2004 and 34 in 2003 − prompted the League to hold its 3rd International Symposium on Hate on the Internet in September 2006. Of the 253 incidents, 124 involved targeted hate through direct e-mail messaging. Internet sites, both neo-Nazi and Islamist, continued to feature antisemitic material. There was limited success in shutting down some of these sites, even if only temporarily. Meanwhile, teenagers were increasingly being attracted to online hate. A new trend has been emerging involving the use of blogs and Internet social networking communities such as MySpace and Facebook to disseminate hate material. The web has also been used to publicize hate rock festivals and white supremacist meetings in Canada.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission and Tribunal have continued to signal a willingness to step up activity to fight hate on the Internet, especially in light of the intensification of neo-Nazi activity through the web, in Canada, and around the world. In a complaint brought by Ottawa-based lawyer Richard Warman − Warman v. Kulbashian and Richardson -- the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordered significant fines against individuals for their role in maintaining two hate websites targeting Jews and other ethnic groups. In this precedent setting ruling, the Internet service provider was held responsible to the extent that he was aware of the hate-based content of the site. The decision also established that the use of web pseudonyms does not provide protection. Further, in Warman v. Winnicki, the Tribunal found that Tomacsz Winnicki had committed a discriminatory act through "his vicious and dehumanizing web postings." As the Tribunal documented, these messages attacked Jews, blacks and Muslims and called on whites to rid Canada of these groups. Due to continued postings, the Federal Court of Canada found him in contempt of the Tribunal's decision. He was released from custody pending his appeal. In the latter part of 2006, three more decisions by the Tribunal were handed down, each holding the respondents responsible for hate-filled messaging on the web. Claims of promoting free speech were rejected. A number of complaints relating to antisemitic Internet postings by those identifying with extreme right wing activities, were referred to the Tribunal for hearing in 2007.

The case against Marc Lemire, the alleged webmaster of a white supremacist site, is still before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on a complaint filed by Warman. Lemire has raised a constitutional challenge to section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act which prohibits discriminatory acts, arguing that it infringes on his freedom of expression.

 

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE HOLOCAUST AND THE NAZI ERA

Holocaust Denial

The persistence of Holocaust denial in hate-related propaganda is a matter of grave concern. The number of such cases reported rose by 56 percent over the previous year (61 cases in 2006 vs. 39 in 2005). Many of the incidents involved white supremacist sites which continue to disseminate Holocaust denial material, suggesting in particular that the Jewish community exaggerates the Holocaust for monetary gain.

 

Holocaust Commemoration and Education

On 17 April, Holocaust Memorial Day was commemorated, as in previous years, at the federal level. Various ceremonies honoring victims and survivors took place, including the League's "Unto Every Person There is a Name" program. January 17, Raoul Wallenberg Day, is another federally-mandated day of commemoration. Generally, community organizations rather than the government organize events to mark these days, though government representatives participate.

Although there is some provision for the inclusion of Holocaust education at the high school level, the task falls to individual teachers since Holocaust education is not mandatory in the school syllabus. If it is taught, it is inserted into history or social science lessons. However, lack of materials and training in this area makes for unsatisfactory coverage. Annual cooperation between the League and the Romeo Dallaire Institute tries to overcome this problem by providing educational programming for teachers to students of all ages.

The Law Society of Upper Canada (Ontario) holds a joint program with the League on Holocaust Memorial Day, to engage members of the legal community, as well as the general public, in Holocaust awareness and education in the context of domestic and international human rights issues.

A new series of books suitable for school age children is being planned by the League. Entitled the "Holocaust and Hope Testimony Project," it is intended to provide additional age-appropriate material for school boards and libraries pertaining to the experiences of children during the Holocaust. The first book, which was to appear in 2007, looks at the experiences of children saved through the Kindertransport (the dispatch of Jewish children, without their parents, out of Austria, Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia to Great Britain shortly after Kristallnacht, November 1938).

 

RESPONSES TO RACISM AND ANTISEMITISM

Legal and Legislative Activity

In 2006, 332 incidents out of the 935 cases reported to the League (35.5 percent) were also reported to police by victims - similar to the data recorded in 2005, but a decrease of 45 percent compared to 2004. There was a significant drop in the number of charges laid by police in 2006, down to 15 compared to a total of 37 in 2005. The limited number of charges year after year is partly due to the fact that hate-related incidents such as name-calling or other acts of harassment whether face-to-face or on the Internet often do not meet the more restrictive definition of a hate crime under the Criminal Code of Canada. Despite the reduced number of charges, the legal system in 2006 still played a significant role in the battle against hate.

Several hate crime proceedings under the Criminal Code took place in 2006. Reinhard Gustav Muller was sentenced to 16 months in prison following a 2005 conviction for postings on his website that denied the Holocaust and accused the Jews of creating certain diseases. Glenn Bahr, an alleged white supremacist who was fined by the Human Rights Tribunal for his Internet activities, was committed to stand trial on hate crime charges relating to these activities. Jean Sebastien Pressault, a resident of Quebec, pled guilty to the willful promotion of hatred relating to Internet postings targeting Blacks and Jews. The 2005 hate crime conviction of Aboriginal leader David Ahenakew, regarding derogatory statements made to a reporter about Jews, was set aside in 2006, but the Crown appeal was to be decided in 2007. There are also criminal investigations outstanding against at least two other white supremacists relating to Internet postings.

It should also be noted that the 'Roma' case (R. v. Krymowski) stemming from a 1997 incident where white supremacists brandished signs with racist statements against Roma refugees came to a conclusion in 2006. The trial judge had acquitted the accused after refusing to acknowledge that the derogatory word 'Gypsy', which appeared on the signs, and the neutral word 'Roma', as set out in the indictment, had a shared meaning. The Supreme Court of Canada set aside the acquittals and ordered a new trial, thereby refusing to dismiss hate charges on the basis of a mere technicality. In 2006, the accused pled guilty to the hate crime charges.

A significant portion of the battle against hate during 2006 took place through the Canadian human rights system. The Canadian Human Rights Commission announced that it had launched a strategy to facilitate the processing of such complaints - including a specialist complaints team, and a review to ensure expeditious handling of complaints, as well as ongoing discussions with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and community organizations to seek ways to combat hate.

 

Nazi War Criminals

Little progress was made on the many outstanding cases of Nazi war criminal files in Canada in 2006. No update to the Eighth Annual Report on Canada's Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Program 2004−2005, produced by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, Department of Justice and the Solicitor General of Canada, was released in 2006. B'nai Brith Canada continued to warn that the traditional holding pattern on Nazi-era cases could make Canada a magnet for modern day war criminals.

In August, however, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that accused Nazi war criminals Josef Furman, of Edmonton, and Jura Skomatchuk, of St. Catharines were guilty of falsifying their records upon entry into Canada. Despite calls for the government to quickly move to the next stage of revoking citizenship, there was no further progress. A third case before the Canadian courts for the extradition of Michael Seifert continued through 2006.

Throughout 2006, four cases continued to await a decision by the Federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration regarding the deportation of Wasyl Odynsky, Vladimir Katriuk, Walter Obodzinsky and Jacob Fast. This is in spite of previous Federal Court rulings which found that they had entered Canada by deception.

 

Public Education

In 2006, there was deterioration in a number of areas relating to tolerance of minority groups, which directly impacted the Jewish community. This indicates that public education remains a crucial priority, as well as a challenge in Canada. A case in point is the current controversy over the term 'reasonable accommodation', a right enshrined in the Canadian Human Rights Act. It was in this spirit that the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2006 in the case of Gurbaj Singh Multani, that he should be allowed to wear his kirpan (ceremonial Sikh dagger) to public high school, a decision criticized by many Canadians.

In fact, public reaction to reports of the special needs of religious minorities has become increasingly vocal and, at times, openly hostile. Incidents related to this issue have become hot media stories, often questioning whether these cases actually fall within the framework of 'reasonable accommodation' or are merely perceived and labeled as such. This hostility toward minority issues has been especially noticeable in Quebec, which recorded a 69.9 percent surge in antisemitic incidents in 2006, way above the national increase of 12.8 percent.

Societal tensions around the issue of 'reasonable accommodation' are not merely a reaction to the latest news story, but reflect a growing upsurge in the level of prejudice that lies just below the surface of society, waiting to erupt. Moreover, there appears to be a rising level of impatience within the 'dominant culture' toward religious and cultural communities wishing to retain their uniqueness. The testimony of Jewish victims and the community at large indicates a lack of confidence in the system's ability to deal with these tensions and their manifestations, and a weakening of the collective will to address hatred.