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June 6, 2008
Security is on the table
Roundtable addresses some concerns of minorities.
ARASH BEN SHAUL
The Cross-Cultural Roundtable for Security (CCRS), a panel of community leaders who advise the federal government on matters of national security and public safety, has appointed five new members. One of them is Dr. Frank Dimant, the current executive vice-president of B'nai Brith Canada. Dimant will represent the Jewish community in the 15-member roundtable, which includes representatives of the Sikh, First Nations, Muslim and various other ethnic groups.
The son of Holocaust survivors, Dimant has been a lifelong community leader both in Canada and Israel. He is also the publisher of one of Canada's largest Anglo-Jewish publications, the Jewish Tribune. Dimant expressed happiness at his appointment to the roundtable and said he has full confidence that it will help the government provide better security for Canadians and for the Jewish community.
The CCRS was created three years ago to establish a dialogue between the government and various Canadian communities on matters of national security and public safety. Although the government's security policies aim to protect all Canadians, the security measures affect every group in Canada differently. As a result, each community has its own unique concerns related to the government's safety and security measures. For instance, the Muslim and East Indian communities are concerned with racial profiling and with reforming the Anti-Terrorism Act, whereas the First Nations communities are mainly concerned with diversity in the RCMP and with the quality of training and sensitivity of front-line security officials.
The Jewish community, however, is concerned with something altogether different. "We are the only community that faces a real threat of violence and terrorism," said Dimant in a phone interview with the Jewish Independent. "We have to constantly stay alert to protect our day schools, our community centres, our synagogues. No one else has to do that. We need much more than anti-terrorism legislation and border security to be safe."
Commenting on the benefits of the CCRS to the Jewish community, Dimant said, "We have been trying to build relationships with the government, the RCMP and with other communities already and we will continue to do so. This just gives us an easier way to do that."
However, the most important contribution of the CCRS to the Jewish community, said Dimant, is that it directly involves other communities and the government in the challenging task of protecting Canada's Jews from violence and terrorism. Since they hear the Jewish community's concerns regularly at the roundtable meetings, they can no longer say that they are not aware of them. "I'm very vocal in these meetings," said Dimant. "I speak in clear and no uncertain terms about the extraordinary security challenges of the Jewish community."
The concept of a CCRS was built into the Harper government's National Security Policy – a document outlining the government's strategy for providing safety and security to Canadians. The office of minister for public safety, Stockwell Day, stated that the government takes the advice of CCRS very seriously and its recommendations are routinely incorporated into the government's security measures.
One of the actions the federal government has taken to address the CCRS recommendations is to earmark special funds for communities whose safety and security needs cannot be adequately addressed by the RCMP. The Jewish community is one of the main beneficiaries of these funds. "Basically, they give us matching funds," said Dimant. "Whatever amount of money we raise to invest in safety for the Jewish community ourselves, the government has agreed to give us an equal amount to use."
Dimant praised the Conservative government, especially Day, for taking real measures to address the Jewish community's security concerns. "We have been trying to educate the government for a very long time about the need to do something about the extraordinary security problems facing the Jewish community.... Only this government has taken real measures to address them, the roundtable on security is one of those important measures."
Day also commended Dimant, along with the other newly appointed members of CCRS, for their commitment to helping the government. "The input of these new members, all leaders in their communities, will be instrumental in matters affecting national security," said Day. "Through valuable partnerships such as the roundtable, we are continuing in our efforts to protect Canadians and build a mutual understanding of Canada's diverse and pluralistic society."
Arash Ben Shaul is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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