Farmers’ market allegations mirror resurgent anti-Semitism
Ousted vendor has filed a human rights complaint
Acts of discrimination, hostility and violence against Jewish people continue to find expression among us. Emboldened by a decline in the civility of our public discourse, anti-Semitic partisans such as racists, white supremacists and neo-Nazis appear once again to be on the rise, targeting minority scapegoats as compensation for self-perceived injustices.
Recent acts and crimes targeting Jews include two Unite the Right rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia and Washington, D.C.; this summer’s anti-Semitic graffiti on signage in Toronto; this fall’s defamation of synagogues in New York and California during the run up to the U.S. midterm elections; last month’s attack on Jews in prayer in Pittsburgh which became the deadliest in U.S. history; and this month’s assault of four Jewish men in Toronto.
B’nai Brith reported that 2017 was a record year for Canadian incidents of anti-Semitism – with 808 in Ontario – as it was the United States. The concern was brought into focus this fall by the Pope’s call for a ban on anti-Semitism world-wide and by Prime Minister Trudeau’s formal apology for Canada’s turning away of a ship of Jewish refugees in 1939.
Peterborough has not been immune to the phenomenon. During the period 2011 to 2015, Statistics Canada ranked the Peterborough Census Metropolitan Area among the top four Canadian communities for hate crimes. In 2015, our hate crime rate was nearly double the provincial average. In the 1930s, Jews were not admitted to the Peterborough Golf Club or the Rotary Club. Signs in Ennismore read “No Jews or Dogs.”
In 1938, when a need arose to find a safe haven for European Jews, a headline in the Peterborough Examiner read “City Council Opposes Jewish Immigration: Want Laws Tightened.” While relations with the Jewish community have improved dramatically in modern times – a credit to a maturing city – a perception remains that although anti-Semitic prejudice is not blatant, it remains latent.
Marshall Eckler sells probiotic and fermented foods and beverages. He was one of a group of vendors whose membership was terminated earlier this year by the Peterborough and District Farmers’ Market Association, (PDFMA) having expressed concerns over governance issues impacting the operation of the Saturday farmers’ market at Morrow Park.
Last year, Mr. Eckler filed an application with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, (HRTO) alleging discrimination by the PDFMA leadership because he is Jewish. He alleges that he was prevented from displaying his goods in a large kiosk when other vendors were so permitted; and that he was later denied space for vending when a seniority rule would have required it. He has pointed to the experience of another Jewish person whom he claims was excluded from a seat on the PDFMA Board when an established protocol would have required he be offered one.
He alleges that the PDFMA board has engaged in harassment of him; that complaints were made to a public health inspector about his products; that he was excluded from the distribution of association newsletters; that he was disciplined by the association on two occasions; and that his membership at the farmers’ market was terminated in May of this year. He alleges that anti-Semitic comments were made about him by a PDFMA official.
None of these allegations have been proven. In an interim decision published earlier this month, the HRTO reported that the parties have now agreed to mediation. That is the right course to follow. It is a useful means of not only resolving the matters, but of determining whether prejudice and anti-Semitism were or continue to be a factor in their creation.