Speak up for CJC

Letters

Editor: A uniquely democratic and Canadian organization is about to be disbanded.

For 85 years, Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) has been the vehicle through which every single member of the Canadian Jewish community had the opportunity to contribute to community debate, to vote on policy issues and to elect our community representatives who would represent us to government, to our partners in the Canadian multi-cultural community and who would advocate on our behalf on issues of human rights, and social justice.

It was Canadian Jewish Congress and the grassroots community members who fought so long and hard for Soviet Jewry. It was Canadian Jewish Congress where you heard and participated in debate on immigration issues, on the progress of human rights and social justice in Canada, and where the case of Nazi war criminals in Canada was made a national issue.

CJC was never like any other organization. It was flexible and open. It attracted academics, intellectuals, people from every political persuasion and every socio-economic level of the community. The causes and passions of our community were expressed through the activist network of Canadian Jewish Congress.

The boards rooms, annual meetings and plenary assemblies were the places to participate in and listen to vigorous debate, to strategize among ourselves on what approach to take to issues of importance to our community. This was where we would vote and decide collectively what the policies would be. Sometimes the result would be that there is no majority view, not even a consensus. There was healthy, open and honest discussion, the sign of a healthy community, welcoming of various view points, respectful of each other in the conduct of good citizenship. People in leadership positions understood that they had an obligation to our community, combined with a deep respect for Canada, the democratic system and multi-cultural values.

Unless there is a large-scale movement across Canada voicing support for Canadian Jewish Congress as an independent, grassroots, democratic organization, the Federation system will shut it down. We will no longer have a voice on policy issues, we will no longer have a one-person, one-vote system. All decisions will be made "at the top."

No one can speak for me, unless I give them the authority to do so. Who is going to represent my Jewish interests in Canada to the government? Who is going to examine the local high school textbooks my grandchildren will be given to make sure the Holocaust is accurately represented. Who will monitor the state of immigration policies in the Jewish community interests? Who will work with the city police department on community security issues? What is going to happen to the longstanding relationships developed over many years between our community and ethnic and religious neighbors. What about the media? Where will I go when I am worried about anti-Semitism and racism in the public domain.

It has taken 85 years for the Jewish community to reach the current level of participation and significance in Canadian cultural and political society and it will take less than one month to destroy it all.

I don't support the philosophy that a very small group of individuals should dictate to the rest of us what our interests should be. Congress has always responded to the needs of the community through its grassroots, community-based voice of the people and, if the people were given the chance to speak, Congress would listen.

Who will listen without Congress and is anybody listening now?

Renee Switzer
Vancouver

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