National – Page 3

The need for transparency

Justice Jules Deschênes, who was appointed by the Canadian government in February 1985 to oversee the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada. (screenshot from B’nai Brith Canada)

For nearly four decades, Jewish human rights organizations have been trying to figure out how Nazi war criminals were able to gain citizenship and refuge in Canada following the Second World War. Why were high-ranking members of the Nazi Allgemeine Schutzstaffel (Nazi SS) and Waffen SS troops who fought on Germany’s behalf considered eligible for Canadian citizenship? And who were they? What were their names?

The answers to many of these questions can be found in an obscure list of reports held in government archives. Since 1985, when the Deschênes Commission was appointed to investigate allegations that Nazi war criminals were living in Canada, B’nai Brith Canada and other Jewish organizations have been urging the federal government to release all the commission’s findings. Those records include an historical account of Canada’s post-Second World War immigration policies, written by historian Alti Rodal (the Rodal Report).

“We have always felt that providing the general public with a greater understanding of Canada’s ‘Nazi past’ is a significant venture to providing closure to that time period,” explained Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith’s director of research and advocacy. “This is important because, at a time of rising antisemitism, where there are less and less survivors of the Holocaust around, it is essential that we furnish educators and advocates with as many tools as possible to enable as fulsome a teaching of the [history of the] Holocaust,” including, noted Robertson, those decisions that may have indirectly made it easier for Nazi perpetrators to escape prosecution.

The Hunka affair

Last September, a critical portion of the documentation was made public by the federal government after it was revealed that a former member of the Waffen SS Galicia Division, Yaroslav Hunka, had received a standing ovation in Parliament. Human rights advocates wasted no time in calling for the rest of the Deschênes Commission’s documents to be released, arguing that the unredacted reports could help further Holocaust education in Canada and avoid such mistakes. More than 15 groups, representing Jewish, Muslim, Iranian and Korean ethnic communities and interests, supported B’nai Brith’s petition and, on Feb. 1, the Trudeau government released the bulk of Rodal’s account.

That move has given human rights organizations access to a wealth of information about the politics, the thinking and the apprehensions that often steered the government’s decision not to prosecute or extradite war criminals. Compiled as an historical account of Canada’s post-Second World War policies, the 618-page redacted Rodal Report provides details that aren’t revealed in Deschênes’ deliberations.

Set against the backdrop of today’s rising antisemitism, the report illustrates that Canada’s current struggle to balance the needs of those targeted by antisemitism and discrimination with other democratic principles, like free speech and privacy, is nothing new.

screenshot - Alti Rodal, author of the Rodal Report — Alti Rodal, author of the Rodal Report. *(screenshot from Ukraine Jewish Encounter)*

According to Rodal, Canada’s postwar immigration policies were heavily influenced by a belief that extraditing naturalized Canadian citizens for war crimes would be, in the words of Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, “ill-advised.”

“Trudeau’s concern,” Rodal wrote, “was that the revocation [of citizenship of an alleged war criminal] could alarm large numbers of naturalized citizens who would be made to feel that their status in Canada could be insecure as a consequence of the politics and history of the country they left behind.”

And Pierre Trudeau was not alone in his reticence to bring Nazi war criminals to court.

“All those goals which Canadian society has set for itself can certainly not be achieved by short-circuiting the legal process in the hunt for Nazi war criminals,” the commission wrote, while examining whether a military court might be an appropriate venue for litigating charges of war crimes.

By the time the commission concluded its research, it had effectively struck down every available legal mechanism for pursuing action against most former Nazis living in Canada. The Deschênes Commission determined that war criminals could not be prosecuted under Canada’s Criminal Code, but neither could they be tried by military tribunal. Nor could they be successfully prosecuted under the Geneva Conventions for acts of genocide or crimes against humanity. And Canada’s extradition laws would be ineffectual in many instances, including when it came to approving requests from Israel. Israel didn’t exist at the time of the Holocaust, the commission reasoned, and thus didn’t meet Canada’s requirements for requesting extradition of Second World War criminals.

New laws, similar challenges

Canada’s only remedy would be to amend its laws going forward. In 2000, nearly 14 years after the release of the Deschênes Commission’s report, the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act was given Royal Assent. Antisemitism, hate speech and hate crimes are now federal offences as well, covered under Section 319 of the Criminal Code. However, some legal experts say the process of bringing charges of antisemitism or hate crimes to court remains too onerous.

In June, the Matas Law Society and B’nai Brith hosted an educational webinar on the legal strategies available to Canadian lawyers when pursuing charges of antisemitism. Gary Grill and Leora Shemesh, two Toronto-based lawyers who have recently represented victims of alleged antisemitism in Ontario, offered different views as to why it is so hard to bring a hate crime to court.

“We have the tools,” acknowledged Shemesh, “we’re just not effectively using them.” She said she has represented several alleged victims of antisemitism and, in each one of the cases, the charges were later dropped.

Grill, on the other hand, suggested that the issue had to do with initiative. “It’s about political will” when it comes, for example, to ensuring that prosecutors understand that “death to Zionists” is veiled hate speech and should be prosecuted as antisemitism. “The education is easy,” he said. “We can educate prosecutors. We can educate police. It’s not a problem. [But] this is about will. It’s not about law.”

“There are problems with certain [parts] of Section 319 and [its] enumerated defences,” Shemesh said. “Prosecutions under the Criminal Code for the promotion of hatred … require the approval of the attorney general to proceed, which, I say, has partially explained why such prosecutions have been rare in Canadian jurisprudence.”

In Robertson’s opinion, there can be value in legislative oversight. The attorney general’s sign-off “is a safeguard to ensure that our hate crimes legislation … is only utilized when warranted. I believe it is designed to prevent overuse,” he said. “Listen, there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing wrong with having checks and balances to ensure that the proper charges are being laid and the severity of these charges warrant such. The issue is the reluctance of the attorney general to sign off on these charges and the procedural, I would say, slow-downs in effecting the sign-off. These are the issues. If we can perfect the procedures around the sign-off, then this is a completely fine check and balance.”

photo - Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy for B’nai Brith Canada — Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy for B’nai Brith Canada. *(photo from B’nai Brith Canada)*

As for addressing the rise in antisemitism that Canada is experiencing today, Robertson believes the answer lies in ensuring Holocaust education is available and continues. That requires ensuring public access to the documents that most accurately tell the story – including those of Canada and other allied nations.

“With the recent issues that we’ve seen regarding immigration into Canada, I think [the Deschênes and Rodal reports serve as a] narrative that is more relevant than ever. I think it is important for us to understand our mistakes of the past so that we don’t repeat them in the future,” Robertson said. “And, as well, when it comes specifically to Holocaust education, I think it is important for Canadians to appreciate the level of complicity, if there was any complicity, in our government helping Nazis escape prosecution following the culmination of the Holocaust in World War II…. It helps to paint the totality of the picture of just how widespread the Holocaust was.”

Robertson said Canadians often think of the Holocaust as a “European issue,” that it only adversely impacted Jews in Europe. “So, understanding Canada’s role and [the Holocaust’s] aftermath helps to globalize the narrative, and perhaps that will help Canadians to better appreciate the truly global impact of the Holocaust [and the trauma] that is still ongoing.”

To date, most of the Deschênes documents have been made public, with the exception of Part II of the original report, containing the identity of members of the Nazi party who were granted immigration to Canada. The ancillary documents, such as the Rodal Report, also contain information that has not been made public. B’nai Brith Canada continues to lobby for their release.

Jan Lee is an award-winning editorial writer whose articles and op-eds have been published in B’nai B’rith Magazine, Voices of Conservative and Masorti Judaism and Baltimore Jewish Times, as well as a number of business, environmental and travel publications. Her blog can be found at multiculturaljew.polestarpassages.com.

Be seen and heard this year

Students from CJPAC’s 2023/24 Generation: Student Leaders Program cohort (photo from CJPAC)

It is Elul, the month before the Jewish new year. Traditionally, this is a time for cheshbon hanefesh, an accounting of one’s soul, before the reflection and repentance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

This year is not like years past. This year, our individual and community accounts are overdrawn. Instead of looking into how our souls spent 5784, instead of wondering what we could have done better, instead of cheshbon hanefesh, this year should be one of hashka’at hanefesh, investment in our souls.

As we move towards Rosh Hashanah, Jewish communities and individuals will blow the shofar and recite Psalm 27. This is a daily call to action and a recitation of a mantra that means so much more this year.

Of David: Hashem is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear?… Though an army may camp against me, my heart will not be afraid; though war rises against me, I will be confident…. Deliver me not to the will of my enemies, for false witnesses are risen against me and breathe out violence…. Look to Hashem; be strong and of good courage! Look to Hashem! (Psalm 27, excerpted)

The 14 verses of this psalm help us examine the past year and focus and inspire us for the coming one. Recited through the High Holy Days until Hoshannah Rabbah, it is a call to make that investment.

The year 5784 was a challenge. It was a year of pain. Through it, the worldwide Jewish community declared, “We will dance again.” Now, the shofar and the words of the psalm force us to confront metaphors made real. Though it seems like we are surrounded by enemies, these verses call upon us to act. If we do, our “head[s] will be lifted” and we will again “offer sacrifices of joy.” “We will dance again” will be realized when we stand up to say, “Hineini.”

Hineini – I am here. It is a word of intentional presence. When God approaches Avraham, Avraham answers, “Hineini.” When Moshe is called to lead, he responds, “Hineini.” Our leaders were not prepared. Nevertheless, when asked, they stepped up. This is the lesson of the High Holy Days. It is a call to action that begins with the individual and moves to the communal.

It is our time to answer that call. It is time for our community and our allies to stand up and step forward to make a difference and an impact. It is time to say, “Hineini. I am here, I am present.”

The Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC) is here and present to help Canadian Jews and their allies be seen and heard.

Now is the perfect time to get involved in politics, with the BC general election set for Oct. 19. You can make a real and tangible impact. CJPAC is here to guide you. In political campaigns, every single volunteer who steps up can be the deciding factor in a candidate’s success.

It is not the loud, angry voice that makes the lasting impact. The difference is made by people who show up and get the job done. Say “Hineini,” and sign up to volunteer for the candidate or party of your choice.

Sign up for CJPAC emails to stay informed about specialized training opportunities. From Politics 101 to the importance of running for a school board or campaign volunteering, CJPAC’s Advancing Campaign Training (ACT) program will help prepare and connect you.

In our tradition, what begins with the individual ultimately ends with the community. Sign up with friends for a CJPAC Day of Impact or create your own. By coming together, we inspire future generations. Volunteering with children not only teaches but empowers them to take action – and not just during difficult times.

If you have, or know, a teen in grades 10 to 12, be sure to check out CJPAC’s Generation: Student Leaders Program. Throughout the school year, teens engage in thoughtful discussions with peers, empowering them to participate in the democratic process.

CJPAC’s flagship Fellowship Program trains 50 of the top pro-Israel, politically engaged post-secondary students from across Canada to become the next generation of political leaders. Applications close on Sept. 18.

We make a difference when we show up. The more people who give of their time and efforts, the greater our impact. Connecting with the party or campaign of your choice through CJPAC offers you a tangible opportunity to support the community and build a better Canada.

Listen to the call this Elul. It is time for our community and our allies to stand up and step forward to make this difference.

Hineini – I am here.

Hineini – I am ready.

Hineini – Even if I am afraid, I will be an upstander. I will pray with my feet before and beyond the chaggim (holidays), acting for the future, the future of our children, and of our communities – both Jewish and more broadly Canadian.

Hineini.

Rabbi Jennifer Gorman is CJPAC national director of outreach & programming. To learn more about CJPAC or sign up to volunteer, visit cjpac.ca or contact Kara Mintzberg at kmintzberg@cjpac.ca.

CRA “blindsides” JNF

Lance Davis, chief executive officer of JNF Canada. (photo from JNF Canada)

The Jewish National Fund of Canada is fighting the Canada Revenue Agency over the revocation of the organization’s charitable status, accusing the federal taxation department of “blindsiding” them and treating them differently than other charities. The head of JNF Canada sees bias at play.

“Do we think the CRA is antisemitic?” asked Lance Davis, JNF Canada’s chief executive officer, in an interview with the Independent. “No. Do we think there is bias involved here? Yes. That’s actually part of our court application. We have said in writing that we believe there is bias.”

The difference, Davis explained, is that, while CRA officials may not carry prejudice toward Jewish people, their decision may have been influenced by a concerted, multi-year campaign attacking JNF – Independent Jewish Voices Canada has a website dedicated to the campaign.

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, JNF Canada obtained the files used by CRA to make their determination.

“So we know what was written in the file that the CRA is using with respect to JNF Canada and it is littered with complaints in an organized and systematic way from anti-Israel groups, unions, political parties, etc.,” he said. “After you read all of this material, one can reasonably say that bias may have come to play into the decision-making process.”

Davis is emphatic that media have so far got the story wrong. The revocation is not about JNF Canada’s support for projects on Israel Defence Forces bases or on the other side of the Green Line, outside of Israel proper. CRA expressed concerns about these projects several years ago and JNF Canada immediately ended those undertakings, he said.

“Yes, we have over the last number of decades built all sorts of public amenities on IDF bases,” he said. “Those amenities include swing sets, playgrounds, parks, play areas … shaded areas, rest areas, all that kind of stuff. We disagree that that is not charitable. Helping the children who have to live on a base … we believe is charitable.”

Moreover, the money for such past projects did not flow to Israel’s military, said Davis. It went to a charity that built the projects.

“Nevertheless, when it was brought to our attention that this is a problem according to the CRA, we stopped doing it in order to be cooperative and collaborative with the CRA,” he said. “That’s not what this revocation is about. It might be an interesting subject for the media or those outside parties to conflate, but this issue that we’re dealing with the CRA is fundamentally about our founding charitable object. They’ve come to the conclusion that it is not charitable.”

The issue, Davis said, is that CRA, after 57 years, has abruptly reversed the 1967 acceptance of the organization’s charitable objective.

In 1967, said Davis, CRA’s predecessor agency accepted JNF Canada’s purpose of funding projects in which economically disadvantaged individuals in Israel, especially new immigrants as well as Palestinians, are hired to complete projects like tree-planting and digging reservoirs, with the intention of keeping them off welfare rolls and combating poverty.

The current troubles between CRA and JNF Canada started during an audit that began in 2014. When the auditor cited the original objective as incompatible, Davis said, the organization immediately set out to negotiate new charitable purposes that would satisfy CRA.

“We presented 10 of them in writing and said, please work with us, let’s pick any or all of these and we’ll get to work,” said Davis. “CRA did not negotiate with us at all about any of those charitable objects.”

Those objectives, he noted, were replicated by JNF Canada from other recognized charities that had received approvals from CRA.

The organization’s leaders say they were “blindsided” by the decision, which was released Aug. 10, via the Canada Gazette, the federal government’s avenue for publicizing legislation and government decisions.

The revocation is the culmination of a crisis that began at the end of June, when JNF was notified that CRA intended to revoke their charitable status. Within weeks, the organization’s lawyers had filed suit with the Federal Court of Appeal.

In every similar instance JNF’s lawyers reviewed, Davis said, CRA refrained from revoking the status at least until the organization had their day in court.

“There is this idea of a presumption of innocence until you’ve exhausted all your appeals,” said Davis. “Why weren’t we given a presumption of innocence? Why weren’t we given a chance to say our piece before the judge? It’s a right that every Canadian business, individual, charity is entitled to.”

For now, JNF Canada is not permitted to provide charitable receipts.

“We are still a nonprofit, we still exist, we’re still an entity,” Davis said.

If the Federal Court of Appeal sides with CRA, JNF could take the matter to the Supreme Court, Davis said. Alternatively, they could potentially restructure the way they do their work.

“We are working through thoughts and plans with our legal counsel as to how we could best continue the work of JNF in a legal, charitable manner,” he said. “But we are confident in our case and we feel that it’s vitally important for us to challenge the CRA and the facts that they’ve presented.”

JNF Canada has not yet publicly released documents relating to the matter, as they await their lawyers’ annotations to provide both the CRA’s perspective and the JNF’s replies to the government agency’s concerns.

In dealing with JNF Canada, Davis contends, CRA has behaved differently than they routinely do with other charities. The due process they should expect has not been forthcoming and the government agency has leapfrogged several steps that charities are generally provided in the progression of an issue, he said.

A new way to teach reading

Lisa Gelberman (photo courtesy)

Over the years, Toronto-based educator Lisa Gelberman saw a consistent problem with the education system: it did not address the fact that a third of students in North America have various reading difficulties.

“When kids struggle academically, they struggle behaviourally, they struggle socially, and long-term success becomes more unlikely. It’s a huge spiral,” said Gelberman, principal at Kayla’s Children Centre (KCC).

In her view, the need was so great to help those falling through the literacy cracks, that she took matters into her own hands to find a way to solve the problem. Over time, she developed an online reading program called Literacy Decoded, which launched in 2022. Its aim is to train teachers to support students with learning disabilities, dyslexia and other developmental delays. Several Toronto Jewish schools (including Bais Yaakov High School and Eitz Chaim Schools) have purchased the course and adopted its curricula. She has sold it to hundreds of educators across North America.

Comprising mostly Jewish students, KCC is a school, therapy clinic, recreational centre and camp for children with special needs, and some students, including those who have extreme delays, have learned to read because of the program.

“The Jewish community sees the importance of supporting children with learning disabilities and dyslexia,” Gelberman said. “There are going to be fewer kids leaving the Jewish school systems for secular schools, because now their own schools have the training and resources needed. Now their needs are being met and [the program is] changing their educational outcome,” she contends.

The mother of five began her career as a teacher at a public school, teaching first grade for three years, then, having taken various course qualifications, she began teaching special education. Later, she led a class for students with learning disabilities, dyslexia or severe ADHD. Afterwards, she taught children with autism.

“I was always very passionate about teaching children to read,” she said. “Developing curricula and exploring different paths to teaching kids to read is my purpose.”

Up until about five years ago, Gelberman said, most schools across North America used a methodology called the “whole language approach.” But a full third of children do not pick up reading from this method, she argues. “So, kids struggle, and I just knew there’s something I had to do about it.

“Every year,” she continued, “I got so close to teaching this one child to read [but] he came back after the summer and it was like everything I taught him was lost. I didn’t understand why. That’s when I started to look for other programs to help.”

She discovered the Orton-Gillingham approach, and, on her own dime and with a year-and-a-half of study, she became certified to teach it.

After being hired by Kayla’s, Gelberman applied the Orton-Gillingham methods with the institution’s kids and found success in teaching children who previously had found it incredibly difficult to read.

Building upon the program, she videoed her own son, who showed signs of dyslexia and was having trouble reading, learning with the approach and used it to show teachers and parents how to implement it.

“He’s jumped three grade levels in six months. And even his teacher at the time couldn’t believe it,” she said.

“And that’s how I actually was able to improve upon the program…. I was training the teachers, and other schools were asking me to come in [to do] staff training, but I simply didn’t have the time. So, I decided to develop a course of my own.”

image - Lisa Gelberman has created an online teaching program, Literacy Decoded, based on the Orton-Gillingham method. (image from Lisa Gelberman) — Lisa Gelberman has created an online teaching program, Literacy Decoded, based on the Orton-Gillingham method. *(image from Lisa Gelberman)*

It was important for Gelberman to gear her own program towards Jewish day schools, which she claims have fewer resources, in general, to divert to kids who are lagging. Particularly for the Jewish community, she’s made a special effort to ensure the content – words and images – is appropriate.

According to Gelberman, the two years of remote learning during COVID made the program more relevant and needed, given how so many children who require in-person interaction to absorb materials were denied this interaction during a critical time in their learning.

“I’m just so happy that the children who would have fallen through the cracks are now able to read,” she said, adding that KCC children are being mainstreamed, when they ordinarily would not be.

Four years in development, “huge pieces” of Gelberman’s program do not involve memorizing words, nor looking at pictures, tools she said have been relied upon heavily as teaching aids. Instead, in her course, what seems to work is the sounding out of words, learning different sound combinations, and learning syllable types.

The program is asynchronous, that is, it proceeds at the teacher’s pace, and each lesson is through video, so the lessons feel “live.” In addition, Gelberman offers monthly coaching sessions with teachers, where they share with each other their struggles and problem-solving methods.

“I truly feel the right training from the right teachers can and will teach kids to read,” she said.

Dave Gordon is a Toronto-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in more than 100 publications around the world. His website is davegordonwrites.com.

Teaching the spirit of Israel

Kayemet LeYisrael – Jewish National Fund activities in Winnipeg took place at Brock Corydon school, Gray Academy (above) and Herzliya Synagogue. (photo from KKL-JNF)

A variety of educational and experiential activities conducted by teams from the department of Zionist education in the diaspora, part of the education division at Kayemet LeYisrael – Jewish National Fund, took place in Jewish communities around the world during “National Month,” which includes Memorial Day, Independence Day and Jerusalem Day. Activities took place at schools, kindergartens, Sunday schools, synagogues, Jewish organizations and elsewhere in 16 countries, including Canada.

photo - A Kayemet LeYisrael - Jewish National Fund activity at Brock Corydon school in Winnipeg — A Kayemet LeYisrael – Jewish National Fund activity at Brock Corydon school in Winnipeg. (photo from KKL-JNF)

In Canada, teams conducted activities in Toronto, Windsor and London, Ont., and in Winnipeg, Man. Activities included a virtual art and graffiti tour of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, lectures on life in Israel post Oct. 7, a Kites for Hope event, and activities for children about Independence Day.

photo - Kayemet LeYisrael - Jewish National Fund at Herzliya Synagogue — Kayemet LeYisrael – Jewish National Fund at Herzliya Synagogue. (photo from KKL-JNF)

“Activities organized with the envoys from Israel were incredibly meaningful to our communities here in Canada,” said Yifat Bear Miller, KKL-JNF envoy to Canada. “As we are distant from Israel here in Canada, such activities fostered a deep connection to Israel, Judaism and the current situation in the region.”

– Courtesy Kayemet LeYisrael-Jewish National Fund

Unique heritage trip to China

Len, Jeffrey, Sharon and Valerie on their family trip to China in 2009. (photo from Valerie [Chan] Hum)

Little did we realize when our son, Jeffrey, married Sharon Szmuilowicz in August 2008 that we would find ourselves visiting China nine months later as a family and visiting all our ancestral homes.

My family comes from the village of Sui Nam, Toi San district, Guangdong province. My grandfather was sponsored by a tailor and moved to Victoria in 1893 as a 16-year-old from a very poor family. He eventually married, started a restaurant business (the Panama Café) and fathered 12 children. Today, more than 140 Chan family members have been born in Canada over five generations and 131 years.

My husband Len’s family was from a small village of 30 houses in Chongkou, Kaiping district, Guangdong province. Len’s father traveled back and forth between China and New Westminster to earn money to support his family. In 1950, Len and his grandmother left China for Vancouver and then met up with Len’s father, who had moved to Ottawa. Two years later, the rest of Len’s family arrived in Canada. The family owned a number of restaurants over the years.

When our son married a Jewish woman from Toronto, we never thought we would learn that her family has ties to China as well.

The idea for the trip to China was initiated by Sharon. She felt it was important to learn about Jeffrey’s culture and family history. However, since the Szmuilowicz clan also had a direct link to China via Shanghai, it was an opportunity to explore both their histories.

On May 13, 2009, 62 years after Sharon’s family left China, our tour guide Hao brought us to the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, the former Ohel Moishe Synagogue, at Sharon’s request, where we were able to access a computer database listing all the refugees who had lived in Shanghai. We were so pleased to see Sharon’s grandfather and great-grandfather listed in the database, including their former address. Jacob and Samuel Szmuilowicz, age 59 and 21, were listed as Polish refugees living at 30-50 Zangyang Rd. What a tremendous discovery! And, to top it off, 30-50 was next door to the synagogue and was still standing.

photo - Valerie and Sharon outside the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, the former Ohel Moishe Synagogue — Valerie and Sharon outside the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, the former Ohel Moishe Synagogue. *(photo from Valerie [Chan] Hum)*

We decided to knock on their door and see if anyone remembered Sharon’s family. The present residents moved into the building in 1950 and had no recollection of the previous Jewish residents who had crammed into these small apartments more than 70 years ago. Although we could not find anyone who knew Sharon’s family, it was still a remarkable discovery to find the records and the home they had lived in.

For the purposes of our trip, Sharon’s story begins with her grandfather, Samuel. To escape conscription into the Russian army, Samuel and his father, Jacob, left their homes, by foot, in 1939, making their way to Japan via Manchuria. At the time, Samuel was at university in Vilna (now Lithuania; then under Polish occupation), studying mathematics, and Jacob was running a general store in Lida, then in Lithuania (now in Belarus).

Their transit visas were issued by Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara. He was giving out these visas without the knowledge of his government. It was dangerous for him to do so, but he knew that he needed to do something to save as many Jews as possible. In 1985, Sugihara was the first and only Japanese citizen to be listed by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations.

With visas in hand, the journey took nearly two years to complete. They traveled by day and hid at night, finally arriving in 1941. In January 1942, they were transferred to Shanghai, where they joined the approximately 20,000 Jews who had migrated there in three waves beginning in the 1800s.

During their five years in Shanghai, Jacob sold rice while Samuel, who was attending the American School and learning English, ended up driving jeeps for the American army. They made enough money to leave for Mexico City in 1947, where they ran a textile factory that manufactured cotton goods, and started the Spanish-speaking arm of the Szmuilowicz clan. Sharon’s parents met in Mexico and moved to Canada, so her dad could pursue a career in medicine.

We learned that there were many Jews who fled Eastern Europe and ended up in Hong Kong or China.

The next part of our discovery trip found us traveling by ferry from Hong Kong over to the mainland city of Zha Hai, where we were then met by distant Hum clan relatives, who drove us to my paternal grandfather Chan’s hometown of Sui Nam. I suspect I am the only descendant who has made the trek back to the town of Sui Nam, which appears very old and somewhat decayed, but still standing.

photo - In the village of Lohk Hing Leih, 90-year-old Mrs. Tam remembered Len, who used to play with her eldest son — In the village of Lohk Hing Leih, 90-year-old Mrs. Tam remembered Len, who used to play with her eldest son. *(photo from Valerie [Chan] Hum)*

Half an hour later, we arrived in the small village of Lohk Hing Leih, a cluster of 27 buildings housing the remaining Hum clan. Len’s family left the village in 1949, spending a year-and-a-half in Hong Kong awaiting their papers for entry into Canada. The village remains very poor, comprised of mostly vacant buildings surrounded by rice paddies and vegetable gardens.

Ninety-year-old Mrs. Tam, looking remarkably spry and pleasant, incredibly, remembered Len, who used to play with her eldest son. The other village residents were too young to remember him, but they swiftly brought out some food offerings, the incense, paper money to burn before the family altar, and lit some Chinese firecrackers. These are age-old traditions, in honour of the Hum ancestors. There were no young people living in the village. They had all left to find jobs in the cities. We wonder if the village will even exist in 20 years’ time.

Call it fate or bashert that, from the 1940s, three different families who started off in China, one a Jewish refugee family in Shanghai and two native Chinese families living in small villages near Canton, would be reunited in Canada through marriage 70 years later. The biggest blessing is that, on May 11, 2024, a Szmuilowicz-Hum great-great-granddaughter celebrated her bat mitzvah in Toronto. We were all be thrilled to be there.

Valerie (Chan) Hum lives in Ottawa. She was born in Victoria, where her family have lived since 1893. Her grandparents ran the Panama Café at 1407 Government St. for many decades. This article was originally published by the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin.

Action must be taken

Richard Heideman, left, and Warren Kinsella participated in a B’nai Brith Canada virtual fireside chat on May 30. (photo from B’nai Brith Canada)

The League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada hosted a virtual fireside chat with Canadian lawyer and author Warren Kinsella and American attorney Richard Heideman on May 30. The conversation largely focused on growing antisemitism and political passivity in North America in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

Kinsella began by talking about his experiences over the past three decades, writing about neo-Nazism and antisemitism and how they never fully disappear, no matter what region of Canada one observes. However, he said, the present state of anti-Jewish feeling in the country is the worst he has witnessed.

“I never dreamed in my worst nightmare that we would actually have in a single week two schools in separate provinces shot at because they teach Jews. I never thought I would see the attacks on Jewish businesses, individuals and community centres,” he said.

Kinsella castigated elected representatives in Canada for their inaction and lack of leadership in the face of hate speech directed at Jews and the rising numbers of attacks, citing an abundance of laws to handle the problem effectively.

In the international arena, Heideman added, the silence from prime ministers, presidents and ambassadors after the Hamas attacks last fall has been “deafening.” No Western democracy, he said, would tolerate the atrocities committed during the Oct. 7 attacks on their own soil.

“The United Nations and its world courts must be held accountable for singling out Israel for multiple decades and playing into the biased hands of countries like Iran, which only months ago directed hundreds of drones and rockets at the sovereign state of Israel,” said Heideman.

Both men praised Israel for its commitment to human rights and agreed that the present demonization of the strongest democracy in the Middle East, and the concurrent calls for economic and academic boycotts, must come to an end.

Heideman argued that the lessons of recent history, namely the banning of Jews from all facets of everyday life in Nazi Germany in the 1930s – which was followed by the Holocaust – have not been learned. What’s more, he said, there is presently a blame-the-victim mentality at the international diplomatic level which faults Israel for the present situation.

On the bright side, Kinsella noted that polling after Oct. 7 would suggest that the vast majority of North Americans are on Israel’s side and believe it has a right to defend itself. They also welcome Jewish people into their communities. The problem, according to Kinsella, is with the younger segment of the population, the group which has taken to the streets, created encampments, and said and done terrible things to Jews.

“Eighteen-to-40-year-olds in Canada, the United States and Europe are presently a lost generation. You will find no constituency or demographic that believes more in Holocaust denial, that thinks Hamas was right and that Israel should be wiped off the map,” Kinsella said.

“When we have millions of young people who have embraced hatred, division and terrorism, we have a big, big problem,” he continued. “I think we are looking at something that is going to take a decade or more to fix because it’s taken us more than a decade to get us to this dark place.”

To Kinsella, the internet – the primary medium through which people, particularly the young, obtain information – is largely at fault. Despite improving the world in many respects, he said, the World Wide Web has enabled those intent on propagating hate to do so immediately and at no expense. Further, both Kinsella and Heideman said bad state actors are determined to exploit the internet to spread misinformation and hate speech.

Heideman said there was no place for timidity in the present environment and advocated examining each situation and acting accordingly – in other words, not remaining silent.

“Being quiet does not do us any good,” he said. “Being quiet leads to Holocaust denial, distortion and people not caring. We have to take action in a way that is targeted, strategic and powerful – that means in federal courts, state courts and international courts.”

Kinsella is president of the Daisy Group and a former special assistant to former prime minister Jean Chrétien. He has advised numerous political campaigns and is the author of several books, in addition to being a newspaper columnist.

Heideman, senior counsel at Heideman, Nudelman and Kalik PC, and chair of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Lawyers Committee, is a specialist in American and international litigation.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Online harms mooted

A federal bill to address online harassment, bullying and hate has aspects to admire and others to cause concern. What happens in the committee process will determine the success of the proposed law.

That is the take of two experts – including one who had a hand in drafting the legislation. The devil, as always, is in the details of balancing free expression with the right to be free from threats and harassment.

Dr. Michael Geist, the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, who also serves on the advisory board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, was joined in a recent online panel by Dr. Emily Laidlaw, Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity Law and associate professor in the faculty of law at the University of Calgary. Her recent work includes projects on online harms, misinformation and disinformation, and she co-chaired the expert group that advised the federal government on the development of the Online Harms Bill, which is known as Bill C-63. The virtual panel, on April 17, was presented by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and moderated by Richard Marceau, CIJA’s vice-president, external affairs, and general counsel. More than 850 people registered for the event, indicating what CIJA board chair Gail Adelson-Marcovitz indicated is a depth of interest, and perhaps concern, about the bill.

Geist explained that the new bill is a result of years of work, following the federal government’s withdrawal of an earlier attempt at addressing the problem of online harms.

Bill C-63 is really three separate concepts rolled into one. It would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code, as well as introduce a new Online Harms Bill. Together, the components would codify currently inconsistent approaches to the problems.

The bill would redefine “hatred” in the Criminal Code and define a new crime of “offence motivated by hatred.” That offence, as well as advocating or promoting genocide, could lead to life imprisonment.

Amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act would add the “communication of hate speech” via the internet or other telecommunication technology as a discriminatory practice. Individuals would be empowered to bring a complaint before the Canadian Human Rights Commission, which could penalize offenders up to $50,000. The law, if passed, would affect public communications, like social media posts, not private messaging or emails.

Separate components of the bill would make it easier and quicker to address specific offensive content, such as “revenge porn” and posts that could harm children, encourage suicide or bullying or otherwise endanger young people.

A digital safety commissioner and ombudsperson would help guide individuals through the process of dealing with bullying or other issues related to the law.

image - On April 17, Dr. Michael Geist of the University of Ottawa spoke as part of a CIJA panel discussion on the Online Harms Bill — On April 17, Dr. Michael Geist of the University of Ottawa spoke as part of a CIJA panel discussion on the Online Harms Bill. *(screenshot)*

Geist said many legal experts who seek to balance freedom of speech with freedom from abuse “breathed a sigh of relief” after the federal government abandoned earlier efforts and relied for the new bill on expert advice.

“It’s a pretty good starting point,” Geist said. “We know the broad brushstrokes of what that might include but there is a lot of uncertainty still, so it’s easy to like it when we don’t know the specifics.”

Geist and Laidlaw agreed on most points but had some differences around oversight. Geist said the bill appears to grant enormous powers to a new digital safety commissioner. The idea of life imprisonment for an online comment, he added, may be a sticking point. “I find that hard to justify,” he said.

Laidlaw said the new office of ombudsperson is an important step in helping individuals navigate online hate and harassment. The ombudsperson would be able to pass specific information on to the digital safety commission, whose mandate includes education and research supported by a digital safety office.

The bill would also place new obligations on corporations that run online platforms, like social media companies. At present, Laidlaw said, some companies, notably X (Twitter), are not taking the problem very seriously.

While Jewish advocacy organizations have long advocated for legal responses to hate speech, Geist warned of a double-edge sword.

“Could somebody who is supportive of Israel will be accused of promoting genocide?” he asked.

Geist upended the binary assumption of harassment and free expression, noting that the idea that limits on hate speech could chill expression ignores the existing, difficult-to-measure effects of online (as well as offline) harassment and bullying.

“There is already a chilling effect for anyone in our community and, frankly, in a number of communities, that speaks out on these issues,” he said. “The backlash that you invariably face causes, I think, many people to [reconsider] whether they want to step out and comment, and it’s not just online. There’s a chilling effect offline as well. These issues are very real and many of them will not be solved by legislation no matter what the legislation says.”

He fears a barrage of complaints, many vexatious, from all sides of many contentious issues.

While there is a needle-in-a-haystack challenge in addressing online harms, Geist said, addressing the problematic major players could have a broad impact, though no one believes online hate and bullying can be completely eradicated.

“The legislation talks about mitigating these harms, it doesn’t talk about eliminating them,” he said. Social media platforms, he believes, are looking for guidance on these issues and will be amenable to adhering to legislation. Moreover, he said, Canada’s proposals are somewhat belated responses that would put us roughly in line with the European Union, Australia, the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions.

image - Dr. Emily Laidlaw of the University of Calgary, who joined the CIJA panel discussion on April 17 — Dr. Emily Laidlaw of the University of Calgary, who joined the CIJA panel discussion on April 17. (screenshot)

The inability to erase hate and harassment is not an excuse to do nothing, Laidlaw said.

“Enforcement has always been an issue,” she said. “But I don’t think it’s a reason not to pass laws.”

Laidlaw took exception to criticism that the new bill would represent government censorship. The proposed digital safety commissioner would be an independent body comparable with the existing privacy commissioner.

“Where there is some risk is in the fact that, in the end, government appoints the individuals,” she said. Still, the appointees would need to be approved by Parliament, not just the government in office.

“And remember,” she added, the commissioner’s “oversight is of companies, not of individuals. They’re not making individual content decisions or holding individuals accountable here.”

The commission would not be subject to legal rules of evidence, making it possible to immediately take down things such as child porn, encouraging suicide or other especially egregious posts.

Geist said this significant power demands that the government spell out more clearly the limitations of the commission.

“At a minimum, it seems to me that it is incumbent on the government to flesh out in far more detail where the limits, where the guardrails, are around the commission, so that we aren’t basically adopting a ‘trust us’ approach with respect to the commission,” said Geist.

Parliament is expected to take up consideration of the bill in committee soon and Laidlaw argued that some aspects deserve speedy passage while others require far more sober consideration.

“The Online Harms Bill could be passed with minor tinkering,” she said. The Criminal Code provisions, she said, give her serious concerns and deserve major revisions or complete scrapping. She also struggles with changing the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Geist agreed on taking the bill apart.

“I would separate out the bill,” he said. Criminal Code and Human Rights Act amendments deserve much deeper consideration, he said. The online harms piece, he said, could be tidied up and passed with tweaks.

Isolated, tired, disappointed

A “Toronto for Palestine” protest Oct. 28, 2023. In the last six months, across Canada, such protests have often featured calls for violence against or the death of Jews. (photo by Sikander Iqbal)

In the past six months, protesters have targeted Jewish community buildings and synagogues in Montreal and the Toronto area. Jewish student group Hillel has also been a prime target for anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment at Canadian universities, including in Vancouver. Similar protests caused the Art Gallery of Ontario to cancel an event with the Canadian and Italian prime ministers over security concerns. A man in Vancouver was charged with hate-related crimes over the defacing of Israeli hostage posters.

These are just a few examples of organized anti-Israel protests, often with calls for violence against or the death of Jews, on the streets and campuses across the country. Much of this activity is met with silence or borderline anti-Jewish remarks from many elected officials and leaders.

Trans and queer rights are also under attack in Canada with the premier of Alberta’s recent announcement of sweeping new anti-trans policies and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe’s use last year of the notwithstanding clause in the Charter to push through a law requiring parental consent for children under 16 who want to change their names or pronouns at school.

The confluence of these events and the ongoing need to carefully navigate the intersectionality of their identities has left many queer Jews feeling isolated, tired and disappointed.

Queer communities in Canada have long trended toward a pro-Palestinian point of view, often reflected in clashes over whether certain Jewish groups should be allowed to march in pride parades, Aviva Rathbone, board chair of JQT, a Vancouver-based Jewish queer and trans organization, told the Independent.

“Right now, what it means is that many of the Jews in the queer community, especially Israelis, but also Jews who would maybe call themselves Zionists or who feel complex about the situation in Israel and Gaza, are not welcome in queer communities,” she said.

“I did not know there was such thing as an anti-Zionist Jew until I moved to Canada,” said Ari Fremder, a 33-year-old who works in Vancouver’s animation industry. Fremder is originally from Zimbabwe.

As a trans person who is also autistic and introverted, Fremder said, they don’t leave their house very often anymore because of the anti-Jewish protests, posters and stickers – that frequently incite violence against Jews – in their neighbourhood.

They used to go to local queer events but said they don’t feel safe anymore, as many groups are pro-Palestinian and openly state Zionists are not welcome.

“I feel a lot safer being queer in the Jewish community than I feel safe being Jewish in the queer community,” said Jessie, a 21-year-old student and environmental activist in Ontario, who asked not to use their real name.

As one of few Jewish queer people in Halifax, Schuyler H. Smith said they are facing “more hate” than they’ve ever faced in that city.

The 33-year-old diversity consultant agreed that it’s more comfortable to be part of a Jewish than a queer community right now. They will, often with trepidation, reach out privately when they see antisemitic comments and remarks from queer community members, to try to dispel myths about Jews as white colonialists or as non-indigenous to Israel, for example.

Smith hopes one-on-ones can make people think twice before posting negative comments or memes about Jews.

Anti-trans policies in Alberta and Saskatchewan, attacks and protests at drag queen story times and other “parental rights” actions across the country are also taking a toll on members of the LGBTQ2S+ community.

“I’m scared, honestly, for young trans people who need this care and are being interfered with by politicians,” said Cas Allen, a 21-year-old university student in Victoria who says access to hormone blockers changed his life when he was 15.

Ezra, a 39-year-old trans teacher in Calgary, who prefers not to use his real name, said the government is pushing a lot of misinformation, but he’s heartened by the pushback from the queer community.

He’s committed to being a visible queer influence in his school, which has a high number of new Canadian immigrants.

“If there were any queer kids in the class, they could see themselves reflected,” he said, “and [I can give] them a safe adult to confide in [while] they decided who they are.”

Allen, who grew up in a religious Jewish family in Alberta, said since he transitioned, he has “recreated” his queer Jewish identity “from the ground up” but he’s once again finding it “complicated and messy” to reconcile both those parts of himself.

He said he feels isolated and unable to talk about his feelings regarding Israel and his Jewishness to the LGBTQ2S+ people he knows. He said the only person he can really confide in is his twin sister.

Queer spaces on university campuses tend to be very pro-Palestinian and are forcing students to choose between their Jewishness and being queer, said Rabbi Seth Goren, executive director of Jewish student group Hillel Ontario, which has a presence at nine universities in the province.

“I think that’s a choice that queer Jewish students shouldn’t have to make,” he said.

Many Jewish students feel like there is no place where the conflict isn’t swirling around them, added Rabbi Kylynn Cohen of Hillel BC. She said she’s had to help students who, after Oct. 7, couldn’t go to classes because of the anti-Jewish rhetoric, both from student groups and in classrooms.

Cohen said she sees more Jewish students hanging out in the Hillel building on the University of British Columbia campus, seeing it as a safe space. Many queer students have told her they go to straight bars to unwind now rather than congregating in gay spaces.

photo - Vancouver skyline at night — From Vancouver to Halifax, many queer Jews are feeling unsafe and isolated because of the increase in anti-Jewish and anti-trans sentiment since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel and the ensuing Israel-Hamas war. *(photo by Maximilian Ruther / Pexels)*

Many student-run groups and education-related unions have come out with strong anti-Israel statements. Six Canadian universities are facing class action lawsuits over anti-Jewish hate speech, threats against Jewish students on campus, and the silencing of Jewish voices.

There are also dozens of reports of Jewish students being shouted at, punched and spat on by anti-Israel protesters at universities across the country. Ontario student Jessie said, even though they’re at a university with a large Jewish population, there is constantly an “uncomfortableness” between their two intersecting identities.

Like many LGBTQ2S+ Jews, their stance on Israel is multi-faceted but they said they’re frustrated and have lost friends in the queer community who aren’t open to the nuances of how different Jewish people are feeling or to seeing the Jewish community as anything other than homogenous “white settler colonialist[s].”

Jessie wears a Star of David necklace but said they now often hide or remove it, including during their local drag king performances at which other performers have made pro-Palestinian tributes. They say they’d be “canceled” if they shared their support for the hostages or Israeli citizens during a show.

“There’s no space even for me to mourn or to acknowledge my feelings and what’s happening,” said Jessie.

There are, however, some Jewish queers for whom the past few months have been a time of solidarity and community building.

Non-binary Toronto artist Sadie Epstein-Fine said they are Jewish but were raised as an anti-Zionist. They’re a member of a group called Jews Say No to Genocide, whose membership is almost all queer Jews. Since Oct. 7, they say they’ve been “entirely surrounded by queer Jews” in a busy, activist environment.

They admit to looking white and acknowledge the privilege that brings, also recognizing that antisemitism is on the rise but saying they’ve been fortunate not to have felt it personally.

“We’re more concerned about Palestinian safety than we are about our safety,” Epstein-Fine said of their group members.

Beyond campuses, the past six months have seen bomb threats and attacks against Jewish schools and businesses, as well antisemitic graffiti and a rising number of other hate crimes aimed at Jews across the country. Police forces in some cities have enlarged their hate crimes units and set up hate-crime reporting centres in Jewish areas.

Darren Sukonick, 53, a Toronto businessman who has been involved with Jewish charities and community groups for decades, said he was surprised and disappointed at how widespread and swift anti-Jewish sentiment was across Canada after Oct. 7. He said he never thought he’d ever experience levels of hate like he’s seeing now.

“It was like being on a hike, turning over a log and seeing all this vermin crawling out from under it. That’s what it felt like,” he said.

On the other hand, Sukonick said many non-Jewish friends have reached out and shown support.

Calgary teacher Ezra said he frequently hears racist and hate speech about Jews, but not aimed at him, from his Grade 7 students. When he hears it, he addresses it with the kids in an effort to get them to see different points of view.

Sometimes, it’s easier to get out of bed and deal with all the negativity being hurled at both the trans and Jewish communities, said Ezra. Other days, he said, it takes a greater toll on his mental health.

Gail J. Cohen is an award-winning Toronto-based writer, editor and communicator.

Journalists partly to blame

Journalist Tristin Hopper speaks with an audience member after his talk at Congregation Schara Tzedeck Jan. 14. (photo by Pat Johnson)

Canada has plenty of dark chapters in its history. But, in terms of sheer malice, nothing compares to the celebration of mass murder seen in this country after Oct. 7, according to National Post commentator Tristin Hopper – and he says the media bears part of the blame.

Hopper, who lives in Victoria, spoke at Congregation Schara Tzedeck Jan. 14. He said he massively misjudged Canadian reactions to the violence perpetrated by Hamas and its collaborators, sketching out how he says he thought things would play out.

“I thought there would be ‘Pray with Israel’ placards displayed conspicuously outside mosques and Muslim community centres,” said Hopper. “I thought there would be Israeli flags seamlessly hung next to Ukraine flags in windows of public buildings and public libraries. I thought that Arab and Palestinian Canadians would gather in impromptu ‘Not in our name’ rallies to condemn Hamas. And then, after about a week or two, I thought this whole thing would basically disappear from the headlines.

“You’ll forgive my startling naïveté because obviously very little of that happened and in many cases the exact opposite happened,” said Hopper. “Canada was instead greeted with the largest and most sustained outpouring of hate in our entire history.”

Hopper, who clarified that he was not speaking on behalf of the National Post, said he writes frequently about the darker moments in Canada’s past, such as Japanese-Canadian internment, race-specific land covenants, Indian residential schools and the pro-fascist and antisemitic sentiments that Canada’s longest-serving prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King shared in his diary.

“In all that, you never once, in all our 160 years, had what we saw in the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7,” he said. “We’ve had KKK rallies, anti-Catholic rallies by the Orange Order, race riots, pro-terror demonstrations by extremist Khalistanis, but not like this. Coordinated rallies in every single time zone, whose sole motivating purpose was to celebrate the deaths of civilians.”

This surprised him, Hopper said, but it did not surprise his Jewish friends.

“They had been telling it to me for years,” he said. “Did I think that Canada had antisemites? Yes, lots of them. But if you had asked me three months ago, I would have told you that however large a constituency of antisemites, they were Canadians and a Canadian knows that this is a place where primal hatreds are repressed and prejudice is not welcome.”

Hopper chastised the media for failing to dig into the nature of the groups organizing rallies in Canada.

“You may have heard of these peace rallies that keep blockading roads, desecrating war memorials and [that] intimidated Christmas shoppers [and assumed] they are just concerned citizens who want an end to violence,” he said. Instead, the social media feeds of some of these groups are packed with celebrations of violence, antisemitism and calls for the destruction of Israel.

Among the problems, he contends, is that there are some Palestinian advocacy organizations that exaggerate or lie and media repeat their statements without challenge.

“You refer to terror detainees as political prisoners, you call Israel an apartheid state, you obfuscate or deny every Palestinian terror attack, you circulate faked photos, you launder terrorist propaganda,” he said of some Canadian activists. “You don’t merely misrepresent Israeli actions, you invent Israeli actions that never existed. You use the word ‘genocide’ so often that it’s basically punctuation. Any time someone is killed who had a minor communications role with Hamas, you refer to them as a journalist. This is a level of brazen mendacity that you just do not encounter from any other political movement. You’ll get exaggerations, you’ll get omissions, you’ll get disingenuousness, faulty premises, but you’re probably not going to encounter someone who just lies about everything.”

He is not without sympathy for the journalists.

“How are you going to cover that in a typical 500-word piece of he said/she said news story?” he asked.

He read from one news report: “City Hall today saw 100 people gathered for a ‘stop the genocide’ rally. Demonstrators at a counter-rally said they support Israel.”

“OK, you got both sides there,” he said. “But if you are looking to tell the truth here, you would need an extended essay on how the genocide accusation is utterly unhinged from reality and overlooks how the people who organize this rally handed out candy on Oct. 7.”

There is no context of the larger geopolitical situation or how this particular conflict started, he said.

“You’re not getting into the history of rejected peace offers, why Hamas is subject to repeated blockades, repeated rocket attacks, none of these are in these stories,” Hopper said, adding that voices supporting terrorism are given equal time with voices defending Israel. “The extremist line on this issue is either favoured or at least equated as being morally equivalent to Israel.”

In a country where the vast majority of Jews support Israel, he said, media will enthusiastically give platforms to those who don’t.

Hopper believes that Canadian journalism is experiencing a replica of what he sees as having happened in academia.

“An activist element took over and are now, in the words of one critic, wearing the institution like a skin suit and demanding respect,” he said.

He was speaking just after the PuSh Festival announced they were canceling The Runner, basically because it featured a Jewish Israeli protagonist. In the arts community, Hopper said, activists with an agenda have infiltrated different organizations and bodies in a way that he compares with interest groups who get themselves elected to school boards because few people pay attention to such things and then parents suddenly discover their children are being taught creationism instead of evolution.

Hopper’s appearance was sponsored by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and Schara Tzedeck, whose Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt introduced the program. Shelley Rivkin and Raquel Hirsch had the idea to invite Hopper to speak after being encouraged by his columns in the aftermath of Oct. 7.