Centre For Israel And Jewish Affairs Censors Holocaust Survivers

Bernie Farber's new column for the CJN is now on-line.  Its about the crummy manner in which the Canadian government has treated the Pusemas, a family of Hungarian refugees which includes a six year old girl named Lulu.  What I'm particularly interested in is this bit:

Lets be clear: CIJA is financially muscling a group of holocaust survivors for protesting the behavior of the current government.  Why?  Well:

Of course this is only speculation.  But if so, CIJA and these other organizations have transformed themselves into a single issue advocacy groups, trading their ability to speak out generally for a single paltry policy stance from the current government.

Since the Canadian Jewish Holocaust Survivors wrote their letter regardless, it appears that all CIJA et al have managed to accomplish is to muzzle themselves.

The Things CIJA Must Do

CIJA is the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, an advocacy group for the Canada's Jewish community.  Arguably, there are things they have to do.  Arguably, they have to go shmoozing at wing-dings  thrown by the government of the day.

Arguably, they do NOT have to swap drinks with the likes of Ezra Levant, whose media career has been a series of brushes with the hate crimes unit, and the CBSC, the CBSC, and the CBSC again, for spreading hate the Roma, Indians, and others too numerous to count.

Show a little class, CIJA.

CIJA On Designated Countries Of Origin

In response to Kenney's list, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs remains relatively mush-mouthed, but notes the following points of concern:

However, we believe there are two key deficiencies in the DCO regulations that should be addressed. First, there are no clear provisions for how a designated country could be removed from the list should the situation there merit a re-evaluation. Second, DCO applicants awaiting a ruling by the IRB only have access to the same basic healthcare coverage extended to failed claimants awaiting deportation. We propose that DCO refugee applicants receive the same health coverage as non-DCO applicants awaiting adjudication of their claims, especially given their expedited evaluation process.

As others have pointed out previously, the CBC story says that giving the EU a clan bill of health, whatever the conditions on the ground in countries like Hungary "...removes a major irritant in the process of negotiating a Canadian trade agreement with the EU".  Interestingly enough, CIJA is "encouraged by" this latter country's recent attempts to protect its Roma and Jewish populations.  I suppose they're thinking  about stuff like this.

Who Has Sponsored The Shaidle's Latest Israel Trip?

Last time around, it was emphatically not Canada-Israel Committee (CIC),  though one of their reps went along.  The whole junket was planned in (semi) secret, as though the sponsor was ashamed of what they were carting along with them, and when a picture of the CIC rep in question appeared on the website of Shaidle's hubby, it was swiftly disappeared.  Now the CIC has been folded into CIJA; so are these folks behind the latest adventure of Canada's most famous racist couple?  That would be extremely disappointing.

The Roma, Jason Kenny, And The University of Haifa

The Roma Community Centre of Toronto, Canada has sent a letter--their second, because their first from earlier this month has not been responded to--to the University of Haifa in Northern Israel, asking that the University "reconsider granting an honorary doctorate to [Minister for Citizenship and Immigration] Jason Kenney", due to the fact that he's been trashing Roma refugees from Hungary in the name of "law and order" for the past six months.

There's even a connection to Roma hater Ezra Levant, The Ez being

...a member of the Canadian Friends of Haifa University’s Tribute Committee organizing the Nov. 4 ceremony to award Mr. Kenney the University of Haifa degree.

Whether U-of-Haifa wants to give Kenney a medal is their own business, obviously, but I do think they owe the RCC the courtesy of a response and an explanation.  You can find the email of their Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development through the link, if you want to pitch in.  I would note that almost  all of Canada's Jewish community groups, including the Tory-friendly CIJA, have expressed concern over the government's bill C-31, which would stigmatize Roma refugee claimants.

CIJA On Bill C-31: Disagreeing Without Being Disagreeable?

I wrote not too long ago about CIJA's (The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs)  meager response to Bill C-31.   Now The Centre has issued a meatier statement on the legislation.  While its tenor of the backgrounder is, in general,  kissy-assy towards the Harper government,  in the end it concludes:

...there are certain areas where small but significant improvements should be considered by the government:

Clear provisions should be included for how a designated country could be removed from the DCO list should the situation there warrant a re-evaluation;

In our view, DCO refugee applicants should have access to the same health coverage as non-DCO claimants, especially in light of the potential cost savings derived from the shortened processing time established by Bill C-31.

Care should be taken to avoid separating families that are part of an irregular arrival, particularly those with children under 16 who might not be detained with their parents. Once an irregular arrival claimant’s identity and status have been confirmed and they have been concretely determined to be a legitimate refugee, they should be treated the same as all other successful refugee claimants and not subjected to a five year waiting period before they can sponsor their families to join them.

Tone aside, as far as I can tell this puts CIJA more or less on the same page as The Toronto Board of Rabbis, Elie Wiesel , and other critics of the legislation within the Canadian Jewish community.  Certainly in regards to the health coverage enjoyed DCO refugee claimants.  On the topic of claimants from DCO nations that are safe for their majority populations, but unsafe for certain minority groups within the country (example: the Roma in Hungary), CIJA takes a somewhat weaker position, asking for clarification of what needs to happen for a state to move from the DCO to non-DCO list.  And I haven't hear anyone else object to the five year waiting period (although that may be because I haven't paid sufficient attention). 


Still waiting for BB to chime in.  They have remained notably silent over the past month or so.

Refugee Health Cutbacks: Canadian Jewish Groups Respond (Or Not)

Since the negative consequences of Bill C-31 have become apparent over the last month or so--for example,  many refugee claimants will lose access to life-saving drugs such as insulin, and to preventive care--several Jewish organizations have expressed concerns with the law.  They have been especially troubled by those sections of it relating to the prevention of illegitimate refugee claims.  Designating countries like Hungary as "safe" would  make it near impossible for  claims from Hungarian Roma to succeed, even though the country is far from safe for this particular minority group.  And due to their common experiences of persecution during the 2nd World War, the Jewish and Roma communities have often been thought to share an historical bond.


The Toronto Board of Rabbis has spoken out in an open letter to the PM.  The Montreal Holocaust Centre has also gone public with its objections.  Even noble Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel has  stepped into the fray.  But what of those groups typically seen as speaking for the Canadian Jewish diaspora as a whole?  


Well, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) has issued a statement that comes across as both minimalist and mush-mouthed.  From the Globe article linked above:


Shimon Fogel, the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said his organization agrees with many of the changes the Conservative government has made to refugee policy and with the goal of preventing bogus claims. But, with regard to the health benefits, “we have some concerns, and we have registered some of them with the government.”

So, in other words, kiss the Roma good-by.  And CIJA's other objections will apparently be  whispered to the relevant government minister behind closed doors where they can be noted and then safely ignored.

B'nai Brith's position on the legislation, on the other hand, is a complete mystery.  They've said nothing in the newspapers or on their website that I can find, and have not (yet) responded to the email I sent them.  Perhaps, however, this story from June 26th offers a clue.  In it, a human rights lawyer named David Matas is quoted at length, as he is representing a number of church groups who have challenged C-31 in court.  And good on him for that.  But not mentioned anywhere in the piece is the fact that Mr. Matas is senior legal counsel to B'nai Brith Canada.  Now, Mr. Matas has done considerable  good work outside of BB, but it nevertheless seems significant to me that in the case of Bill C-31 he has been forced to act without the imprimatur of the organization he is most closely associated with

So why the silence/near-silence from Canada's two most important Jewish organizations?  Well, one can only speculate, and so I would speculate  that they have already been courted by the Harper government in the form of its unrelenting support for Israel.  Here, as in the case of Bill C-304, the government has asked for their silence as a quid pro quo.  To me that sounds like a crummy deal, but it seems one that they have been willing to make.

CIJA Head On Section 13

Looks like Shimon Fogel has plumped for a repeal:

Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said that he believed that “there has been an acknowledgement that changes to the Criminal Code would be necessary in addition to passage of the (private member’s ) bill.” While Fogel said he supports repealing Section 13, he believed Storseth’s bill was “not entirely adequate as an alternative to Section 13.

This is not eontirely surprising.  The rumour is that the criminal code changes Fogel wants will involve removing the requirement that the AG approve charges.  That has been one of the impediments that have made using the code in such circumstances problematic.

Sorry for the link to Lemire's site, incidentally.  The original piece from the Cold Lake Sun appears to be unreachable.

Free Speech Throwdown: Warman Vs. Des Rosiers

I attended the Freedom of Speech and Hate Speech in Canada debate held by CIJA last night, pitting Richard Warman against Nathalie Des Rosiers of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.  I intended to live-blog the event with my new, incredibly sexxxy Acer Iconia, but the place didn't have wifi, so these remarks are just off the cuff.

And I won't say much about the debate itself, because frankly I'd heard most of it before.  RW was thorough and logical in his responses, and most of his jokes worked.  Des Rosiers was passionate, but I found her vague in places.  Her objection to S13 being that someone's right to free speech somewhere might get chilled somewhat some day...though she couldn't point to concrete instances of this actually having happened.  My impression is that the majority of the room was in Warman's corner.

I chatted briefly with Meir Weinstein, who is a civil enough fellow in person.  If I were to summarize his current views, it is that the white supremacist movement has been entirely supplanted by radical Islamists as a threat to the Canadian Jewish community (mostly by being a threat to Israel), and that really the latter group are the only ones worth pursuing these days.  I think he's dead wrong, or at least that it isn't an either/or (but not both!) proposition.  And I don't see why he would want to see S13 discarded as one of the tools in the tool-kit for fighting hate, whatever the source of that hate.

As a side note, Meir and the gang (including possibly a small contingent from the Canadian Hindu Advocacy) will be driving up to Quebec later this month (the 26th, I think) to protest Huntingdon Mayor Stephane Gendron's recent remarks on the Israel/Palestine conflict.  These are the latest in a series of inflammatory statements by the fellow, and a few have clearly strayed over the line into Anti-Semitism.  More power to Meir and Co., then, but be careful--don't get yourselves lynched out there in the back-country!

Gary Harding, the only Canadian to be convicted of hate-mongering under the criminal code, was also in attendance.  And, minus the beard, he looks astoundingly like Dr. Dawg.  And that's not a joke or an attempt to insult the Dawg; Harding even had the same style of hat.  I almost went up and said hello, but noticed a mad gleam in his eye (Dawg also has a gleam in his eye from years of NDP indoctrination, but its a slightly different gleam.  That's how I could tell the difference).  I didn't catch much of what Harding said to the people around him; however, a couple of them looked as though they wanted to change seats but were too polite.

It doesn't seem like anyone from Free Dominion showed up, through apparently several of them watched via webcast.  That's a pity, because  there was a FreeD guy sitting next to me at the Lemire hearing whose name, and a DNA sample, I wanted to collect this time out for inclusion on my personal enemies list. 

Went out for drinks later with Bernie Farber and other notables from the old CJC.  Almost all of our discussion was ruled officially "off the record", and will remain so, because I don't want to get sued nine ways from sideways.  However, the general sense seemed to be that this was all window dressing and, no matter where CIJA eventually comes down on the issue of section 13 (they're currently fence-sitting), its gone which--given how hard it is to get the police to act on a hate speech complaint via the criminal code--means Canada will have no viable legal means of combating hate speech.  There have been hints dropped that, as a replacement, the Tories will move to make the criminal code provisions easier to use, but nothing concrete so far.  In any case, we shall see.  There will be a fight in the HOC over Storseth's bill to repeal the measure; so far nobody from the NDP or Liberals has come out in support.  And surprises can happen, even in a majority parliament.

Finally, Ron Bannerjee of the Canadian Hindu Advocacy was apparently in attendance, but I did not meet him.  Which is also a pity: one of my readers recently commented that the guy was an honest to goodness porn star, which remark I deleted as possibly defamatory.  Maybe Ron could clear this up, though.  If its true, my hat is off.

CIJA Struggles For Cred

I've written about  the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) a number of times, mostly in regards to their backing away from the fight against organized hate speech in Canada for an "Israel, Israel, let's talk Israel 24/7" approach to human rights issues.  It appears I'm not the only one who views them skeptically:

“It is not clear to me who CIJA represents. Unlike [Canadian Jewish] Congress, whose officers were elected by a body representing organizations and communities across Canada, CIJA seems to be a self-appointed body, beholden only to a very small group of extremely influential backers. This transformation is a major defeat for democracy in the Canadian Jewish community,” Rabbi Scheim [, spiritual leader of Toronto’s Beth David B’nai Israel Beth Am Synagogue] said.

Interesting too that Stockwell Day is on CIJA's BOD, given his past.