Western Jewish Bulletin: Progress seen with labor

December 24, 2004

Progress seen with labor

Local Jewish groups seem to get their points heard.

PAT JOHNSON

It may not be a return to the old days when Zionism and trade unionism were inseparable allies, but some local Jewish community leaders are cautiously optimistic that a recent incident may signal the beginning of a rapprochement.

The British Columbia Federation of Labor passed a resolution condemning Israel's security barrier last month, but not before the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Canada-Israel Committee were able to correct a basic inaccuracy in the resolution. Although the resolution ended up passing, Zionist activists say they feel their concerns were heard. Originally, the resolution stated that the International Court of Justice had ruled that Israel's security barrier contravened international law. In fact, The Hague court's decision was a non-binding advisory opinion, a point made in a letter from two local organizations to the head of the union from which the resolution came.

The motion originated with the social justice advisory committee of the B.C. Teachers' Federation (BCTF) and progressed to the B.C. Federation of Labor, which is the umbrella labor organization for the province, at its general convention in Vancouver, Nov. 29 to Dec. 3.

The BCTF decided to reconsider the issue after a joint letter to the BCTF from Mark Weintraub, chair of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, and Bob Willmot, chair of the B.C. branch of the Canada-Israel Committee. The letter outlined the concerns the two organizations had over the nature of the resolution, which condemned Israel's fence without condemning the terrorism that is the root cause of the barrier.

"This resolution lacks context, accuracy and the requisite balance," wrote Weintraub and Willmot. "Members [of the union] who know little about the conflict should be properly presented with full information and a balanced resolution if they are being asked to vote on something so controversial and so potentially alienating for some longtime and stalwart members of the labor movement who feel the concept of a security barrier is sound, although they may disagree with its routing."

As a result, the BCTF returned the issue to its executive, which some activists assumed meant the issue would be shelved for the time being. But a different group managed to get a similar resolution to the plenary after all.

"We understand that, the next day, individuals who are associated with the elementary teachers' association put forth a similar motion but, by reason of internal constitutional process, that motion was able to proceed to the B.C. Federation of Labor convention floor," Weintraub said.

The resolution, in the end, "resolved that the B.C. Federation of Labor through the Canadian Labor Congress demand that the Canadian government exert all possible pressure on the Israeli government to dismantle the wall built by Israel on occupied Palestinian territory."

It may not seem like a ringing victory for a balanced presentation of Middle East issues, but spokespeople for both the Canada-Israel Committee and Congress say that it is a sign labor is willing to engage with them on their concerns.

"This shift emphasizes the significance of engaging in a dialogue with the labor movement and calling to task the various inaccuracies in a constructive manner. The change in the text of the resolution is a result of this effort," said Nava Mizrahi, director of the Canada-Israel Committee for the Pacific region. "Again, it's a small but important first step."

Regrettably, she said, the final resolution did not address the very reason why Israel is building the anti-terror fence in the first place and it therefore lacks the requisite balance. Mizrahi suggests that such imbalance and lack of context does not contribute to achieving Arab-Israeli peace, but in fact may undermine the labor movement's claims to fairness and social justice.

"One-sided and inaccurate resolutions can easily be interpreted as a perversion of the social justice concerns [labor] purports to support," she said.

It may have been the process, as much as the final product, which gave encouragement to the CIC and Congress representatives, Mizrahi acknowledged, an attitude echoed by Weintraub.

"We were very much aware that there were individuals who were concerned by the one-sided nature of the resolution," Weintraub said. "There were other individuals who were highly motivated, [who] appeared to be very intent to have this motion be put forward.... We're still disappointed that there wasn't a proper emphasis on the reason why the security barrier had been implemented, namely to stop terrorism. That motivating reason was absent from the resolution and therefore if anyone is reading that resolution, it doesn't really make sense. It is just a one-sided condemnation. We are disappointed, but we do take cognizance of the fact that there was debate by reason of our communication and that there was some modification for the purposes of trying to be a little more balanced."

Jewish trade unionists, who have sometimes found themselves at odds with their allies as the Canadian labor movement has adopted wide-ranging and often vitriolic anti-Israel positions over the past several years, remain reticent as controversy continues to swirl. One prominent labor leader said the place for him to make his contribution is inside the movement, not in media.

Meanwhile, other efforts have been made between the Jewish community and Canada's left. Canadian Jewish Congress recently met with New Democratic Party members of Parliament Libby Davies (Vancouver East) and Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas) to discuss a range of issues, including the imminent crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.

"We met with [the MPs] on a number of issues including Darfur, resurgent anti-Semitism and the NDP's relationship with the Jewish community," said Weintraub. "CJC has met with Libby Davies on a number of occasions over the years and there have often been open exchanges on issues of agreement and issues of disagreement. We always value her accessibility and her commitment to listen carefully to views which she may not agree with."

Pat Johnson is a B.C. journalist and commentator.

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/Dec04/archives04Dec24-02.html

Burnaby Now Op-eds: Hate must be stopped

Dec 18, 2004 - Burnaby Now
By: Mark Weintraub

Hate must be stopped

The kind of attack that Aaron Webster tragically suffered was not only motivated against an individual, but is part of a larger pathology of group hatred, tearing at the very fabric of our diverse society. The gay community has long suffered discrimination and abuse. We, as Canadians, have made great strides in recent years but hate crime statistics reveal that members of this community are still disproportionately targeted.

All of us must have a keen interest not only in reducing but indeed in eliminating violence against minorities in our society. Last summer, it was a young Filipino boy, and several years ago it was a beloved caretaker of a Sikh institution whose lives were senselessly brought to an end by those who were filled with vitriolic hatred. Every such violent act undermines the harmony and peacefulness in our cities, province and country.

As a human rights organization within the Jewish community, the Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region has long been concerned with the proliferation of hate and bias crimes in British Columbia. It has advocated for a well-funded provincial hate crime team, the compilation of hate crime statistics, and special sentencing provisions for hate crimes.

Our society recognizes that an attack motivated by hate, whether it is due to a person's race, colour, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation, creates an additional element of fear for other members of that group and seriously undermines those pillars our society is built on: democracy, equality, respect for diversity and the rule of law. The congress has confidence that a decision to appeal the acquittal will be given full consideration by the Crown.

We also believe that in the upcoming sentencing of the individual convicted, Criminal Code provisions calling for a more severe punishment for hate motivated crimes will be appropriately applied.

Mark Weintraub,

chair, Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=oped&Rec=111

CJC Address: Strategies in Combating a Resurgent Antisemitism

Nov 07, 2004 - Vancouver, B. C.

Strategies in Combating a Resurgent Antisemitism
By: Mark Weintraub, Chair, CJC Pacific Region

On November 7, 2004, Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region Chair Mark Weintraub delivered the keynote address at the 32nd Triennial Meeting of the Canadian National Council of Jewish Women. His remarks are reprinted here in their entirety.

Winston Churchill once said of Lord Charles Bereford's impromptu speaking:

"He is one of those orators of whom it was well said: Before they get up they do not know what they are going to say; when they are speaking, they do not know what they are saying and when they have sat down, they do not know what they have said.

A scripted delivery may go some way to avoiding a similar chastisement, but is no guarantee that the listener will leave knowing what was said. So let me at the outset say as succinctly as I can what it is I am saying.

The struggle against antisemitism is really a fight for the dignity of each individual living in a harmonious world. Antisemitism consists of the corrosive vapours of envy, fear, ignorance and hatred. These are harmful states of being and emotions which are not just directed to the Jews. By directly confronting antisemitism we assist not only in providing security for the Jewish community, we also help bring about conditions for a more peaceful world anchored in an unshakeable understanding of a vision of our common humanity. That is really the underlying theme of my presentation this afternoon.

Antisemitism is a word which encompasses prejudice, violence and ultimately genocide against our people. It is the one word which signals emotionally our collective place in the world as outsiders and victims. From social bigotry to the inconceivable destruction of the European Jewish community in our own time.

So one of the challenges in talking about antisemitism is to deal with it in a manner which doesn't leave the audience despondent and confused. By it's very nature the subject is replete with pain and irrationality. It appears to many of us to defy explanation notwithstanding all of the attempted explanations. How do I present this vast and painful subject attended by wonderfully committed people at a lovely lunch in a beautiful city in a way, which doesn't sugar coat but also doesn't move us towards futile anger or sadness?

There is, furthermore, the question of perspective and how that affects our ability to rationally analyze and respond. We are the post-Shoah generation with many survivors still in our midst; how can we, no doubt collectively traumatized, living in the immediate shadow of our own phys-ical annihilation have a full historical perspective?

Since we lack the historical perspective, how future historians will precisely record this period of Jewish history is anyone's guess; what we can be assured of is that the three monumental modern Jewish experiences; the Holocaust or in Hebrew the Shoah; the establishment of the State of Israel and the establishment of a free and prosperous Jewish community in the Western world will no doubt dominate future histories of the Jewish people in the same way that the destruction of the Temples, the Babylonian exile and the Golden age of Spain are several of the pivotal markers in our distant past. If nothing else, I think we need to constantly have an awareness of the great historical time in which we are living and recognize that our answers will only be partial because we are right in the middle of monumental history making.

This also goes to the issue of intellectual humility; can any of us really have the definitive answers as if what we are dealing with is the subject of the physical sciences? Obviously not, and therefore we must be careful in our assessments. Yet there have been some very cogent explanations for antisemitism in general and the Holocaust in particular although few agree as to the precise importance of each factor. For example; was the Shoah the final culmination of 2000 years of the teaching of contempt for Judaism by Christianity; the antisemitism of countries such as Canada refusing to grant Jews refuge and sending a message of indifference to Hitler; the greed of the leadership and citizenry in seeing the opportunity for appropriating Jewish wealth? Or was the receptivity to the Final Solution an indirect rebellion against the Christian layer of morality imposed upon a resentful militaristic Teutonic culture that saw Christianity as, in fact, a Jewish creation?

Some thinkers who try to provide over-arching theories for anti-Semitism see Judaism as a value system of ethical accountability and the affirmation of life, which threatens so many destructive ideologies such that Jews, as the carriers of hope for a better future are seen as the number one enemy.

Put another way, Jews for various historical and sociological reasons have always been engaged in the struggle over ideas and the vision for an improved society; and therefore will always be in the forefront of ideological struggle, whether Left or Right, secular or religious and thus open to greater attack. Other thinkers see antisemitism as the direct result of corrupt governance that has permitted those in power to divert attention from their own exploitation of the people; this is one of the more persuasive explanations for the pernicious antisemitism emanating from Christian Europe and the contemporary Middle East.

Religious explanations abound. Some on the fringes of religious fundamentalism would see the Holocaust and other manifestations of anti-Semitism as the instrument of God punishing the Jewish people for sins, similar to the prophetic interpretation of the destruction of the Temple; others, even in the mainstream, see antisemitism as almost like a divinely ordained principle which provides the necessary glue that maintains Jewish unity.

Notwithstanding the welter of explanations, the consensus of post-Holocaust advocacy organizations has been to embrace a view that antisemitism is a social phenomenon that can be checked through the creation of liberal democratic societies that are based upon principles of economic equality, the rule of just law, an accountable policing system and the overriding belief in a common humanity.

I think you can, therefore, appreciate how difficult the task becomes today, when Israel, a vibrant multicultural democracy, with a powerful judicial system and open media, is cast as a racist state by her enemies and as such ought to be dismantled. Advocates against antisemitism see us as proponents of a just society with Israel as the expression of nation-al self-determination; yet too much of the world sees Israel as an oppressive state. This creates a serious challenge on many levels and yet upon reflection has it not always been thus, even before the State of Israel?

Jews and their friends considered our traditions to be a carrier of great universalistic ideals; our opponents, even without a State, depicted us as enemies of humanity. So the underlying problem may not have changed, we now just have to deal with greater complexities on two fronts. Further, while the challenge is somewhat more complicated than, for example, pre-1948 or pre-1967 advocacy efforts, Israel, in my view has permitted the Diaspora communities to be more self-confident in claiming our rightful place in Western societies. We need to always remember the pride with which Israel has instilled in us as the hope and refuge for threatened Jewish communities such as the Russians and Ethiopians. As we ourselves become increasingly embroiled in the intensified efforts to delegimitize Jewish national self-determination.

Given my prefacatory remarks, I am sure it will come as no surprise that I wish to put in perspective Canadian antisemitism in the context of the attacks on Israeli citizenry these last years and in the context of the central place of Israel in any discussion of antisemitism. No matter how painful and severely troubling the cemetery desecrations, physical attacks on Jews, the hostile environment on some campuses towards anyone or any program supportive of Israel, the despicable firebomb attack on the Montreal Day School, the musings of the President of the Canadian Islamic Congress about the propriety of killing Israelis, and here in Vancouver the advocacy by Sheik Kathrada of jihad against Jews, it has been Israelis that have to date borne the brunt of violence towards the Jewish people.

It is a heroic tale of Israeli endurance, courage and optimism. Tourism has rebounded, life is more normalized and there is a sense in Israel that they have weathered with great resilience another period of devastating assaults. No one knows what the withdrawal from Gaza and the death of Arafat will bring, but if history is the predictor of the future, Israelis will continue to maintain phenomenal strength in the face of unprecedented adversity.

All of you know that Jewish communities around the world are facing an increased virulence of antisemitism not seen since the Holocaust. That is why I was asked to speak. Some call it the new antisemitism, but what is meant I think, is a new intensification.

Supreme Court of Canada Justice Rosie Abella addressed this resurgence in her 2003 Vienna address to the European Organization for Security and Co-operation. She said:

"What appears to have replaced the antisemitism that led to quotas, employment discrimination, and political invisibility is what Irwin Cotler calls the new antisemitism. This time it is antisemitism, not just against the Jews, but against the Jewish state."

Aspects of the new antisemitism in fact differ little from the old in that defamatory conspiracy theories of overwhelming Jewish power continue to be pumped out with astonishing regularity. The deceit is astounding in variety; some lies are crude and some are cleverly subtle, some may be even inadvertent; Jews masterminded September 11th; Jews control Bush and are responsible for the invasion of Iraq; Jews dictate to the Democratic Party, Jews have a lock on the media and world finance, Jews invented the Holocaust, and on and on the canards are spun out.

But the new antisemitism has found renewed vigor in castigating the Israeli State. This is a form of Jew hatred which is finding increasing acceptance in the universities, in governments, media and in populations around the world.

While we all remember the infamous Zionism as Racism U.N. resolution of the 70's, with it's subsequent repeal and the optimism borne of the Oslo accords, many in the community thought that the lethal anti-Zionism unleashed by the propagandists of various Arab countries would be relegated to the dustbin of history. Not so.

Indeed, at the so called anti-racism Conference in Durban in 2001, we identified the strategic planning by a coalition of representatives of repressive states and anti-Israeli activists for an invigorated campaign to identify Israel as the new South Africa; the new apartheid state deserv-ing of dismantling.

So now we see the increasing acceptance of an attack on the rights of Israel to be a nation. Israel continues to be the surrogate Jew within the United Nations and in many academic and other forums. With the new antisemitism, Israel is the collective Jew amongst nations, vilified and therefore dehumanized as a new demonic state; a successor state to the Nazis.

Then there are the more subtle double standards; media and government in many parts of the world taking seeming satisfaction singling out Israel for any deviation from the highest ethical norms. Israel is held to impossible standards and therefore must fail. Israelis are judged in accordance with abstract ideals in isolation. Even more moderate criticism sometimes has an accusatory backdrop not seen in respect to the critiques of other nations.

Now, of course, Israel must be held accountable for any actions in violation of international law or norms. But that is the point. Equality before and under the law should be the maxim, not the discriminatory treatment Israel receives. There is a fundamental difference between criticism and demonization.

The second point to all of this is that since most Jews are Zionists of some form, Jews are sometimes accused of supporting racism. This plays on the old defamations of Jews as clannish and selfish. As a result, what we have under the guise of fighting racism is the articulation of antisemitism as a moral imperative such that it emerges as a cause similar to the 19th century antisemitism that claimed to be protecting good and decent European values from Jewish contamination. This is one of the reasons we are seeing increasingly unabashed expressions of antisemitism. The propagandists have been so successful that they have been able to engage the old hatreds with a new legitimate and fundamentally important rallying cry, that of anti-racism. Of course, I don't need to point out to this audience the astounding irony of anti-racist ideology turned against the Jews.

It sounds grim, and it is grim, but Jews under siege is an old story; and the fact remains that Israel is moving into it's 7th decade as a nation state; as an energized democracy. The Jews are an enduring people and some would say that never before has the Jewish condition looked so hopeful. There are Jews inhabiting the same land as our ancestors thousands of years ago, speaking their same language and Jews throughout the world draw their values from the same Torah. In Canada, we have had many successes in achieving integration into all levels of society by successfully combating antisemitism and, therefore, sober optimism is not necessarily out of place.

I would now like to make a few general observations of what we have accomplished in Canada in relation to the struggle against antisemitism, identify some initiatives on the world stage and conclude with some points on strategies for dealing with the future.

The Canadian Jewish community in the past has overcome significant antisemitism through the development of highly evolved protective statutory, judicial and law enforcement infrastructures. That is a mouthful and could bore but these are structures that go to the heart of our protections and that have permitted our successful acceptance into a society that not too long ago was thick with bigotry.

In my view, it is no coincidence that illustrious Canadian lawyers and jurists, including Chief Justice Bora Laskin and McGill Law School Dean Maxwell Cohen, were associated in various capacities with CJC and other institutions of the organized Jewish community. Professor of Constitutional Law, Bruce Elman, has written that:

"The Canadian Jewish community has a rich history of involvement and advocacy on constitutional issues particularly the protection of minority rights."

Trudeau himself commented on the significant contributions that our organizations and individuals have made to the development of human rights protection, not least of which has been the Charter.

We have been at the forefront of human rights and multiculturism advocacy, we have left not one serious expression of religion, ethnic, or race based hate go unchallenged - whether white supremacist, neo Nazi, or holocaust revisionist in nature. Zundel, Keegstra, The Heritage Front; Dial for Hate telephone lines such as Liberty Net, Ahenakew, anti-Semitic columnists such as Doug Collins; each step of the way, there was anguish as to whether the challenging of these bigots and racists was restricting freedom of speech; each step of the way the legal system is engaged for the formulation of the correct balance of rights and responsibilities in a liberal democracy.

As a result, there is a comprehensive body of tribunal, judge-made law and statute, charting a uniquely Canadian path in balancing the precious freedoms of expression with the freedom from being hated and reviled by reason of religion, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. Our Jewish community has played an important role in this rapid legal evolution which has assisted not only in our acceptance as full citizens but which has also assisted all minorities in this country.

This is our collective inheritance and like good stewards of any valuable inheritance, it should be acknowledged, treasured and enlarged. So what does the future portend?

In a recent survey,1400 Canadians identified that, while three quarters believe that antisemitism is rapidly spreading, here in Canada antisemitism, as a general societal phenomenon is reducing in intensity from previous decades. There are, however, still unacceptably large numbers of Canadians who in some form do not like Jews and the incidents of dislike of Jews is higher in Quebec, in Canadians over 65 and amongst new immigrants. Yet, when all types of antisemitism are taken as a whole, antisemitism is lower in Canada than in the United States and, by some accounts, 25% lower (although the data is complex and one must exercise caution in interpreting it). Not surprisingly antisemitism in Canada is substantially lower than in Europe, which one would suspect, given recent highly publicized occurrences.

Irving Abella, a York University academic and author of ?None is Too Many,? who must surely be seen as one of our leading Canadian experts on antisemitism, has concluded after reviewing the data that the comprehensive legal and human rights structures consisting of the criminalizing of hate, Human Rights Acts, The Charter, hate crime teams, and a constitutionally enshrined multiculturism all collectively act as a "firewall" against some of the more incendiary forms of antisemitism seen in other jurisdictions. This conclusion is that Canada is far from perfect but there are few places where it is better.

We have here in Canada an intellectual and political climate which accepts that hate crimes are an assault on the very dignity of every person; an assault on the fragility of our multicultural fabric. For example, the House of Commons recently passed an unheard of unanimous reso-lution condemning antisemitism. And amongst other Parliamentarians it was a Quebec Bloc member Richard Marceau who has undertaken important work in bringing to the House concerns regarding the spread of antisemitism.

When Justice Minister Irwin Cotler addressed Canadian Jewish Congress at it's National Convention last Spring, he articulated a 12 Point Action Plan to combat antisemitism and reduce racism overall. All of which will resonate with our organizations as an endorsement of the accomplishments of human rights advocates to date. Some of the Points are as follows:

1) Continued education to the effect that hate crimes are not just ordinary crimes but crimes that assault our democratic fabric. 2) The need for unequivocal condemnation of antisemitism by political leadership. 3) Continued awareness of the linkage between hate crimes and terrorism and the advocacy of genocide against Israel and the Jewish people. 4) Gaining universal acceptance of the credo zero tolerance for hate; zero tolerance for terrorism; zero tolerance for antisemitism. 5) Cross -cultural round table to discuss such issues as terrorism and human rights. 6) Continue to ensure that Internet hate sites which we now estimate in excess of 5000 are targeted by the world community as a priority. 7) Increased holocaust education, antisemitism education, multiculturalism education and human rights education. 8) Specifically he also called for the adoption of a day in honour and commemoration of Raoul Wallenberg.

So it would appear that both Professor Abella and the Justice Minister's analysis is that we have been on the right track. If we intensify our efforts, but we also have to acknowledge the increased complexity that I referred to earlier. It is one thing to unite against hate, but is it anti-semitic to denounce Israel as an apartheid state? It is, if the implications are that the Jewish people are denied their national homeland in their ancestral lands. Is it antisemitic to continue to draw attention to the Palestinian issue to the exclusion of so many other important issues? It is, if a double set of standards are applied, about which I will have more to say.

Part of the reason many of us have no difficulty in answering in the affirmative to questions like the above, is in part the original source of certain types of these critiques. Many of them have come from the worst autocratic regimes. Some of whom, like Syria, gave home to escaping Nazis and generally have been strongly influenced by fascist ideology towards Jews. Those who are involved in the study of antisemitism tell us the continued links between Islamicist terrorists and neo-Nazi organizations are more than tenuous and part of the constant stream of anti-Israel tirades have emanated from these dark corners, only to be picked up by less radicalized and hate-filled groups and articulated in a language that could even resonate with moderates.

But it is critical to get this part of the analysis correct and I think we are still in the process of formulating a principled and rational set of criteria for determining what is within acceptable bounds when it relates to critiques of Israel and what constitutes antisemitism, let alone hateful incitement.

Let me tell you a few of the many initiatives that the organized community has embarked upon in response to our current situation and then I will conclude with some overall recommendations for both individual and organizational actions.

One of the most significant developments in response to resurgent antisemitism are organizational attempts to define antisemitism, and then educate and advocate. There are numerous international conferences on antisemitism at which leadership throughout the world is coming together to share and shape responses. Various European Union securities related structures and the United Nations are several forums at which we are attempting to get the message through.

Last June 21, Columbia Law Professor Anne Bayefsky addressed a United Nations Conference set aside exclusively to deal with antisemitism. Her remarks, to the consternation of some, were dedicated exclusively to the United Nations as a birthing room for much of international antisemitism. Her speech was a devastating critique. Her submission, which attempts to identify double standards in the treatment of the Jewish people and Israel, is part of our collective organizational attempt to define the difference between legitimate criticism and critiques that have an antisemitic motive behind them.

Her opening remarks were blunt and I quote:

"This meeting occurs at a point when the relationship between Jews and the United Nations is at an all-time low. The United Nations took root in the ashes of the Jewish people, and according to its charter was to flower on the strength of a commitment to tolerance and equality for all men and women and of nations large and small. Today, however, the U.N. provides a platform for those who cast the victims of the Nazis as the Nazi counterparts of the 21st century. The U.N. has become the leading global purveyor of antisemitism -- intolerance and inequality against the Jewish people and its state."

She went on to note that there has never been a U.N. resolution specifically on antisemitism or a single report to a U.N. body dedicated to discrimination against Jews, in contrast to annual resolutions and reports focusing on the defamation of Islam and discrimination against Muslims and Arabs. Instead there was Durban, the 2001 U.N. World Conference "Against Racism," which was a breeding ground and global soapbox for anti-Semites. Then Professor Bayefsky identifies the issue squarely as follows:

"Antisemitism is about intolerance and discrimination directed at Jews, both individually and collectively. It concerns both individual human rights and the group right to self-determination, realized in the state of Israel. What does discrimination against the Jewish state mean? It means refusing to admit only Israel to the vital negotiating sessions of regional groups held daily during U.N. Commission on Human Rights meetings. It means devoting six of the 10 emergency sessions ever held by the General Assembly to Israel. It means transforming the 10th emer-gency session into a permanent tribunal, which has now been reconvened 12 times since 1997. By contrast, no emergency session was ever held on the Rwandan genocide, estimated to have killed a million people, or the ethnic cleansing of tens of thousands in the former Yugoslavia, or the death of millions over the past two decades of atrocities in Sudan. That's discrimination."

She could have easily referred to the most recent catastrophe in the Darfur region of Sudan where millions more are at risk of murder, mayhem, rape and starvation, while the United Nations once again shows it's paralysis in supporting the victims of a militaristic Islamicist regime. Please note I have not said Islamic regime because the people who are being targeted in Darfur are themselves Moslems; the regime which threatens them is a military group who give obeisance to what may be referred to as a perverse distortion of Islam and what some are calling Islamo-fascist ideology.
But returning to Bayefsky's indictment of the U.N., she went on to articulate that the language of human rights has been hijacked not only to discriminate but also to demonize the Jewish target. More than one quarter of the resolutions condemning a state's human rights violations adopted by the Human Rights Commission over 40 years have been directed at Israel. In 2003, a General Assembly resolution concerned with the welfare of Israeli children failed (though one on Palestinian children passed handily) because it proved impossible to gain enough support for the word Israeli appearing before the word children.

Her concluding words were directed to the Secretary-General:

"I challenge the Secretary-General and his organization -- if they are serious about eradicating antisemitism: Start condemning human-rights violators wherever they dwell -- even if they live in Damascus. Stop condemning the Jewish people for fighting back against their killers. And the next time someone asks you or your colleagues to stand for a moment of silence to honor those who would destroy the State of Israel, say "NO...?

The World Jewish Congress has identified fundamentalist Islamic terror as the main progenitor of hatred against Jews and Israel and therefore sees the war against terrorism as an important bulwark against antisemitism.


Within the larger debate of Islamic extremism there are those who say that fundamentally the solution to the problem of antisemitism must come from within the moderate Moslem community. Support for moderate Moslems is a key plank of our collective strategy in combating antisemitism. In perhaps the first really encouraging sign of moderates finding their voice, the Saudi newspaper Arab News recently reported that over 2500 Muslim intellectuals from 23 countries signed a petition sent to the United Nations Secretary-General calling for an international treaty banning the use of religion for incitement to violence. This is a significant new development. Many of us consider this type of response from the Islamic community to be the most important type of check to contemporary antisemitism.


Several world and local events perhaps best illustrate our current initiatives. Our community has undertaken raising awareness on the humanitarian disaster in Darfur as an absolute priority. Here in British Columbia, we have contacted every federal leader for the purposes of communicating to the political leadership that this is an issue that goes right to the heart of the integrity of the United Nations. Intuitively, our community knows that if there is another genocide in Africa, our mantra of ?Never Again? will ring hollow. That rallying call was not intended only to ensure no more atrocities against the Jewish people, but no more genocides against any people. The anti-genocidal work of our community organizations including Holocaust awareness, demands that we as a community are in the forefront of persuading our political leaders to act. I use this platform to once again call upon all of you to phone or write your political leadership on this issue. Today in Toronto, there is a rally co-organized by CJC, Ontario Region intended to continue to bring this issue to the forefront of the Canadian agenda.

I now wish to conclude with several points on strategies as we move forward. Some of these follow from the Justice Minister's various planks. As you listen to these ideas, perhaps you can think about the role your organization can play in advancing any of these initiatives, or how you as individuals can meaningfully participate:

Firstly, I want to refer to long term planning to anticipate what our Canada may look like 20 years down the road. One of the most important programs we can undertake is a comprehen-sive nation-wide strategy to better promulgate Canadian civics and the internal embrace of Charter values of freedom and equality rights. That has in fact already begun with a series of conferences on Civil Discourse funded by Heritage Canada and implemented by Canadian Jewish Congress with the active support of CIJA. The first one was held in Toronto last week with participants from numerous religious and ethnic communities, including many participants from the Muslim community. The next will be in Vancouver.

The focus is how to craft the ground rules for a Canadian approach to dealing with explosive international issues such as the Middle East so that they do not spill over into hatred, contempt and violence. Philosophy Professor Kingswell was the keynote speaker and articulated a number of principles, such as a thick liberalism which is robust in it's defence of virtues such as civility, willed restraint, openness to challenge, respect and toleration, not as wishy-washy concepts, but as virtues in the old-fashioned sense of the word where virtues connote a disposition to action. The day long conversation which followed amongst leaders of the different religious and ethnic communities was enlivening and shows clearly that we are beginning to chart a course in this new domain called civil discourse, I hope you will be hearing much more about this in the years to come as an important additional approach in dealing with a renewed antisemitism.

I
Secondly, and in the shorter term, and as part of the first point, we can certainly do more to educate our own Jewish community on the importance of human rights, Charter values, multiculturalism and the concepts of shared values and Jewish contributions in this regard. I doubt that most of our community has ever heard of Bora Laskin even though he, as a Jew and as Supreme Court Chief Justice, did important work in advancing the status and welfare of all minority communities.

Here is the opportunity to instill great pride from knowledge of our contributions, our endurance, our hope and optimism. Every young Jew who understands the connection between our struggle for Jewish dignity and human rights becomes a more engaged Canadian and a prouder Jew. I would like to see a curriculum in this regard piloted in our Jewish schools.

And while we put emphasis on the horrors of the Holocaust, and rightfully so, how much emphasis do we place on educating about those peoples who resisted the hate and protected the Jews. Some, but perhaps not enough. Denmark and Bulgaria's record in this regard should be known by each of us - not just as a matter of historical record or as an antidote to cynicism towards the human condition, but as a primer in learning which cultural or historical conditions can immunize populations against antisemitism. When we look at the laboratory of actual human experience, why not look to those places where antisemitism was successfully resisted.

Bulgaria was at the cross-roads of Asia and Europe. There was exposure to numerous religions and ethnicities and therefore many Bulgarians couldn't understand why their Jews were being singled out by the Nazis. As a result, almost all Bulgarian Jews were saved during World War II.

When you see your neighbour as fundamentally different, it is easier to be infected with contempt. The courage of various individuals and certain countries in standing firm with threatened Jewish communities supports our domestic agenda that the way to dissolve antisemitism is to link that struggle with an overall vision of a common humanity.

We must continue to try and ensure that antisemitism does not advertently or inadvertently creep into the mainstream political ideologies. This has so many aspects, from encouraging civil discourse on campuses to ensuring that student press organs are not taken over by extremist groups.

One of the best ways in addressing this latter challenge is to draw upon the good intentions of many political activists to achieve world betterment by articulating that antisemitism is not just another problem. It is like a noxious poison and affects all of us; threatening to derail many important initiatives for world improvement because it so dominates those international institutions necessary in the fight against environmental degradation, disease, and poverty.

We must get the word out comprehensively and effectively that the amount of energy at international conferences devoted to demonizing Jews and Israel has been an unmitigated disaster for various initiatives for world betterment.

I have been speaking primarily on the organizational level, but on the personal level one must first make a decision whether you wish to engage personally. If you decide to personally engage, it should be an informed engagement and I do not see how that can happen without a continual feeding from Jewish newspapers, periodicals and books.


Just by way of passing, if you wish to gain an exposure to the full scope of views on the antisemitism of our times, you might well wish to read the newly published work by Ron Rosenbaum entitled ?Those Who Forget the Past: The Question of Antisemitism? which contains over 50 essays from a wide spectrum of thinkers.

As we face a resurgence of malevolent hatred against both the Jewish state and Jewish Diaspora communities we shudder wondering what might be in store; hoping beyond hope that the circumstances that created the Shoah, the circumstances that created such enmity towards Israel will not be repeated in North America.

Yet let's try and take a hard look at this antisemitism in Canada. While there are revulsions, outrage, and anger at the swastika daubings; the hate-filled statements and horrendous firebombing in the Montreal Day School; the fact is, most of us go on about our daily lives untouched by this resurgence and do not in any real way feel impaired by contemporary antisemitism.

We need to know that in Israel, our brothers and sisters do actively feel the trauma of the continued assaults and there are peoples here in Canada whose lives have been ravaged by racist policies and whose living standards are many times below those of the average Canadian.

When we demand that our political leaders do something about antisemitism, also give serious reflection to those First Nations peoples who every day wonder why there is still so much inequity in Canadian society.

First Nations peoples still feel disenfranchised; as a Canadian society we are responsible for a monstrous repudiation of great hospitality and openness shown to the first European settlers. There is an injustice of such significant proportions in which we are still implicated that I think it is absolutely critical, if for no other reason than our own collective integrity and credibility, for each one of us to totally transform our thinking around the treatment of indigenous peoples in this country so we are ourselves are not guilty of the same indifference or overt discrimination and prejudice which we say the world has shown us. We have done some initial work in this regard, but much more needs to be done.

In my discussion today about the dissolution of anti-Semitism, I want to make these links - I want to suggest that our ultimate security lies in an even greater outward reach to these communities who are in a place of suffering that must command our full and immediate attention. For many reasons, it goes to the integrity of our call for the implementation of Jewish values; it goes to our credibility when we say where was the world and where is the world; it goes to the benefits of making alliances in our quest for a just society and creating conditions for antisemitism not to flourish.

So this is the theme for my presentation today. In a word discovering and nourishing our common humanity so as to create fewer places of hatred wherever they may manifest.

Here we are in Vancouver, a more beautiful place doesn't exist. The birthplace of so many positive forces in our country. If antisemitism is a word which encapsulates hate, fear, lies, irrationality, envy and pain; what is on the other side of antisemitism? Acceptance of people who are different; understanding of people who are different, promotion of harmony amongst different people, empathy with the oppressed and a determination to effect change.

And this means more education, more contact with others, greater enlightenment, broader perspectives and, ultimately, greater places of peace and respect for the dignity of each of us. But it is a two way street- we cannot demand that our dignity be respected and not work diligently for the dignity of the most oppressed.

It is, of course, a task that will not be finished by our generation. To paraphrase one of our time-honoured teachings, t we are not obligated to finish all of the work, but we are certainly obliged to do our part.

All of you, by being at this National Conference, are showing your passion for and commitment to the work that needs to be done. I look forward with great anticipation in seeing each of us contribute in the most powerful way that our potential permits.

Thank you for the honour of addressing this wonderful group of women.

http://www.cjccc.ca/correspondence/correspondence_and_speeches_link2.html

Vancouver Sun: Cleric blames media for storm over anti-Jewish diatribe

Oct. 25, 2004

By: Jonathan Fowlie

VANCOUVER - A Vancouver-based Muslim cleric who called Jews the "brothers of monkeys and swine" released a long statement on the weekend saying he is "not a violent nor hateful person" and that his comments were taken "completely out of context."

Younus Kathrada was heavily criticized last week after reports surfaced in the media of speeches he had made in which he called Jews the "brothers of monkeys and swine" and in which he espoused the virtues of an "offensive jihad," or holy war, between Muslims and people of non-Muslim religions.

In the 1,600-word response on his website, Kathrada said he is going through "perhaps one of the saddest moments of my life," and attempted to clarify what he meant in his lectures.

"References to Jews in any of my lectures have always been linked to the Palestinian issue and the Al-Aqsa mosque," Kathrada wrote, adding "it is not our belief that Jews are subhuman."

With regards to an "offensive jihad" Kathrada said he "made it clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that many conditions must be met before this is permissible."

He blamed the media for quoting him out of context in search of a "sensational story."

In reaction to Kathrada's posting, Jewish groups said on Sunday the statement does not change their condemnation of the cleric's earlier comments.

"In my view there is no authentic remorse," said Mark Weintraub, chairman of the Pacific region of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

"But even if there were, it is against Canadian law," he said. "Incitement of hatred and genocide are criminal offences -- punishable by imprisonment if appropriate."

After reading Kathrada's statement, Karen Lazar of B'nai B'rith Canada said, "I think a lot of what he says gives us great cause for concern.

"Having read this, B'nai B'rith certainly stands behind its initial call for an investigation to be launched immediately into charges of incitement to hatred and incitement to genocide, and I hope authorities will respond immediately," she said.

Weintraub said Kathrada's posting was no different from someone who has committed assault turning around and saying he was misunderstood, in an effort to avoid being charged.

"How do you reinterpret a call to kill Jews?" he said. "The hatred in other countries must be kept out of Canada, and I call on all Canadians to stand firm in repudiating his call for violence."

Reached by Canadian Press on Sunday, Kathrada would not elaborate on his statement.

"I think I've made it about as clear as I could on the [web]site," he said. "At this point in time I think I would like to leave it at that."

Kathrada's Dar al-Madinah's information centre came into the spotlight earlier this month because Rudwan Khalil Abubaker, a Vancouver man reportedly killed by Russian forces in Chechnya, went there to pray.

A report from Russian officials says Abubaker was buried in Chechnya after the raid, meaning his body may not be returned.

Federal officials in Canada say the Abubaker family has been provided with the details of that report and told that a representative from Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs will speak with the family's lawyer about the case again today.

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=itn&Story=997

Vancouver Sun: Police probe radical cleric

October 23, 2004

Police probe radical cleric: East Van mosque linked to three B.C. men missing in Asia

By: Joel Baglole, Jonathan Fowlie, and Krisendra Biset

The RCMP and the Vancouver police said Friday they are investigating racist comments made by Sheik Younus Kathrada, a radical Muslim cleric in Vancouver who promotes Islamic holy war against Jews and other non-Muslim people.

"We are aware of comments that have been made at this particular mosque, and we are following up with an investigation," RCMP Cpl. Catherine Galliford said. "I am not prepared to say if there are any other Vancouver mosques currently under investigation," she added.

A controversy erupted in Vancouver's Muslim and Jewish communities after it was reported that Kathrada, cleric of the Dar al-Madinah Islamic Society mosque in east Vancouver, made anti-Semitic and racist comments during public speeches, several of which have been posted on the Internet.

On Friday, those comments triggered a confrontation outside the Dar al-Madinah mosque as a lone protester waved a sign at people going into the storefront doorway.


Kathrada first entered the news as the cleric who ran a prayer group attended by Rudwan Khalil Abubaker, the Vancouver man believed to have been shot by authorities in Russia. On Friday, Phil Rankin, lawyer for the Abubaker family, confirmed Abubaker had attended Kathrada's mosque.


In an interview with The Sun, Rankin also said the Abubaker family learned Friday that Russian authorities had buried their 26-year-old relative in the Chechan village of Niki-Khita -- the small village where he is believed to have been killed -- in the days, or even hours, after he was allegedly shot by Russian authorities in an anti-terrorist raid Oct. 8.

Rankin, who previously did not know where the body believed to be Abubaker's was being held, said the family of the 26-year-old remains uncertain their relative is dead, since the only proof of his identity so far has been the passport Russian authorities held up to a television camera after four men were shot in the apparent raid.


That identification process will become more complex, Rankin said, now that the body has been buried.


"The [Russians] say that Rudwan was buried so they can't get the body back," Rankin said.


"He had a good Muslim burial and they're not going to exhume him," he said, adding Muslim faith does not allow for bodies to be exhumed.


"We'll make an exception," he said, explaining the family still wants the body to be brought back to Canada.

Rankin said the Russian authorities have sent fingerprints of Abubaker, but that the family is uncertain whether they would be able to make a match because they do not believe his prints are on file with anyone.


He added the Russians said they may also send a picture of the dead man's body, which the family could use for identification, but he was not certain if that was going to happen.


On Friday night, federal sources told The Sun a picture of the body has been sent from Russia and is with Canadian authorities in Ottawa.


Rankin also said that Azer Tagiev and Kamal Elbahja, two friends of Abubaker who are missing and may also have been in Russia, also used to attend the Dar al-Madinah mosque.


Kathrada, the cleric at that mosque, has referred to Jews as "the brothers of monkeys and swine," and espoused the virtues of an "offensive jihad," an Islamic holy war between Muslims and people of non-Muslim religions.


On Friday, Rankin said that Abubaker's younger brother, Amir Abubaker, attended the mosque with Rudwan, but does not recall any lectures containing those or similar words against Jews.

Outside the Dar Al-Madinah mosque on Friday, a lone protester who expressed concern that Kathrada's comments will damage Muslim-Jewish relations, was confronted by a group of angry Muslims.


Kathrada was not at his tiny rented office and prayer rooms on Vancouver's Fraser Street and a sign posted at the entrance of the building said the day's prayer would not be taking place at the location.


Muslims arriving for the 1 p.m. Jumaah Prayer were startled to find the door locked and some became angry when another Muslim man, Hanif Abdul Karim, arrived with a placard saying that "anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim hate hurts all of us."


Some in the group tried to yank the placard from Karim and shove him from outside the mosque entrance but were restrained by others. Shaken by the ordeal, Karim, who left soon after, said he was appalled by their reaction -- and by Kathrada's comments.


"I'm saddened that this type of hate speech can be said in the name of Islam," he said.


But he was shouted down by Muslims close to Kathrada. One man, who would not give his name, said of the anti-Semitic comments: "This is a minor issue. Do you know what the Palestinians are going through? You have no idea."

Another man, who looked no older than 20, said: "We are an honest, peaceful people and who speak the truth. If it hurts, so be it. No Jew will be spared."


In an interview with The Canadian Press, Kathrada did not deny he made the comments, and said his words speak for themselves.


Vancouver police spokeswoman Const. Anne Drennan said an investigation into Kathrada's comments "has been ongoing for some time now." However, she added that police have no immediate concerns about the mosque.

"At this point, there is nothing to indicate a likelihood of violence breaking out," she said.


Jewish groups in Vancouver and across Canada reacted strongly to Kathrada's comments.


"I am very disturbed by these comments," said Mark Weintraub, chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress Pacific Region. "If in fact the individual in question has called for the killing of Jews, then this is the most overt attack on Jewish people Vancouver has ever seen."


B'Nai Brith Canada called on B.C. Attorney-General Geoff Plant to begin an immediate investigation. A spokeswoman for the ministry declined to comment.


Condemnation of Kathrada's actions was equally strong in Canada's Muslim community.


"This kind of commentary is completely against the teachings of Islam and all people of conscience should deplore it," the B.C. Muslim Association said in a statement. However, the association noted: "The comments appear to have been made in response to the assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin in Palestine. The Muslim community was obviously shocked by the assassination and it is possible Mr. Kathrada over reacted."


The Dar al-Madinah mosque is among a handful of mosques in the Vancouver area that are not affiliated with the B.C. Muslim Association.


The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations also denounced Kathrada's comments, calling them "deeply offensive" and not reflective of the views of Canadian Muslims.


Kathrada told Canadian Press he is a native of South Africa's Indian community, and that he has been a cleric at Dar al-Madinah for six years. Before that, he said, he was a Muslim chaplain at the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island. He said he studied in Saudi Arabia.


In his speeches, Kathrada tells an audience that martyrdom should be the desire of all real Muslims. "The prophet . . . says that the stone and the tree will say `Oh Muslim, oh slave of Allah, that verily behind me is a Jew. Then come and kill him," he says in one text of a speech.


Basel Barqoni, who moved to Vancouver from Palestine 17 years ago, described Kathrada as a "very respectable man" and didn't believe he would make negative comments concerning Jews. But Barqoni expressed his own strong views, saying he was uncomfortable that "Jews control the world and the media" and that Muslims are branded as terrorists.


David Matas, a lawyer for B'nai Brith, said Kathrada could be prosecuted under Canada's hate crime laws against inciting hatred and/or genocide. Given that Kathrada's comments are on tape and he has not denied them, any case against him would be "cut and dried," he said.


Also appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, Moose Jaw Times and Canwest News Service.


http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=itn&Story=985

Western Jewish Bulletin: Fry vocal on hate front

October 8, 2004

Fry vocal on hate front

Van-Centre MP urges UN reform, Mideast peace.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

As part of an occasional series of interviews with members of Parliament from British Columbia, the Bulletin spoke with Vancouver-Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry.

The recent spate of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada reflects a tendency for hate-motivated groups to exploit world events, says Liberal MP Hedy Fry.

"There is a lot of hate going on around the world now," said the Vancouver-Centre MP, who was elected in June to her fourth term. "I spoke to that at one time and got in trouble for it."Fry was mocked when, as secretary of state for multiculturalism, she declared in the house that crosses were burning "as we speak" in parts of British Columbia. Despite the tempest over her choice of words, she said, the fact remains that hate groups are able to exploit events and the vulnerability of economic or socially isolated individuals to spread their agenda."Wherever it happens, people crawl out of the woodwork with their hate groups and begin to take advantage of perception of world activity, so these hate groups sort of jump on the bandwagon," Fry said in an interview the day Parliament opened Oct. 4. "In countries where there's economic turmoil ... hate groups seem to be able to sniff it out and to go in and aggravate and especially to try to stir up trouble among disenfranchised youth."Fry noted that hate-motivated incidents spiked during discussion of the Nisga'a treaty in British Columbia and suggested anti-Semitic incidents may be a result of groups exploiting the Middle East conflict for their own ends. "I think they're always there, a common evil waiting to create rifts," she said.

On the international front, Fry said Prime Minister Paul Martin's approach to multilateralism, which he outlined in a recent speech before the United Nations, centres on that international body's ability to maintain and enhance it legitimacy.

"If the United Nations is going to remain a multilateral organization [and] it's going to watchdog human rights and be an institution whose obligation is to our collective humanity, then it is going to have to get some different ways of working," said Fry.

"[The prime minister] is talking about looking at areas prior to some of the crises that have been happening in Sudan, in Rwanda, that there should be some way of watchdogging, intervening, reporting on [looming catastrophes], so we can prevent some of those things from occurring.... If we had had a functioning League of Nations, let's say, before the Second World War, there might have been a way for countries of the world, seeing what was happening, to step in and prevent what went on.

"Good God, we have to have learned from World War Two, we have to have learned from Bosnia, we have to have learned from Rwanda," she said.

The current conflict in Sudan, where a report this week warned that 300,000 people could die by year's end, is a priority for Fry and dominated a meeting she held recently with representatives of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region (CJC). Congress has taken a lead role in raising Canadian awareness and activism against the potential humanitarian catastrophe in the African country.

"They were very concerned about the Sudan and I am as concerned as they are," Fry said of Congress. She said the federal government has dedicated $42 million since 2003 into humanitarian relief and $20 million to supporting African Union troops planning to intervene in the conflict.

The meeting with CJC was amicable, according to both sides.

"I have worked very closely with them nationally as secretary of state for multiculturalism," Fry said. "I believe that it's an organization that's on the right track."

No foreign policy shift

On Canadian foreign policy toward Israel, Fry does not foresee a policy change even though Canada has a new foreign affairs minister.

"We would like to believe that our foreign policy is one that comes out of strong principle and not one that is made on the fly," Fry said. "I think that the Canadian principle on what is going on in the Middle East, and especially on what is going on between Israel and Palestine, has always been clearly one that states that Israel has a right to a nation-state and to have a peaceful existence within that state and to provide for the security of its people. That is an absolute right. But at the same time, that Palestine has a right to be able to live in peace and to find a space for their people to live in of their own. How to get there? We believe it should be done through very strong negotiations, working out agreements to do so. That's how Canada has always resolved things."

She added that she expects Canada to support a United Nations stand-alone resolution against anti-Semitism.

"I don't think that the government would go against it," said Fry. "I don't see why the government would not support such a resolution.

However, as a Canadian delegate to the United Nations conference in Durban in 2001, Fry said she understands how issues can be twisted to anti-Semitic or biased ends. Diverting attention away from Jew-hatred by arguing over the meaning of the term "anti-Semitism" is a ploy previously employed in United Nations discussions. Though anti-Semitism has, since the 1880s, referred to a hatred of Jews, the term "Semite" refers to an ethnic identity that includes Arabs.

There's going to be debate over what the term anti-Semitism means," she said. "What I listened to is people saying, 'yes, yes, but anti-Semitism is not just about the Jews.' This was the argument. I was just saying to [CJC] that if a resolution like that comes to the United Nations, that hair-splitting is one of the big things that is going to take place and there is going to be that red herring.... That, I see, is where the big problem is going to come in. Not whether people support the principle. A splitting of the hairs is going to occur."

Meeting with Congress

On other issues, Fry, a medical doctor and former head of the British Columbia Medical Association, is optimistic that the recent health-care accord between federal and provincial governments will provide genuine solutions to health-care crises for the next 30 years.

Ensuring that equal marriage provisions are adopted is another priority, she said.

"It is the last area in which the equality of a minority group has not been fully realized," she said, adding that religious groups have no reason to fear their clergy will be forced to perform same-sex marriages. She said same-sex marriage involves the rights of children.

"Given that now nature has taken a back seat to technology, same-sex couples can have children, really biologically, and I believe that therefore if we don't allow same-sex couples an equal access to the major legal and social institution of marriage, then we will be having two sets of children with two sets of rights and I find that unacceptable," Fry said.

Fry also wants to help market Vancouver as an avant garde art, food and culture tourism destination.

"We can offer people from any country of the world anything that they want in a language and [with a] cultural sensitivity that no one else in the world can," she said, adding that she imagines Vancouver could become Canada's winter destination.

On her meeting with Canadian Jewish Congress officials, Fry credited the group for taking a lead on confronting the genocide in Darfur.

"I think it's an important commitment and what they were doing there was taking on a collective human and social responsibility for each other, which is where we should be going," she said.

Mark Weintraub, chair of CJC, Pacific Region, who led the delegation that met with Fry last month, commended the MP and urged the Jewish community to remember Fry's role three years ago at Durban.

"She was a very, very strong opponent to the anti-Semitism that we saw there," said Weintraub. When the conference devolved into a melee of anti-Semitic resolutions and rhetoric, the United States and Israel withdrew from the conference, but Canada remained.

"Dr. Fry was obviously in the position of implementing the overall Canadian policy that it was better to stay and try to change some of the very horrible resolutions that were being put forth and to fight what was going on rather than leaving. [CJC's] initial position was that Canada should have pulled out of the conference once we saw that it was turning into a real anti-Semitic event. But having said that, we worked with Dr. Fry, because we didn't pull out either, we stayed.

"The Canadian Jewish Congress representatives who were in Durban at the time felt that Dr. Fry showed a lot of determination and courage in taking on some of the more extreme elements in the various conferences and I think it's really important that we go beyond the headlines of the day and listen to people who were at the conference and saw the anti-Semitism first-hand and were very appreciative of Dr. Fry's support," Weintraub said.

The Congress leader also credited Fry for being informed and passionate about the situation in Darfur and for voicing support for the stand-alone resolution on anti-Semitism."We consider both of these issues to be linked," said Weintraub, "because they go to the integrity of the United Nations and of course our Jewish community has had profound disappointment with the politicization of the United Nations and how, too often, it has been used as a forum for anti-Semitism. We really see these issues as linked with respect to whether the world can see the United Nations as any kind of hope for people who are beleaguered."

Problems with UN functioning are particularly significant to Canadians, he said."So much of Canada's foreign policy is based on multilateralism and the importance of the United Nations," said Weintraub.

Congress also urged Fry to support a national hate crimes statistics registry and the meeting discussed the upcoming World Peace Forum, which is scheduled for 2006 in Vancouver."In the past, some of these forums, under the rubric of peace and social justice, end up being hijacked by very narrow special interests," said Weintraub.

Pat Johnson is a Vancouver journalist and commentator.

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/Oct04/archives04Oct08-01.html