canada 2009

 

According to its community organizations, Canada has an estimated Jewish population of 350,000 out of a total population of 31.2 million. The main Jewish centers are in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

Canada witnessed an 11.4 percent increase in antisemitic incidents from the preceding year, according to the annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, documented by B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights (the League). This escalation is part of a continuous trend, from 280 in the year 2000 to a high of 1,264 in 2009, almost a five-fold increase within a decade. The year began with a spike in antisemitic activity fueled by shrill and often belligerent opposition to Israel’s campaign in Gaza. As was the pattern in many other countries, peak numbers were recorded for the month of January in particular, when this campaign took place. However, as in the UK, numbers remained at a high level weeks after the end of the operation. A considerable rise was recorded in the number of violent incidents against Jewish individuals.

The figure for January 2009 during the war in Gaza and its immediate aftermath was the highest total ever recorded for a single month. Vandalism cases, including cemetery desecration and defacement of synagogues, increased by 9.4 percent over 2008. Public monuments and property, as well as schools, across Canada were daubed with threatening antisemitic slurs and symbols. Jewish private property and cars parked outside homes were defaced with swastikas and other messages of hatred. Harassment, including overt threats, open calls for genocide during street rallies in major cities, targeting of Jewish students in schoolyards, refusal to serve Jewish customers in stores, and comparison of Jews to Nazis in various workplaces, increased by 10.1 percent over the previous year.

            The wave of antisemitic manifestations continued into February and March, influenced by aggressive anti-Israel agitation, particularly in universities during several well organized events, notably Israel Apartheid Week (see also below). Another spike in antisemitic activity occurred during the High Holiday period, when across Canada ten synagogues were attacked in September alone. In November, extensive criticism of Israel in the media following the release of the Goldstone Report probably served as a trigger for another spike in hate crimes against Jews.

            In addition, conspiracy theories circulating on the Internet at the height of the H1N1 swine flu scare and accusing Jews of deliberately creating the virus may well have encouraged anti-Jewish outbursts. There were 435 reports of web-based hate activity with a Canadian connection, whether in terms of content, perpetrators and/or victims. This is an increase of 8 percent over the 405 reports received in 2008.

            As in other countries, in most cases the ethnic origin of the perpetrators of antisemitic offenses remained unclear. However, in 2009 the League reported 97 cases where the perpetrator self-identified as being of Arab origin, up more than three-fold from the 31 cases in 2008 and more than four-fold from the 24 cases in 2007.

            In a survey of Canadian Jews commissioned by B’nai Brith Canada, Islamic organizations were identified by respondents as being a major threat to the safety of Jews in Canada. This impression was probably based on incident reports, particularly from college campuses. Findings from the survey also revealed that about 90 percent of Jews in Canada feared a rise in anti-Jewish hatred. Cases of antisemitism reported on university campuses rose by 80.2 percent, from 76 in 2008 to 137 in 2009. Moreover, the number of incidents on campus increased almost four-fold from 2006, when only 36 were reported. The most serious manifestations, including violence, occurred at York University. The escalation demonstrates intensified activity on the part of extreme anti-Israel, mainly Muslim and radical left, groups, as clearly shown by the well-organized Apartheid Week at Canadian universities. Calls of “Death to the Jews” are often heard during anti-Israel campus and street rallies. In Ottawa, a blog containing antisemitic content threatened a university Jewish studies center: “We need to identify the Zionist Kikes and their handmaiden. Time to draw up a list, time is soon.” On a day-to-day basis, many students report concealing their Jewish identity and avoiding participation in classroom discussions, in order to avoid negative interactions both there and elsewhere on campus, where threats and intimidation are reported with increasing regularity. The abovementioned survey also indicated that almost half of Canadian Jewish families contemplating higher education for their highschool age children were “a lot more concerned” than they were five years previously. It should be noted that Conservative and Liberal politicians in Canada have condemned Israel Apartheid Week for being such a hatefest that Jewish students “fear for their safety on campus.” Moreover, the continuing upward trend in antisemitism prompted parliamentarians from all parties to convene a Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA), and to decide to hold a formal inquiry.

            In June 2009, Canada achieved full membership in the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF), and gave funding support to the League to create a National Holocaust Task Force that will bring together all major organizations and key academics working in this area. Community events commemorating the nationally proclaimed Holocaust Memorial Day continue to be held in various cities, including a major event in the capital city Ottawa, where politicians and other public figures joined with community members at a commemoration arranged by the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem

            Only 17 charges were brought by police across Canada for hate-related activity in 2009. This number is slightly up from the 15 charges in 2008. Notably, the relatively large number of arrests in high profile cases where whole neighborhoods were defaced with ugly graffiti suggests that police in Canada do tend to take hate crime investigations seriously.

            The 2009 acquittal of Aboriginal leader David Ahenakew concerning remarks he made at a conference and then to a journalist in 2002 (see ASW 2003) has left hate crime legislation and its enforcement in some disarray and prompted calls for the federal government to step in and review existing laws. Taking legal action against hate-related speech is a matter of much debate in Canada at present. The courts are currently reviewing Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which prohibits hate speech on the internet. On September 2, 2009, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in Warman v. Lemire (of the Freedomsite, which hosts extreme right groups) found Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act unconstitutional and refused to impose a penalty. The Canadian Human Rights Commission appealed and the matter is now before the Federal Court of Canada for full review. Other complaints based on allegations of discrimination under Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Code have been suspended pending a decision. 

            According to the “Tenth Annual Report on Canada’s Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Program 2006−2007,” 160 allegations had not moved beyond the initial stages; 20 active files were being investigated and 7 cases were under litigation. B’nai Brith Canada is awaiting a decision by the Federal Court of Appeal concerning its appeal of a judgment dismissing its application for judicial review regarding the decision by the Federal Cabinet of Canada not to strip the citizenship of Wasyl Odynsky, a former guard at the SS forced labor camps of Trawniki and Poniatowa. A similar appeal was brought regarding Vladimir Katriuk, who was found to be a voluntary member of Ukrainian battalions implicated in atrocities during World War II. In another controversial decision handed down on November 27, the Federal Court of Appeal ordered the Federal Cabinet to review its decision to strip Helmut Oberlander of his citizenship for lying his way into the country. Earlier decisions found that he had been a member of one of the notorious and deadly Einsatzgruppen.