Canada is dealing with an antisemitism crisis, as hate crimes have reached unprecedented levels in recent years – so much so that many Canadian Jews are leaving or looking to leave the country. That’s why Prime Minister Mark Carney’s national address on Canada’s antisemitism crisis was significant. Carney said plainly what Jewish Canadians have experienced for years: antisemitism in this country is “specific, severe, and demands a targeted response.” He went further, saying that the covenant that makes Canada possible is being tested by the scourge of antisemitism.
Although his words mattered, speeches do not protect Jewish children at school or remove radical mobs from campuses. They do not stop synagogues from being firebombed or shot at, Jewish businesses from being vandalized, or Jewish Canadians from being driven out of public spaces.
Words only matter if they are followed by actions. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister’s speech was followed by the announcement of an advisory council tasked first with further evaluating a crisis that has already been studied extensively, and which includes individuals who are not suited to lead government action on antisemitism.
The creation of an advisory council does not match the urgency of the situation the Prime Minister described nor what is needed to restore the Canadian covenant to its Jewish Canadians.
Next steps Prime Minister Carney’s advisory council should take
Step 1: The first step in addressing Canada’s antisemitism crisis is to state the problem clearly. Like everywhere else, antisemitism in Canada is being driven today by three forces: the far right, the far left, and Islamism. These forces do not share the same worldview or use the same vocabulary, but they increasingly arrive at the same destination: the demonization of Jews and their ancestral and spiritual homeland, the normalization of anti-Zionist hatred, and the targeting of Jewish Canadians because of their connection to Israel.
It has been said repeatedly that legitimate criticism of Israeli government policy is not antisemitism. But denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination is, as is holding Canadian Jews collectively responsible for Israel and its actions. Harassing Jewish students because they identify with Israel and treating Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, as uniquely evil is also antisemitism, and these are all things Canadian Jews have experienced in recent months and years.
A government that refuses to name anti-Zionist antisemitism cannot effectively fight antisemitism. Canada has also exacerbated the problem by disproportionately and harshly criticizing the Jewish State.
Step 2: End government-funded and government-tolerated hate. This is not an abstract concern. It is happening now, and the government can do something about it.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), a federal government agency, is receiving waves of complaints from anti-Israel activists targeting Jewish charities and Jewish schools. Some allege wrongdoing by institutions whose real offense is that they educate Jewish children, teach Jewish identity, and recognize the historic connection between the Jewish people and Israel.
The CRA must not become an instrument for campaigns of political intimidation and weaponization against Jewish Canadians. Even if every complaint is processed under the neutral language of regulation, context matters. When thousands of ideologically motivated complaints are directed at Jewish institutions during an unprecedented antisemitism crisis, government must exercise judgment.
The danger is profound. When Jewish charities are targeted through federal machinery, confidence is shattered. Canadian Jews begin to wonder whether the state is protecting them or empowering those marginalizing them. That is not paranoia, but the lived consequence of government institutions being captured or manipulated by hostile actors. It is also an affront to the Canadian covenant that should treat all citizens fairly.
The same principle applies to national, publicly funded institutions. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has a duty to present history accurately and responsibly. It is about to inaugurate a problematic exhibit on the ‘Nakba.’ Any exhibit addressing refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that excludes the experience of more than 850,000 Jews displaced from Arab and Muslim countries would not be education; it would be erasure. A publicly funded museum cannot present a distorted narrative that turns Jewish history into an inconvenience, delegitimizes the Jewish people’s right to self-determination, demonizes Jewish achievements and relegates Jewish suffering.
Most concerning of all, the exhibit’s development lacks transparency and is based on the contribution of an advisory council made up of activists who have demonized Israel and its supporters. This is another example of a failure to apply standards evenly to all and of a breach of the Canadian covenant.
Canada’s covenant also applies to its Jewish community
The Canadian government cannot fight antisemitism one day and tolerate its institutionalization on another. It cannot condemn hate in speeches while allowing public bodies, public funds, or public authority to be used against Jewish life.
The Canadian covenant means that all Canadians should be treated by the same rules and standards no matter where they come from. As the Prime Minister rightly said, when the “covenant fails for one of our communities, it fails us all.”
For the sake of all Canadians, and especially the Jewish community that is suffering the highest levels of antisemitism since World War II, the covenant must be restored immediately. Not with another committee or another carefully worded statement. But with courage, enforcement, accountability, and the moral clarity this moment demands.
Richard Marceau is Senior Vice President & General Counsel for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
This op-ed is published in partnership with a coalition of organizations that fight antisemitism across the world. Read the previous article by Ohad Merlin.
Source:
www.jpost.com
