Taking a stand against anti-Semitism
Last week, Canadians were rightly horrified by the hateful carving of a swastika on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a national sacred space. Unfortunately, such acts are as frequent today as they are disturbing. The government of Ontario responded by adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism, an important first step in stemming the rising tide of hatred against the Jewish community.
According to Statistics Canada, Jews are the minority group most targeted by hate crime in our country, the victims of one out of five illegal hate acts. Indeed, hate crimes have grown markedly over the past five years, with the majority of cases remaining unsolved, compounding the injustice. Behind each case is a real person, a Canadian who is harmed by hate, a tear in the fabric of Canada’s multicultural mosaic.
As United Nations Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed documented in his landmark UN report on anti-Semitism last year, this oldest of hatreds is “toxic to democracy” and “a threat to all societies.” Anti-Semitism has remained with us throughout history as the canary in the coal mine, an early warning sign of societal unrest and disintegration. This is why its resurgence, not just in Canada but around the world, must be challenged with great urgency as part of the broader struggle against racism and in defence of democratic values and human rights.
Behind each case is a real person, a Canadian who is harmed by hate, a tear in the fabric of Canada’s multicultural mosaic
One of the primary principles in the protection and promotion of equality is that victims have the right to define the discrimination they face, not the perpetrators.
That is why the adoption of the IHRA definition by Ontario, following the federal government’s adoption of the definition in its national anti-racism strategy last year, is as timely as it is significant. It is a clear and compelling commitment to combating anti-Semitism as experienced by Jewish Canadians, one that is anchored in and inspired by the support of the Jewish community and its institutions and organizations across the country.
Jews know all too well what antiSemitism is and what it looks like. As a parliamentarian, I faced it both online and in the “real world.” In 2018, I was even accused of being more loyal to Israel than Canada, a manifestation of the ugly “dual loyalty” trope levelled at Jews for centuries. Sadly, it is today’s reality that anti-Semitism is often weaponized under the thin guise of “anti-Zionism” and we in the Jewish community see right through it.
Jews on university campuses are at ground zero of this reality. Many are afraid to wear their kippahs or Stars of David to class. At times, they need protection of university security officials just to participate in Jewish campus clubs and events. They experience the hate and discrimination that lies behind the raging obsession with demonizing the Jewish state that we see across our universities in the form the yearly Israeli Apartheid Week. The academic sphere has remained a hot spot and breeding ground for anti-Semitism for far too long, jeopardizing the academic freedoms and free speech rights of Jews on campus.
The resurgence of anti-Semitism requires clear and decisive action. The adoption of the IHRA definition brings Ontario in line with the international consensus, with dozens of other countries including Germany, France and the U.K., and with global institutions like the United Nations, European Union and Organization of American States, which have all endorsed the definition.
But the true test here will lie in the effort to directly implement the definition on the front lines. This a golden opportunity for both Ontario and Canada to show global leadership and play a determined role in the fight against this age-old scourge. Now is the time to take a stand against anti-Semitism.