Disturbing trends in Canada

There is a troubling mistake in Hagay Hacohen’s “Canada to apologize for refusing Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany” (September 28). The author said,“The MS St. Louis was turned away from Cuba and the United States before Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, a conservative, decided against allowing the ship to dock in Halifax.” Sadly, Hacohen is playing into the hands of the historic revisionists that seem to have great sway with the current Canadian Liberal Federal Government and a few provincial governments, like those in Ontario and Alberta.

King, who was Canada’s longest serving prime minister, was not a conservative; he headed the Liberal Party of Canada – the same party as the current and previous Trudeau prime ministers. King, whose face is on every Canadian $50 bill, was a rabid antisemite. The policy of the Canadian government while he was prime minister was often called “One is Too Many.” In other words, one Jew immigrating to Canada is too many!

King was pro-Franco, and even pro-Hitler until it was no longer expedient to be pro-Nazi. Luckily, his successor as prime minister and head of the Liberal Party, Louis St. Laurent, did not share in King’s bigoted fascist leanings.

A few provincial governments are currently rewriting their school’s Social Studies curriculums. They have the propensity to emphasize the downfalls of past conservative governments while ignoring completely the downfalls of past liberal or socialist governments on issues like antisemitism, forced sterilization, eugenics, First Nations policies, etc.

What is needed is a factual telling of history. Our children need to know that our first prime minister, Conservative John A. MacDonald, was a drunk and bigot – yet he still founded a nation that has kept the northern third of North America out of the hands of the United States. Our Canadian children need to know King may have been the most successful prime minister, but easily our most intolerant as well. There is talk among Prime Minister Trudeau’s supporters to remove John A. MacDonald’s name from buildings and schools, yet no mention of removing a notorious racist from the front of the $50.00 bill.

By the way, King’s targets weren’t just Jews; Chinese, Slavs, and First Nation people were among his targets, too. May both sides of the his legacy remain in our children’s text books. RONALD SEMENOFF Calgary Alberta, Canada

The Canadian ambassador (“Meet the Ambassador,” October 15) is a warm, lovely lady. Regrettably her government is less warm. Its official policy document, which she is no doubt constrained to support states:

“Canada recognizes the Palestinian right to self-determination and supports the creation of a sovereign, independent, viable, democratic and territorially contiguous Palestinian state, as part of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace settlement.”

It is polemic nonsense to suppose a future Palestinian state can be “territorially contiguous” without at the same time annihilating or rendering territorially non-contiguous the State of Israel.

Furthermore, the official policy document states:

“Canada does not recognize Israel’s unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem.”

“Canada does not recognize permanent Israeli control over territories occupied in 1967 (the Golan Heights, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip).”

“Canada opposes Israel’s construction of the barrier inside the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are occupied territories.”

And in my view, worse still, the lovely lady ambassador has pointedly refused an invitation to attend a centenary celebration of the Balfour Declaration or declare support for such a celebration. Does she really “love to tell Canadians about the Israel of today?” Ephry Eder Netanya