Correspondence and Speeches

Sep 16, 2003 - CJC

Presentation on Antisemitism in Canada

CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS
NATIONAL PRESENTATION ON ANTISEMITISM IN CANADA
TO THE U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR
ON CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
AND XENOPHOBIA

Ottawa, September 16, 2003

Introduction

Founded in 1919, Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), a non-profit human rights organization, is the democratic decision-making body for the Canadian Jewish community, whose status it upholds and whose interests it represents. At the outset, CJC expresses deep appreciation that the Special Rapporteur has included antisemitism as one of the core issues for his probe into racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia in Canada, particularly in view of the insidious efforts by certain member states of the United Nations, in New York and Geneva especially, to deny antisemitism its due place in any examination of contemporary racism. We are also pleased that he has focused the session on antisemitism as targeting the Jewish community and not some specious wider attack on so-called “Semitic peoples.” (See Appendix A)

The Jewish Community of Canada

The community dates back to the 18th century and its members come from all parts of the world. Today it numbers approximately 370,000, constituting 1.1% of the Canadian population. Well over half reside in the country’s three largest cities - Toronto (180,000), Montreal (93,000) and Vancouver (22,500). There are many other cities with smaller yet self-sufficient Jewish communities of varying size.

Despite the presence in Canada of elements who would destroy social harmony, Canada’s democracy, its commitment to social justice and the rule of law, and the strength it derives from the diversity of its people through its official policy of multiculturalism, have made it possible for the Jewish community to be one of the most thriving in the Diaspora. The Canadian Jewish community is an excellent example of a well-adjusted minority in a western democracy that has retained and is proud of its unique identity while being fully integrated and contributing immeasurably to Canada.

The scourge of antisemitism, nonetheless, always has confronted the Canadian Jewish community. Its contemporary threatening presence forms part of a continuum dating back to the community’s origins and only temporarily interrupted in the early 1940s, when Canada went to war against the Axis powers.

Antisemitism in Canada

CJC defines antisemitism as the irrational, differential, negative treatment of Jews individually and as a collectivity because of their Jewishness. At the root of this phenomenon is an intellectual and emotional attitude that first finds expression in hate propaganda and the teaching of contempt. Evil words are the necessary precondition for the execution of evil deeds.

Canadian antisemitism in the earlier part of the last century featured quotas and restrictive covenants. It took on a particularly virulent form in the 1930s and at the very beginning of the following decade, when a policy of “none is too many” closed the doors to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Europe. The next wave saw aggressive white supremacist and neo-nazi groups responding to the changing face of an increasingly multicultural Canada with a vitriolic antisemitism incorporating extremist racism and Holocaust denial.

Canadian Jewish Congress successfully fought restrictive land covenants and discrimination in employment and public facilities and was central in the development of human rights codes and commissions across the country. It also played an important role in securing the enactment of laws that make the wilful promotion of hatred and incitement to genocide offences under the Canadian Criminal Code and the acceptance of hate-motivation being regarded as an aggravating factor in sentencing. CJC has battled the hatemongers all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada and shut them down, chasing them out of the classroom and off the airwaves. More recently, it has fought for reasonable regulation of hate on the Internet and has succeeded in eliminating key antisemitic and racist websites.

Anti-Jewish discrimination strongly persisted in the two decades after the end of the Second World War. Today, the situation has changed significantly. Jews are present in all the professions, business, communications, universities and the arts as well as in the various levels of government, the police and the judiciary.

Antisemitism in Canada Today

Roots in Durban and 9/11: Over the past three years and even longer, the Canadian Jewish community, like all its counterparts in the Diaspora, has been gripped by a sense of insecurity as world events have generated new manifestations of antisemitism. It was the United Nations’ anti-racism conference that took place in Durban, from August 28 to September 8, 2001, and the atrocity of September 11 that quickly followed, which encapsulated the new dangers.

The antisemitic hate speech that so intensely manifested itself in a small place within a short time span at Durban was a reflection of an attitude all too current in the world today. The terrorism on September 11 equally manifested itself in a small place within a short time span but was a reflection of a systematic global campaign. It must be stressed that Jews are caught in the centre of the maelstrom and are twice targeted: by terrorism on the one hand and by the domestic repercussions of the Middle East conflict on the other.

The attacks of September 11, 2001, revealed terrorism to the world in all its scope and horror. For the Jewish people, however, the existence of a resilient and sustained international terrorist infrastructure buttressed by an ideology of hate was not news, since Jews are perhaps the only ethno-religious community globally targeted for terrorist violence.

Sleeper Cells and Community Warnings: Canada has not been immune from terrorism, as attested by the heinous bombing in 1985 of Air India flight 182, which murdered 329 people, most of them Canadians and 82 of them children. Thankfully, there has not been a major terrorist attack on its soil. But well prior to 9/11 the presence of terrorist sleeper cells was uncovered in Canadian cities and plans have been revealed for potential attacks by terrorists residing in the country.

In 1998, Mahmoud Jaballah was quickly taken off a contract cleaning crew at Toronto’s Bloor Jewish Community Centre when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police informed the centre’s administrators that he was under investigation for terrorism. Jaballah, born in Egypt and the founder and Principal of a Muslim school in Toronto, has been in detention since 1999 on two security certificates, suspected as belonging to the Al Qaeda - connected group, Al Jihad.

In August 1999, a Montreal-based Algerian terrorist cell with ties to al-Qaeda, considered launching what would have been a devastating attack on Montreal Jews. Members of the cell — Ahmed Ressam, convicted in April 2001 of infiltrating the United States in December 1999 to blow up the Los Angeles airport, and Samir Ait Mohamed, in detention in Vancouver fighting extradition to the United States, — discussed detonating a bomb planted in a loaded gasoline truck at a busy intersection in the neighbourhood of Outremont, site of a large visibly Orthodox Jewish community.

In June 2002, Ottawa police issued an unprecedented public warning of a potential incident directed at an unspecified synagogue.

In November 2002 the media reported that four synagogues in Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg were on what was alleged to be a U.S. State Department list identifying 22 Canadian “landmarks” as possible targets for terrorism.

Middle East Roots: One cannot understand contemporary antisemitism in Canada without an appreciation of its international, and particularly its Middle Eastern, context. Anti- Jewish terror is but an extension of the murderous terrorist campaign directed against the State of Israel in what is an unrelenting geopolitical war. Conversely, antisemitism, which had been a Diaspora phenomenon, also came to target Israel after the re-establishment in 1948 of the modern Jewish State.

Zionism, through the State of Israel — its tangible expression — constitutes for the Jewish people the culmination of its striving for liberation (from perennial persecution), self-determination and self-realization and the fulfillment of its destiny. For the Canadian Jewish community, therefore, Israel is central and the ties with it are very strong.

As many as 400 Canadian Jewish soldiers, as soon as they were discharged from their army service after the Second World War, went to fight heroically for the newly proclaimed and endangered Jewish state while the community provided support in other ways. Canadian Jews of all ages frequently have traveled to and studied as well as worked in Israel and significant numbers have emigrated to it, so that most are tied to the state not only by history, peoplehood and religion but also directly, by family.

Israel, Jews, Zionism and Judaism, in other words, are inextricably intertwined. The number of so-called “non-Zionist Jews” is infinitesimal and the essentially false distinction between Jew and Zionist has been adopted principally by antisemites to mask their Jew-hatred.

Thus, the upsurge in antisemitism in Canada can be directly traced back to the late September 2000 start of the most recent campaign of Palestinian violence against Israel as part of a global pattern that has developed, such that when the Israeli-Arab conflict intensifies there is significant antisemitic spillover among Jewish communities worldwide, as the line between antisemitism and anti-Zionism blurs almost into indistinctness. The Palestinian uprising has sparked a crisis in international antisemitism, largely although not exclusively Middle East prompted or related, the likes of which has not been seen since after the end of the Second World War.

Canada, unfortunately, has not been immune although the antisemitic incidents generally have not been as severe in scope, frequency, violence or malevolence as those in Europe or South America.

Manifestations: Sources documenting this situation indicate a disturbing significant increase in the number of antisemitic incidents, many in the serious category. Hatred has been propagated and incited, institutions and other property have been vandalized, synagogues have been desecrated and firebombed and individuals and groups as well as the community as a whole have been harassed, abused, threatened and attacked.

Out of the various synagogue arsons, there has been an arrest, trial and conviction in only one — the firebombing of Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton on October 31, 2000. Yousef Sandouga, a 22-year-old Jordanian-born Palestinian who immigrated to Canada with his family as a child, ultimately was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for the crime.

Sandouga’s “revenge-based arson,” stated the Alberta Court of Appeal, on August 27, 2002, “... was a terrorist act, a hate crime and an act of religious intimidation...” The Court went on to stress “the need to denounce Sandouga’s actions, and to unequivocally indicate that such hate crimes and terrorist acts will not be countenanced... Such crimes chip away at our human dignity, our fundamental freedoms, our multicultural tolerance and our sense of safety and security… All Canadians are entitled to live, gather and worship without fear of attack.”

Physical attacks on individuals even have included a senseless and tragic murder of a visibly Orthodox Jewish man in Toronto, in July 2002. The alleged killer, a white male (now 21 years old) with no established political affiliation, is under arrest, awaiting trial. The homicide’s circumstances thus far remain unclear. Although the police have not yet determined the larger motive, the murderous act itself could not but have had an antisemitic element, psychologically ingrained in the alleged killer either because of centuries of Western anti-Jewish attitudes or more recent far-right or Middle East-related influences.

In general, Israelis and Jews in Canada have been labeled as dispossessors and murderers. Israel and the Jewish community and their leaders routinely are equated with the Nazi Third Reich and the Star of David with the swastika. The State of Israel and Zionism are characterized as racist and illegitimate.

Such inflammatory language has appeared in a number of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Canada and found its way into statements, phone calls, letters, E-mails, websites and articles. On occasion, the chilling intonation in Arabic of “Death to the Jews” actually has been heard on the streets of Canadian cities.

Certain Arab ambassadors to Canada certainly have not helped the situation through their own intemperate rhetoric. After the tragedy of September 11, the Saudi Ambassador, to deflect the attention that was being directed at Saudi Arabia, blamed the “Zionist lobby” for disseminating lies. He is quoted as saying:

“You find it [the Zionist lobby] everywhere. You find people in government, in the media, in the Parliament ... it’s not a secret... They control the media.”

In January of this year the Lebanese Ambassador, in an interview with an Arabic-language newspaper, singing from the same songbook, held the Zionists and/or Jews (the two are used indistinguishably) responsible for Canada branding Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Elaborating to the National Post, he indicated that:

“I wanted to say exactly that 90% of the mass media in Canada is controlled by Jews or Zionists, and those Jews and Zionists, they are also supported by other organizations in the [United] States.”

Amusingly, he also confessed to the Post that “he might have phrased [the remarks] differently if he were addressing English readers.” This did not stop him from vilifying the Canadian Jewish community once again this past August.

The notion of a world Jewish conspiracy, in one fashion or another perhaps the most enduring antisemitc libel, has formed the basis of the very up-to-date obscene claim that 9-11 was an Israeli-Jewish plot. As conclusive proof, it is falsely claimed that 4,000 Israelis and/or Jews employed at the World Trade Centre did not report for work on the tragic day.

This accusation does violence to the memory of the Jews who perished in the towers and, in classic antisemitic inversion, turns the criminals into innocents and the innocents into criminals. Nonetheless, on September 26, 2001, only two weeks after the atrocity, cars in downtown Calgary were leafleted precisely with this accusation.

The most recent and astonishingly virulent manifestation of antisemitsm has been the outburst of David Ahenakew, a former leader of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and the Assembly of First Nations. On December 13, 2002, Ahenakew, in a speech to a federation meeting in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and in an immediately subsequent interview, blamed Jews for the Second World War, justified their annihilation by Hitler and predicted that through their “killing [of] people in Arab countries,” they would start a Third World War.

Note the connection made with the Middle East, which has become standard fare among many of the antisemites. Ahenakew has since been charged with promoting hatred.

Guy Gavriel Kay, noted Canadian-Jewish novelist and poet, in discussing the Ahenakew affair, perceptively sources the root of current Canadian antisemitism in what he identifies as “the climate of discourse,” an atmosphere “today where things can be said in public that are loathsome... ”

The tone of public discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict certainly has degenerated significantly within the labour movement, NGOs and sectors of the media as well as on campuses. In all too many instances the rhetoric has crossed the line from legitimate vigorous expression of political opinion into antisemitism. This blending of antisemitism and anti-Zionism has manifested itself most concretely on Canadian campuses.

In December 2001, for example, “Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights” distributed, at the University of Ottawa, The Day of Quds, a publication by a group calling itself the Muslim Students Federation. The pamphlet, as an analysis by CJC demonstrates(see Appendix B), is virulently and indeed genocidally antisemitic. The Day of Quds avails itself of classic Judeophobic themes. It purports to concern itself with “Zionist Jews,” who are “false” Jews, but it is readily apparent that the references are to the Jewish people as known from antiquity to the present day. The “true” Jews are unreal figments of the pamphleteer’s imagination.

In September 2002, a riot by anti-Israel protesters prevented Benjamin Netanyahu, a former Prime Minister of the State of Israel, from speaking at Concordia University in Montreal, at an event sponsored by the university’s Jewish Hillel Student Society. The rioters caused considerable damage to property and intimidated and assaulted a number of those seeking to attend.

The eruption of this shameful incident had been in the making for two years. The activity of a virulently anti-Israel element on campus, with the Concordia Student Union (CSU) as a very integral part of it, led to a poisoned atmosphere where Jewish students were intimidated and harassed, to the point that many felt compelled to hide visible signs of their Jewish identity.

The antisemitic poison also has overcome sectors of the New Age fraternity. Emerging from legitimate popular protest and alternative movements, these New Agers have made common cause with far-right world Jewish conspiracists. Fred Kyburz, of Coleman, Alberta, who had his web site, “Patriots on Guard,” shut down by the Canadian Human Rights Commission for the dissemination of antisemitism via the Internet, is an example of an individual straddling these two worlds.

Kyburz began his activities over 10 years ago, faulting Jews for all the evils of mankind and, at the same time, hating the central government and abhorring taxes. More recently, the antisemitism invariably has also been linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

New Age radicals share with the Kyburzes of the world, paranoia, anti-establishmentarianism, anti-imperialism and anti-Israelism, while adding to the mix pro-environmentalism, alternative health practices and anti-globalization. They identify globalization of the world economy with Jews, whom they regard as affluent internationalists.

What makes antisemitism such a formidable enemy is its flexibility, its ability to act as the glue that binds what ordinarily would appear to be the most disparate of elements — rightists with leftists on the political spectrum as well as Islamists and Arabists with Aryan racists. Thus, in Canada, in October 2001 and May 2002, the white supremacist National Alliance distributed leaflets throughout the province of Alberta, blaming 9-11 on American support for Israel and calling for cutting off all aid to the Jewish State.

“Let’s stop being human shields for Israel!” the fliers screamed out, as they favourably quoted from a 1998 interview with arch-terrorist Osama Bin Laden, whom they innocuously described as a “Muslim leader.” The U.S., said bin Laden, must come to realize that Jewish interests are alien to American ones.

It is in the nature of antisemitism always to attempt a move from the periphery to the centre. If it is to be prevented from threatening the status of Canada’s Jewish community it must be kept out of the mainstream.

Recommended Remedies

In support of such an effort, we respectfully ask that in your discussions with government and in your final report you raise the following issues on our behalf:

1. It is imperative that Jewish suffering not be denied or treated as irrelevant by much of civil society in the context of the central contemporary motif of “victimhood.” It should not be forgotten that though antisemitism begins with the Jews, it never ends with them since the ultimate aim or consequence of antisemitism is the destruction of societies like those of Canada.

2. Over the last half century, Canada has developed an evolving body of human rights jurisprudence to counter hate and bias activity against identifiable groups. This jurisprudence, enshrined in a variety of legal provisions, is found in the Criminal Code and related statutes (the Postal Act as well as the interpretive guidelines of Canada Customs for the enforcement of sections of the Customs Tariff), the Anti-Terrorism Law, the Canadian Human Rights Act, provincial human rights codes, regulations of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and other acts in the areas of broadcasting, education and immigration. All of these developments are, of course, rightly understood within the legal context of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (see Appendix C)

Government must invoke the relevant statutes with consistency and whenever the situation demands it, if the environment is to be rid of hatred’s most toxic manifestations. While David Ahenakew, for example, has been charged with hate-promotion under Canada’s anti-hate laws, law enforcement has tended to shy away from matters that are seen, mistakenly, as “political,” such as Islamist hate propaganda.

3. Political leaders at all levels of government have a special responsibility to indicate zero tolerance for antisemitism precisely as they do with other forms of racism. They must not only repudiate antisemitism in general terms, but also publicly and forcefully denounce its perpetrators and abettors in specific cases and ensure that corrective action is taken.

4. While we must fight against irrational fear of the foreigner, we must not allow foreign enmities to take root and manifest themselves in Canada. Norms of civility in public discourse and activity must be promoted and maintained no matter the intensity of one’s political views or the turbulence of international events. This is not simply a matter of comforting the Jewish community, but of upholding basic Canadian values of fairness, decency and respect for others. In the specific cases of universities, hate and intimidation cannot be allowed to hide behind the skirts of academic freedom.

We welcome and recognize, in this context, a dialogue on community relations initiated in April 2003 by the Hon. Bill Graham, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Hon. Jean Augustine, Secretary of State, Multiculturalism and the Status of Women. Mr. Graham acknowledged that one of the dialogue’s catalysts was the very disturbing manifestation of antisemitism in Canada and his fear that individuals and groups internally reacting to conflicts abroad not undermine Canadian values. Combatting the re-emergent evil of antisemitism, in other words, is an integral part of defending these values by all those who cherish and share them, including adherents among the three great Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

5. It is important that racism not be viewed as an “us” versus “them” phenomenon, as so many in the anti-racism movements conveniently contend. Canada today is a community of communities (with the whole greater than its collective parts) and can no longer be divided into a single majority culture and a set of minority cultures, with the latter being the ones uniformly victimized by the majority.

Bigotry can and is directed from within one minority against another minority. Members of minority communities, in other words, are as much prey to the racist temptation and are both part of the problem and part of the solution. Ethnocultural and faith communities must recognize the seriousness of antisemitism and speak out against it.

6. Pope John Paul II, in his remarkable speech at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum, in March 1999, stated “The world must heed the warning that comes to us from the victims of the Holocaust (Shoah), and from the testimony of the survivors.” The institutionalization of Holocaust commemoration and education is central, therefore, in warning about the unmitigated dangers of antisemitism and racism and in teaching universal and enduring lessons on human rights, tolerance and multiculturalism.

Canada’s ten provinces have passed legislation officially recognizing Yom Hashoah, on its actual Hebrew date. The Federal government ought to be encouraged to do the same, while at the same time joining the ranks of most other Second World War Allied countries by dedicating a fitting memorial to the Holocaust in the national capital.

We ask as well that you commend the Federal Government for its support of the Asper Foundation-initiated Canadian Museum of Human Rights being built in Winnipeg and that you encourage the government to follow through on its additional financial assistance. The museum will examine the effects of discrimination and hatred and chart the development of a Canadian culture of human rights, with public education as a central component. It is entirely appropriate that Canada, as a world leader in human rights should have such a facility that will contribute inestimably to the enhancement of tolerance and understanding in this country.

7. When assessing comments on the Israeli-Arab conflict, there is a distinction to be drawn between criticizing Israeli policies and attacking Israel, between balanced and unbalanced statements and between fair speech and hate speech. The well-established principle of human rights law that impact, not only motivation, is key to a finding of discrimination (i.e. “adverse effect discrimination”) is very applicable to making a determination of anti-Zionism as antisemitism. It is antisemitic, for example, if the intent or effect is to deny the Jewish people their right to sovereignty in their ancestral homeland.

8. The Jewish community of Canada, like its counterparts elsewhere, has had to confront the unfortunate reality that it is the only ethno-religious community where the threat to it, of vandalism and domestic violence as well as terrorism, remains a constant.

Protective measures are taken against any possible eventualities, including (but not limited to) extremists and/or individuals acting singly or in groups, be they motivated by Middle East radicalism/religious fanaticism, Nazism/white supremacy or any other triggers. These security concerns have intensified in the last three years. Up to now the community has borne on its own the extra-ordinary financial burden for its security. In the current climate, however, security concerns have intensified and the Jewish community believes it is necessary and appropriate to recognize its special requirements for effective protective measures. The provision of Federal funding would be a valuable contribution to the essential enhancement of the Jewish community’s security infrastructure.

Conclusion

The responsibility to deal with these issues and challenges is multi-faceted. Clearly, there is an onus on governments to protect vulnerable minorities and one expects that they implement existing anti-hate laws and human rights policies; establish new laws as appropriate to deal with contemporary developments in the spread of antisemitism, hate and racism; refrain from measures that will have an adverse impact on faith-based practices; and set the leadership standard for promoting an end to antisemitism and racism and condemning its manifestations.

The judicial system must play its part in imposing longer sentences for hate-motivated crimes. Civil society must meet its obligations to assist in eliminating antisemitism and all forms of racism in Canada. Schools, universities, NGOs, businesses, ethnocultural and faith-based groups, unions and the professions, among others, must promote respect for diversity and condemn incidents of hate and antisemitism.

The Special Rapporteur is respectfully asked to convey to the government the profound concerns of the Jewish community of Canada over resurgent antisemitism and to champion an activist approach to ridding Canada of this scourge.

09/16/03
CJC/MP-EV
Canadian Jewish Congress
National Community Relations

Appendix A

Antisemitism, Islamophobia and Anti-Arabism:
The False Link

A trend has emerged, and it is very much reflected in the draft documents of the UN’s World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), to link antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arabism, as manifestations of racism. Such placement explicitly contends that the three are phenomena, and phenomena of equal gravity. History and reality, however, in no way justify such a contention.

It must first be noted that most scholars have adopted “antisemitism” instead of “anti-Semitism” as the appropriate spelling of the word. The expression, after all, has nothing to do with Semites and there is no such thing as a “Semitism” to oppose. Rather, it was a term first coined in the 19th century to advance hatred and scapegoating of Jews as a political weapon and, subsequently, was extended to encompass Judeophobia throughout history. (Elements have taken advantage of the word’s hyphenated spelling to advance the ludicrous claim that there cannot be “anti-Semitism” in the Arab world since Arabs themselves are “Semites”).

Antisemitism is indeed a phenomenon — the oldest and most enduring form of hatred. It has seen Jews, over two millennia, subjected to the teachings of contempt, hate propaganda, forced conversion, discrimination, oppression, persecution, expulsion, massacre, pogrom and genocide. Raul Hilberg, the noted historian of the Holocaust, succinctly captured Judeophobia’s progression in his The Destruction of the European Jews, Vol. I, when he wrote:

“The missionaries of Christianity had said in effect: You have no right to live among us as Jews. The secular rulers who followed had proclaimed: You have no right to live among us. The German Nazis at last decreed: You have no right to live.”

It is also crucial to understand that, beginning with the Inquisition in the 15th century and culminating in the Holocaust in the 20th, antisemitism has been the hardiest strain of the racism virus. Modern antisemitism is not religious discrimination and to define it as such misses the central point that for the modern antisemite the issue was not one of belief but of blood (pureza de sangre, purity of blood was the operating guideline of the Inquisition and the Nazis). In other words Jewishness was a matter of ancestry and there was nothing (such as conversion) that a Jew could do to escape the crime of his/her Jewishness. As Harvard University Professor Alan Dershowitz put it in his book, Chutzpah:

“... the Nazis wanted to destroy the Jewish seed, the Jewish gene, the Jewish people. Genetic extinction was the goal.”

It was the plight of the Jewish people as a result of the Holocaust, i.e. in response to antisemitism, which led the international community, through the United Nations, to institute some of the fundamental ethical and legal principles (e.g. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Genocide Convention) which in fact inform the contemporary battle against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

Islam, after its emergence in the desert of Arabia in the 7th century, went on to become one of the world’s great religions and civilizations. Buttressed by military power, under caliphate and sultanate, it held sway for centuries over large parts of the globe. Today, mostly in kingdoms and republics, many of which are dictatorships and/or closed societies (where minorities are the object of bigotry and discrimination if not outright oppression) it is the fastest growing religion on the planet with its adherents numbering in the hundreds of millions (1.2 billion). The Arab world, numbering in the tens of millions, is largely a significant part of this Islamic civilization. Contrast this with a Jewish people whose world population is 15 million.

Unquestionably, individual members of Arab and/or Muslim communities have been the subjects of discrimination in specific instances and locations at specific times. These situations, however, do not translate into systematic, systemic bigotry or hatred against a collectivity. There neither is nor can there be such phenomena as “Islamophobia” and “anti-Arabism.”

The equation of antisemitism with “Islamophobia” and “anti-Arabism,” which in effect are inventions, is a fundamental element in the campaign to attack deligitimize and indeed dismantle the State of Israel. The rationale of the State of Israel as a refuge for the victims of antisemitism is well understood by the world community. Furthermore, the ugly reality of antisemitsm has legitimately imbued Israel and the Jewish Diaspora with the moral capital that so eloquently makes the case for Israel. The intent, in equating antisemitism with “Islamophobia” and “anti-Arabism,” therefore, is to strip the Jewish people of this moral capital and to negate the value and validity of antisemitism in Jewish advocacy.

The equation achieves this, at one and the same time, in two ways. It diminishes antisemitism, on the one hand, by turning it in effect into one instance of racism among many. It contends, on the other hand, that Muslims and Arabs are as much victims as Jews and raises so-called “Islamophobia” and “anti-Arabism” to the level of gravity and importance of antisemitism in any analysis of world racism.

The result of this false linkage is that it provides radical Arab and Islamist (from Islamism that, in contrast with Islam the religion, is a sweeping totalitarian political ideology) regimes and groups with an instrument with which to neutralize any criticisms directed at them.

CJC/MP
08/03/01

Appendix B

An Analysis of “The Day of Quds”

Introduction

The following pages provide a detailed analysis of the pamphlet, “Day of Quds,” that was published under the rubric of the Muslim Students Federation at the University of Ottawa and made available through the student organization, “Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights” in December 2001.

While the content of the pamphlet is clearly problematic, our analysis also provides a necessary level of background information in order to demonstrate the degree to which “Day of Quds” represents a point on the continuum of hate that was built by the Imam Khomeini of Iran and his followers.

It is our contention that antisemitism is explicit in the philosophy of Imam Khomeini and, as such, his establishment of an annual Quds Day can only be seen as an outgrowth of that hatred. While Khomeini, by and large, specified that his statements were directed against “Zionists” and not “Jews” such distinctions are meaningless. We take this position for the following reasons: the vast majority of Zionists are Jews. Given this high level of correlation, it can be reasonably argued that statements directed against one group are directed against the other; given the pathology of antisemitism, it is not unusual for the terms “Zionist” and “Jew” to be used interchangeably. Thus, we find the antisemitic pamphlet, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” which is banned in Canada as hate propaganda, offered up as the Jewish plan for world domination. Thus, we observe Hitler’s pathological fear that a Zionist homeland could be the new centre for a recurrence of the infection of the “Jewish bacillus.”

In plain words, a primary purpose of the celebration of “Quds Day” is to remind participants of their sacred, religious, obligation to destroy the state of Israel. Such destruction must necessarily involve the eradication of large numbers of “Zionist/Jews.” Imam Khomeini’s statements on this matter clearly demonstrate that such destruction is a desirable goal that allegedly all devout Muslims, as he understands them, should support.

Quotations of Imam Khomeini (all emphasis added)

We know that the Jewish community is quite different from the Zionist community; we oppose the latter, our opposition arising from the fact that they oppose all religions, they are not Jews, they are political people who, calling themselves Jews, perpetrate certain acts. (Khomeini, quoted in Sahifia-yi Nur, Vol 6, p. 164)	Here, the Imam provides his distinction: any Jew who is a Zionist is not really a Jew. From this perspective it is possible to attack any individual who lives in or supports the state of Israel while maintaining that such attacks are motivated by politics rather than religion.
Today you can see what the Zionists, who claim to be Jews – although the Jews themselves do not accept them – and who, unfortunately claim to be the followers of Hazrat Moses, are doing to the people in the world. (Khomeini, quoted in Sahifia-yi Nur, Vol 17, p. 78)	This continues the theme of distinction between Zionists and Jews. Here it is claimed that not only are Zionists false Jews but that the real Jews recognize them as such. This false dichotomy serves to reinforce the notion of Zionists as being the “other” a group to be stigmatized.
Compare this with how these people, who consider themselves to be the descendants of Hazrat Moses, cling to this world. Great amounts of America’s wealth lie in their hands. They have the financial power in America yet still they say they believe in the religion of Moses. (Khomeini, quoted in Sahifia-yi Nur, Vol 18, p. 192)	Here we see a double movement. The Jews are distinct from the Zionists, who now bear the old antisemitic canard of wealth, power and control.
For nearly twenty years now I have been informing people of the danger of international Zionism. Today I feel the danger for all the freedom-loving revolutions of the world … is no less than it was in the past, for at the present time these world-devouring blood-suckers using various techniques to defeat the oppressed and weak of the earth have risen up and are active. (Khomeini, quoted in Sahifia-yi Nur, Vol 14, p. 63)	Khomeini falls into the age-old rhetoric of antisemitism: there is a Jewish international conspiracy to control the world; the Jews are blood-suckers – parasites – who will drain away the vitality of the world; the Jews are oppressors.
Today the first Qibla of the Muslims has fallen into the grasp of Israel, that cancerous growth in the Middle East …. Today, with all the diabolical means at its disposal, Israel is casting dissension amongst the Muslims. It is incumbent upon every Muslim to arm himself against Israel. (Khomeini, quoted in Sahifia-yi Nur, Vol 9, p. 226)	The rhetoric employed here has the effect of simultaneously dehumanizing and demonizing the state of Israel. Given the demonstrated context of Khomeini’s remarks, it is difficult not to argue that comments directed against Israel are also directed against Zionists, i.e. all Jews who support the state of Israel. Further, we see that armed opposition to Israel is an obligation of every Muslim as he understands him/her.
We will defend the defenceless people of Lebanon and Palestine against Israel. Israel, this germ of corruption, has always been a base for America. For twenty years I have pointed out the danger posed by Israel. We must all rise up and destroy Israel and replace it with the brave nation of Palestine. (Khomeini, quoted in Sahifia-yi Nur, Vol 11, p. 266)	Note the violent rhetoric and imagery.
Has not the time arrived for the brave and militant nation of Palestine to strongly condemn the political games of those who claim to be fighting against Israel and, using weapons, tear open the heart of Israel, this staunch enemy of Islam and the Muslims? (Khomeini, quoted in Sahifia-yi Nur, Vol 15, p. 125)	Note the violent imagery. Note also that Israel is now portrayed as being the enemy of both the religion of Islam and all Muslims. Thus the Imam calls for bloody violence against the state of Israel and what it represents – Zionists/Jews.
We say Israel must be erased from the pages of history. (Khomeini, quoted in Sahifia-yi Nur, Vol 17, p. 14)	The meaning is clear.
Quds Day is the day when the superpowers should be warned to stay at home and leave the oppressed alone. Israel, the enemy of mankind, the enemy of humanity …. Must give up [its] ambitious designs on Iran, [its] hands must be severed from all the Islamic countries and their agents in these countries must step down. Quds Day is the day for announcing such things, for announcing such things to the satans who want to push the Islamic nations aside… (Khomeini, quoted in Sahifia-yi Nur, Vol 8, p. 233)	The true meaning of “Quds Day”, as expressed by its creator.
I wish success for you dear people who have come here for Quds day, as I wish success for all Muslims. God willing, one day all Muslims will be brothers to one another, all roots of corruption will be deracinated from all Muslim lands, this root of corruption, Israel, will be plucked out of the al-Aqsa mosque and our Islamic country, and by the will of God the Exalted, together we will go to Quds and pray the prayer of unity there. (Khomeini, quoted in Sahifia-yi Nur, Vol 12, p. 283)	The true meaning of “Quds Day,” as expressed by its creator.

Analysis of the Text

Ln#	Original Text	Analysis/Comment
1	The last Friday in the month of Ramadan is the Day of Quds. In remembrance of “al-Quds” Muslims worldwide should proclaim their support of the Islamic nation of Palestine. The holy city of Jerusalem is where the al-Aqsa Mosque, referred to as the remote mosque in the Qur’an is located.	We may presume that, since “Quds Day” was established by Imam Khomeini, that his comments, as previously outlined, will have meaning to his followers and can be relied upon to explicate the true significance of the day : “We must all rise, destroy Israel, and replace it with the heroic Palestinian nation.”; “Israel must be eradicated from the page of history.” From this we may deduce that the crowning achievement of Quds Day will be the destruction of the state of Israel, which can only be rationally accomplished through the destruction of its citizens.
5	“Glory be to Him Who made His servant to go on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the remote mosque of which We have blessed the precincts, so that We may show him some of Our signs; surely He is the Hearing, the Seeing.” Holy Qur’an (17:1)
10	It was from this mosque that the Prophet ascended to heaven in order to observe the wonders therein. Near the mosque is the Dome of the Rock on which the hand print of the Angel Gabrial, who accompanied Prophet Mohammad (s) on his journey, still remains. This sacred, holy land has been usurped
15	by Zionist Jews. United, the Muslims of the world will one day soon (God willing) liberate al-Quds.	As opposed to non-Zionist Jews? It is a distinction without a difference, since in both Imam Khomeini’s words and the pamphlet, the equation between “Zionists” and “Jews” is readily apparent.
20	Realizing the importance of publicity, the Zionists deliberately altered historical facts in a chaotic and insinuating manner. This caused many Muslims to doubt their religious background. It also depicted that anyone who defended his country as a terrorist in order to justify the massacres that were planned to evacuate the land. Eventually, Palestine became “A land without a people” owned by a “A people without a land.”	Does the alteration of history refer to the Holocaust or the fact that there has always been a Jewish presence in Jerusalem? The charge of “massacres can only serve to incite hatred against the ‘Zionists.’”
25	In their cultural invasion against the Islamic nation of Palestine, the Zionists used religion as their main weapon. They planted spies among the people and spread their propaganda through the country, beginning a psychological invasion of this Islamic nation.
30	Adopting a nationalistic pose, Zionists claimed to be the “Jewish Nation” which was established by Abrahim (a). In order to confirm this they tampered with the Old Testament or (Torah), and created their own history books.	Reviving an old antisemitic canard which simultaneously reviles the Jews while denying them their Jewish identity. Jews are portrayed as falsifiers and their sacred texts as inauthentic forgeries, in order to buttress their claim to the land. This mendacity feeds into the myth of the “treacherous Jews.”
35	The Zionists knew that their movement must find a place to settle in. With the help of America and England they chose Palestine and it became their “Promised Land.” They figured that the Muslims there could not defend themselves as it is a poor land. When they immigrated to Palestine, the Hebrew language was adapted and made the official language. After the usurping of Palestine in 1948 A.D., names were changed, Palestine	The vote of the United Nations, here ascribed to the United States and the United Kingdom, which created the state of Israel, becomes an act of usurpation.
40	became Israel, Al-Quds became Jerusalem, Khalij Al-Akaba became Khalij Suleiman, Safad became Safat, etc.	Note also that the writers claim that the Zionists changed the name of Al-Quds to Jerusalem, conveniently wiping out 2,500 years of Jewish History.
45	Since publicity overwhelms the world, Zionistic movements monopolized international publicity and used it to defame and humiliate Muslims. Most of papers of the world are owned by these movements. For example, Time magazine points out in its issue of 1/21/1974, “There are 1700 newspapers in America, and Jews control 1,000 of them.”	Another linkage between Jews and Zionists: the constant refrain of antisemites is that the Jews control the media. Replacing “Jew” with “Zionist” is a transparent ploy. Moreover, the statement regarding Time Magazine is false. We have reviewed this issue on microfiche and have found no reference to Jewish/Zionist ownership of American newspapers.
50	The Zionist movement incarnated by “Nazi” thought has adapted its theoretical and practical applications. This is revealed in articles written by Jewish scholars in the “Modern Ages” French magazine. Zionist Jews have successfully spread propaganda which intends to justify the shedding of Arab blood and the killing of Arabs by any means, whether by hanging, shooting or bombing residential areas.	Most hateful! The writers state the philosophical and psychological linkage between Zionism/Judaism and nazism. The Jews, furthermore, are tagged as murderers inflicting death upon a helpless people.
55	The Zionists believed that the Muslims were passive and could not successfully resist being low on arms and independent [sic] they could not defend themselves against their U.S. backed campaign. But they were proven wrong when Palestine was being usurped, bloody confrontations took place and changed
60	the Zionists estimation of Muslims who proved to be fearless and ready to die in their struggle to regain their homeland and their human rights. Palestinians who are deprived of their homeland are now called terrorists so as to rouse public attention against them and justify mass killings of Palestinian people.
65	The Palestinians has become the offering that must be sacrificed in order to set the spirit of the so-called “Chosen people of God” at ease. The blood shed in “Sabra” and “Shatila” is one of the results of this.	This paragraph alludes to the ancient charge of “Blood Libel,” where Jews were accused of murdering Christian children to drink their blood. Much Jewish blood was shed as a result.
70	The Zionistic movement, that uprooted the Palestinians from their land and built a terrorist country on the remains, now feels threatened because one billion Muslims do not vouchsafe its existence. The Zionists have good reason to feel threatened as millions of Muslims prepare to liberate al-Quds. Surely the sun will shine once again over the Muslim nation of Palestine.	As we have noted above, the spirit of Quds Day calls upon the Muslim world to “eradicate” the state of Israel. Such an eradication cannot but require the destruction of the Jewish people in Israel. As such, Quds Day is a call to genocide.
75	Imam Khomeini the founder and the late leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran has declared the last Friday of the month of Ramadan as “Quds Day.” Millions of Muslims march throughout the world on this day calling for the freedom and the return of
80	the Muslim nation of Palestine which is under the oppression of Zionists. Excerpts from Imam’s will about Zionism Not only our nation but all Muslim nations as well as all oppressed people of the world are proud of the fact that their
85	enemies are the enemies of Allah Ta’ala, the Holy Qur’an, and the beloved Islam who will commit any crime and treason in order to achieve their ugly and criminal objectives. The Chief among these enemies, who do not recognize friends or foes in obtaining power and in satisfying their greed, is the United	Jews are painted as greedy, cruel, evil criminals who are the enemies of G-d. The violently hateful anti-Americanism echoes that of Osama bin Laden. Historians have demonstrated through analysis of mass-murders ranging from the Holocaust to Rwanda – and now September 11, 2001 - that demonization is a necessary precondition to slaughter. The enemies of Islam are decribed as criminal, treasonous, and terroristic. International Zionism (Jewry) is cited for committing such crimes that “pens are ashamed of writing and tongues are ashamed of mentioning.”
90	States, which is by nature the master of international terrorism, has created misery the world over, and whose naturally is the international Zionism which, in attempts to achieve its greedy ends commits such crimes that pens are ashamed of writing and tongues are ashamed of mentioning them; the idiotic fantasy of
95	“Greater Israel” leads the Zionists to commit any crime. The Muslim nations and the oppressed people of the world are proud that their enemies are Hossein of Jordan, this solicitous professional criminal, Hassan (of Morocco), and Hosny Mubarak, who are the allies of the criminal Israel and who will
100	not refuse to commit any treason against their own people in order to serve the U.S. and Israel. We are proud that our enemy is Saddam Hossein, whom friends and enemies alike acknowledge as a criminal and a violator of human rights and everyone knows that his reasons against the oppressed people
105	of Iraq and the Sheikdoms of the Gulf are not less than those he committed against the Iranian nations. We are proud that the mass media and the world propaganda apparatus accuse us of any crime and treason that criminal super powers direct them to propagate.
110	There is no higher honor than that the U.S. with all of its war materials, all its puppet governments, all the wealth it has stolen from the poor countries of the world, and its control of mass media and propaganda apparatus, is so helpless in facing the brave people of Iran and the country of Hadrat
115	Baghiyatollah (A.T.F.) and has become desperate that it does not know who to turn to. Any one it (the U.S.) turns to is equally helpless. This is not possible other than with the help of Allah Ta’ala who has awakened all the people, especially the people of Iran whom he has led from the darkness of the
120	oppression of kings to the fight of Islam. I now recommend to the honorable oppressed people of the world and the beloved nation of Iran, who are neither dependent on the atheistic East not the oppressor Kafir West but depends only on the straight path that Allah has granted mankind, to strongly and upright
125	stay their course, be constantly thankful (to Allah) for this blessing, and (cut off) the filthy hands of the agents, external and internal who are worse than external, of super powers and not allow any weakness to enter their pure intentions and their iron will.	Note the violent imagery.

MP/CJC
02/15/02

Appendix C

Combatting Antisemitism:
The Canadian Legislative Framework

The international community, in the decades after World War II, has proclaimed a series of international covenants, beginning with the 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, aimed at forging a tolerant world.

Canada, over the last half century, also has developed an evolving body of human rights jurisprudence to counter hate and bias activity against identifiable groups. This jurisprudence, enshrined in a variety of legal provisions, is found in the Criminal Code and related statutes (the Postal Act as well as the interpretive guidelines of Canada Customs for the enforcement of sections of the Customs Tariff), the Anti-Terrorism Law, the Canadian Human Rights Act, provincial human rights codes, regulations of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and other acts in the areas of broadcasting, education and immigration.

There are four purposes for resorting to law:

Declarative — as a way of society making the statement that certain kinds of expression and activity are beyond the pale.

Didactic — to show that antisemitism is not a victimless crime and that its aims are totalitarian and to sensitize the public on the need for vigilance and countermeasures.

Punitive — to punish the guilty.

Deterrent — to dissuade individuals, who might otherwise be tempted, from crossing the line into active antisemitism.

Following are Canada’s legal provisions meant directly to counter hate and bias activity against identifiable groups or that, in certain instances, can be and have been used for this purpose.

A. Criminal Code

1. Anti-hate laws

Advocating genocide - S. 318

Incitement and wilfull promotion of hatred - S. 319

Impounding and destruction of material, including on the Internet - Ss. 320 and 320.1 as amended by the Anti-Terrorism Act (12/18/01)

2. Enhanced sentencing

Bigotry as a motivating factor - S. 718.2

3. Protection for places of worship and cemeteries

Bigotry-motivated attacks on these places now are specified crimes carrying maximum sentences of up to 10 years indictable or up to 18 months on summary conviction - S. 430 (4.1) as amended by the Anti-Terrorism Act.

B. Statutes Related to the Criminal Code

1. Postal Act

Allows for the imposition of a postal ban on a hatemonger or hate publication and for the interception and disposition of the latter - S. 41 (e.g. Thunderbolt, a far right newspaper). Canada Post, more recently, has been altogether reluctant to use it.

2. Canada Customs

Interpretive guidelines of Canada Customs for enforcement of Customs Tariff item 99201 -1 of Schedule C

Right to interdict hate propaganda

C. Law Enforcement Related to Criminal Code

1. Departments of Attorneys-General and Crown Prosecutors

A provincial Attorney General’s consent is required for an anti-hate law prosecution

Ministerial deputies and prosecutors, where applicable, should bring the racist elements of an offence to a judge’s attention

Victim impact statements, particularly viva voce evidence, are especially useful in sentencing hearings

2. Police

Interact with police forces at the regional, municipal and local levels as well as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS)

Encourage substantial inter-agency intelligence sharing

Support the anti-hate or ethnic/community relations units as essential vehicles for community liaison and combatting antisemitism

Press for the arrest and the bringing to justice of perpetrators

Stress the necessity of dealing empathetically with victims

Advocate on behalf of the police and security agencies, so that they are provided with the requisite human and material resources

Commend the police and security agencies for their sensitivity to Jewish community concerns

As regards C. 1 and C. 2:

It is crucial that police and prosecution be active in invoking the Criminal Code’s anti-hate provisions.

It is imperative, therefore, to work closely with law enforcement on relevant cases, both as an invaluable motivator (so that there is the determination and commitment to combat antisemitism) and all-round resource - (e.g.. Hate: Keegstra, Zundel, Andrews and Smith; Desecration: Shaarey Shomayim Synagogue in Toronto)

Try to overcome law enforcement’s tendency to shy away when a matter is seen as “political” (e.g. Islamist hate propaganda)

D. Anti-Terrorism Law

Terror threatens all Canadians and the murderous antisemtism that characterizes Islamic terrorism is of particular concern

CJC therefore strongly supported the measures Canada brought into law in December 2001 (Anti-terrorism Act) as necessary to combat terrorism

The Act was an omnibus bill that amended a whole slew of legislation, including the Criminal Code, the Official Secrets Act, the Canada Evidence Act, the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Act and also enacted provisions in respect to the registration of charities.

The Act enhanced the ability of Canada’s law enforcement and security services to identify terrorist groups publicly; prosecute their activities; criminalize their fundraising efforts; deregister their charities; and indict those who support, facilitate or harbour terrorists.

E. Human Rights Codes

1. Canadian Human Rights Act

Proscription of racist messages (hatred or contempt) - applies to telephone and Internet - S. 13 as amended by the Anti-Terrorism Act

2. Provincial Human Rights Codes

a) New Brunswick - Malcolm Ross (MR) case

A Jewish parent brought a discrimination complaint against the local school board, alleging that its continued employment of an antisemitic propagandist as a teacher in one of its schools led to a poisoned environment

This state of affairs, it was argued, denied Jewish (and other minority) school children their right under the provincial human rights act to a discrimination-free public service, i.e. education - S. 5(1)

A Human Rights Board of Inquiry upheld the complaint (1991) - MR, banned from teaching was re-employed in a non-teaching position - MR took the matter to the highest levels (Supreme Court of Canada (1996) and the United Nations Human Rights Committee (2000) and lost in both instances.

b) Alberta - Aryan Nations (AR)

A discrimination complaint was filed against the Aryan Nations (a far right group) for a cross-burning as well as the display of white supremacist symbols and the swastika at a rally

It was alleged that these misdeeds contravened the provincial human rights act, which prohibits the display of signs or symbols that discriminate or have an intention to discriminate - S. 2

A Human Rights Tribunal, in one of the most comprehensive contemporary reports on the activity of racist extremists (1992), upheld the complaint — the HRT issued a cease and desist order against AR, i.e. Terry Long, its leader, with contempt of court and jail as the liability for refusal — TR never appeared - Court costs were awarded and a property forfeiture registered against him.

c) British Columbia - Doug Collins

A discrimination complaint was filed against the North Shore News (a suburban newspaper in North Vancouver) and its columnist Doug Collins
It alleged the publishing of antisemitic columns, thereby breaching the province’s human rights code prohibiting publication of statements “likely to expose a person or group of persons to hatred or contempt,” in this case Jewish people - S. 7 (1b)
A British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal upheld the complaint (1999) - Collins died in September 2001.

F. Other Acts

1. Broadcast Act

Prohibition against abusive expression that exposes identifiable groups to hatred or contempt - Radio Regulation 3(b), Television Regulation 5(1)(b), Section 8(1)(b) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations, etc. - enforced by CRTC - in certain cases delegated to Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
Possible disciplinary measures up to and including loss of licence

2. Education Act

Ontario - Paul Fromm

Complaints were filed with the Peel Board of Education and the Ontario Ministry of Education regarding Fromm’s suitability as a public high school teacher because of his external activities as a racist militant (poisoned environment)
The Education Minister appointed an independent advisor to establish “whether … Fromm [had] fulfilled his duties as a teacher.” Ss. 264(1) (a), (b) and (c) of the Act and Ss 20(a), (b) and (c) of regulation 298
Advisor found Fromm in violation (1993) - the School Board, therefore, removed him as a high school teacher and reassigned him to adult education, and further warned him to cease and desist from his racist activities - the Board subsequently fired him for not heeding its warning - Fromm grieved and lost his appeal to the Labour Relations Board (2002).

3. Immigration Act

The relevant provision allows the barring from Canada of individuals about whom there are reasonable grounds to believe that they will commit an offence punishable by way of indictment under any Act of Parliament - S. 19
CJC has argued that to counter terrorism, Immigration officers should be given greater discretion in detaining arrivals that arouse suspicion
Regarding hatemongering, CJC’s concern continues to be that individuals from abroad maintain contact with local counterparts and enter Canada, promoting their views (publicly or otherwise) and sowing disharmony among Canadians (applies equally to racists and Islamists)
CJC has pressed that such individuals be regarded as unlikely to abide by Canadian law — specifically in the area of intergroup relations — and therefore deemed inadmissible on the basis of their publicly expressed views and documented activities
The government, however, has tended to limit its enforcement to individuals with criminal records - Immigration does grill such individuals at the border, subjecting them to thorough inspection and warning them about Canada’s anti-hate legislation.

06/20/02
CJC/MP

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