Vancouver Courier: Commissioners hear pros and cons of volleyball at Jericho Beach Park

By Sandra Thomas - Staff writer

December 2, 2001

Opponents of sand volleyball courts at Jericho Beach Park outnumbered determined beach volleyball players as the two sides squared off this week over the future of the park.

Almost 250 people jammed a public hearing Wednesday night to air their views on building a permanent 12-court sand volleyball facility, roughly three-quarters the size of a soccer field, near the old concrete wharf just east of the Jericho Sailing Centre. The large number of speakers forced the board, which is not expected to vote on the issue until Jan. 14, to extend the meeting to Thursday night.

Colin Metcalfe, president of the Vancouver Field Sports Federation, generated a barrage of boos and catcalls when he told board members that beach volleyball is "under attack." The heckling grew in volume as he compared opponents of the volleyball facility to a "hyperbolic neighbourhood of nattering, nabob NIMBYs," prompting chairwoman Laura McDiarmid to appeal to the crowd to show respect for the speakers.

Metcalfe accused the board of dropping the ball on playing fields and recreation areas in the city, saying the proposal is a way to begin making amends.

Jeff Malmgre, co-ordinator of the Vancouver Ultimate [Frisbee] League, supports the volleyball players, and accused local residents of NIMBYism. Malmgre said the area earmarked for the permanent volleyball courts represents only 1.1 per cent of the park, which he says is under-utilized. "NIMBY is an ugly word. But I'm not sure what else we can call it. The park is meant to serve a lot of people, not just the ones who live on the West Side."

He added beach volleyball is "huge" in Vancouver and the culture is conducive to the health conscious spirit of the city.

"It's a fact kids who play organized sports get into less crime," he said. "There aren't many smokers in the group and they're pretty much all healthy citizens. We should be encouraging that."

West Side residents who spoke out against the proposal listed a number of concerns, including fears of an influx of bleachers, fences to keep dogs out, commercial sponsorship and signage. They also complained about the impact of the facility on a parking crunch in the area, and expressed concern about the effects of "canned music" and other noise on local wild and bird life, including a solo eagle that's been roosting in the area for years, and a pair of eagles nesting for the first time.

"My name is Mark Weintraub. I do not represent any orgnization. I am a long time Vancouver resident. I swim in Kits pool, roller blade and bike along our seawalls. I support active sports in our parks system but I oppose the location of a permanent volleyball infrastructure in the middle of one of our most precious city assets. I am also here to speak out against a process which I do not think is responsive to the clear needs of an overwhelming majority of park users. This site is located on ancient Native land and is the home to over 100 species of birds. One of the thrilling parts of this park is that when you look south from the walkway and see the beautiful treed backdrop, the forest area and expanse of grass, you cannot but help get a feeling of a time long gone."

David Cadman, executive director of the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation, said he supports organized sports in the city, especially beach volleyball, since his niece plays at the Olympic level, but disagrees with the proposed location.

"There's already 31 courts along the beach," he said. "This is the wrong place."

Daphne Solecki pointed out the park was originally created after neighbours rallied together to oppose a huge housing development on the then-Department of National Defence land. Twenty thousand signatures were eventually gathered in support of creating Jericho Beach Park, said Solecki, who held up minutes from the Feb. 16, 1981 parks board meeting, including a motion that: "The Vancouver parks board commit itself to preventing active recreation activities from impinging upon the natural passive areas of Jericho Park."

Eight years later, the board spent $30,000 enhancing a pond on the site and $56,500 restoring and landscaping the concrete area south of the wharf-the same area proposed for the volleyball courts.

"I believe the commissioners would be breaking their faith with all the people who gave so much of their time to create this beautiful park, with those who continue to work to improve the park, planting trees and shrubs and removing invasive plant species and those who daily enjoy the natural beauty of the park and the abundant bird life, if they were to allow these courts to be built," she said.

http://www.vancourier.com/issues01/121101/news/121101nn2.html

Western Jewish Bulletin: NDP critic soothes Jews

November 9, 2001

NDP critic soothes Jews
Svend Robinson clarifies position on Israel to CJC.

PAT JOHNSON REPORTER

Svend Robinson has mended some fences with the Jewish community. The outspoken New Democratic Party member of Parliament met with officials from Canadian Jewish Congress recently in what is reported as a frank discussion of his views on Israel.

Robinson has been harshly critical of Israel for its actions in the occupied territories, but in his meeting with CJC officials, he made clear his support for the state of Israel within secure boundaries and his staunch opposition to the use of violence to meet political ends.

Robinson, who represents the constituency of Burnaby-Douglas, is his party's critic for foreign affairs. He told the Bulletin after the meeting that he was glad to be able to discuss these issues with Jewish officials and said he regrets the perception that he is in any way anti-Israel. He insisted that support for Israel is not compromised by his continuing defence of Palestinians.

"Can you be a strong advocate for Palestinian rights and at the same time clearly and unequivocally and unreservedly assert the importance of respecting and celebrating Israel's right to exist?" he asked. "And the answer to that is certainly a resounding yes."

"I've travelled to Israel and the occupied territories on a number of occasions over the years and would defend to the very end Israel's right to, not just to exist - I think that's kind of a lowest common denominator - but to flourish."

Robinson said he has little optimism for peace in the region and he views an international force - a sort of peacekeeping body - as the most likely source for a solution. He criticized Arab countries for repression and brutality, applauding Israel's dedication to democratic principles. But he said Israel under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cannot be trusted to negotiate a final settlement with the Palestinians.

"The question was put, 'Don't you agree that this should be resolved by a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians?' And the answer is no," said Robinson.

"Sharon is, I believe, at the very least, complicit in war crimes in Sabra and Shatilla in 1982 and, as you know, there was an inquiry that found him at least indirectly responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent civilians. His record with respect to the Palestinians and the rights of Palestinians is well known."

But while Robinson defended the interests of Palestinians, he deplored the use of violence to meet their ends.

"Any attack on innocent civilians is murder and is to be condemned in the strongest possible terms, period," he said. "All human lives are precious, whether it's the life of a janitor or a stockbroker in the World Trade Centre or a teenager who's eating pizza in downtown Tel-Aviv. To attack them is utterly inexcusable and indefensible."

The meeting, which took place Oct. 19 and was also attended by Vancouver East MP Libby Davies, the only other NDP MP from this province, pleased members of CJC. Mark Weintraub, a national vice-president of Congress, said meeting with Robinson was important for a number of reasons.

While the NDP is a relatively small party in Parliament, it has historically been an incubator for political innovation. Moreover, despite belonging to a small party, Robinson is one of Parliament's most familiar and media-wise members

But the most pressing reason, Weintraub suggested, was that CJC is a human rights organization and the anti-Israel bias among some Canadian human rights activists has damaged the working relationship between groups.

"The work of Canadian Jewish Congress is to protect minorities," said Weintraub. "Whether you're gay or you're female or you're a person of color or whether you're Jewish, there is important work to be done in human rights and we consider ourselves to be at the forefront of that, so it's extremely troubling that our natural friends in the human rights community have not been able to see clearly that the whole peace process dialogue has been hijacked by those who are fomenting hate."

It is another priority of CJC to seek clarity on political issues, something Weintraub said was accomplished by this meeting.

"This was extremely important that it be communicated to Canadians and to members of our community that the NDP is not a hostile place when it comes to Israel, that the NDP recognizes that Israel is a staunch ally and friend of Israel and shares common values," he said.

"Having said that, [Robinson] did not in any way derogate from his very sharp critique of what he considers to be unacceptable conduct by Israel in its engagement with the Palestinians."

Dr. Michael Elterman, an officer of CJC, said his group received from Robinson the most important statement on Israel that they seek from politicians.

"What he said was that, clearly, the Jewish people of Israel have a right to exist within secure borders which, I think, is the starting position that the community wants to hear when we talk to politicians." It was useful to meet face-to-face with Robinson and find exactly where he stands, said Elterman.

"He is the foreign affairs critic and we want to know where his party stands vis-à-vis Israel," he said. "If they're serious about forming a government ... we want to know if this is in fact the official policy of his party ... I think some progress was made."

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/nov01/archives01nov09-02.html

Entire Agreement Clause, Legal Matters

Photo caption: Mark Weintraub recommends including an "entire agreement" clause in any contract



Glen Kerstrom



Most legal disputes are the result of a breakdown of trust in a partnership. All too often, two trusting parties sign what they consider a boilerplate contract, trusting that a mutual understanding of the spirit of the agreement will cover any details not specified in the contract.



If that trust breaks down, however, the partnership can degenerate to a shouting match or even a court case over who promised what.



A simple addition to a contract, known as an "entire agreement clause," can prevent such disputes - a point illustrated by a B.C. Supreme Court ruling last December.





The case centred on a conflict between a caterer and a film production company. Bus Fare Entertainmet Industry Catering principal Geoff Titcomb said he didn't think he needed a lawyer when he asked Millennium Canadian Productions Ltd. manager Brian Dick to sign two copies of a contract in July 2001, because it was a standard contract in the entertainment industry.



Titcomb said he believed he had an understanding with Dick that the contract would be valid until December 7, 2001.


When Dick's production company cancelled the contract nine days later, Titcomb realized that he had nothing in writing specifying the contract's duration. That didn't stop him from suing Millennium for breaking promises to buy catering for more than four months.



Because the contract didn't include an entire agreement clause, Justice Bruce Harvey considered agreements and promises made outside the contract, such as alleged promises to contract catering for four months.


Harvey considered what Titcomb claimed was Dick's verbal promise to use Bus Fare Entertainment Industry Catering for the duration of Millennium's filming of the television seies UC:Undercover.



He then awarded Titcomb two weeks in damages. That's far less than Titcomb would have got if he had specified the duration in the contract and added an entire agreement clause, said Clark Wilson partner Mark Weintraub.



Weintraub believes comprehensive agreements should "always" contain entire agreement clauses. He explained that business owners who want certainty and predictability do not want promises, assurances or understandings left unwritten.



The past few decades have seen courts stymie businesses' desires for certainty and predictability by"going outside the four corners of a contract," Weintraub said.



Historically, contract drafters may have seen an entire agreement clause as redundant, non-essential or mere dressing, he said. But, entire agreement clauses have become increasingly useful.



Weintraub pointed to two recent B.C. Supreme Court cases involving companies with supplier contracts that contained entire agreement clauses.



In both cases, the judge refused to consider alleged promises not written into the contract because the contracts included entire agreement clauses that stressed that no other promises would be valid.



The June 2002 Otter Farm & Home Co-Operative versus Sekon case involved a gasoline supplier and a gas station operator who claimed that the supplier had verbally promised "pump support," or a rebate on the price of the gasoline to enable the operator to compete with other gas stations.



Verbal promises also factored in the February 2003 case, Mi-Bar Enterprises Ltd. versus Imperial Oil Ltd., that similarly involved a gas station and a supplier. Mi-Bar's operators claimed that the supplier had agreed that it would only terminate the contract if Mi-Bar had not performed its obligations adequately.


Because both those alleged agreements fell outside the contract, the court refused to consider them.



Singleton Urquhart partner Roger Holland agreed that the trend is for business owners to include entire agreement clauses in supplier contracts.



However, Holland said he can foresee some situations where business owners may specifically want to avoid such contracts. Sometimes business owners feel forced to sign contracts that they really do not want to sign, Holland said.



If the partner who does not want to sign the agreement spot that the contract does not contain an entrire agreement clause, it may make signing the contract easier because the business owner may see some leeway, Holland said.



Alternately, not having an entire agreement clause could be a way out if a partner is not happy with the agreement but finds the contract's termination clause even less palatable.



Holland said it was "conceivable" that the unhappy partner could invoke alleged promises to be read into the contract and prompt mutual cancellation of a contract.



Meanwhile, caterer Geoff Titcomb said he is getting some contracts redrafted to include entire agreement clauses, but that he is not always a stickler for written rules.



He has no written contract at all on some current catering jobs because he trusts his client, Titcomb said.

CJC News Release: CJC reaffirms support for gun control law

Sep 01, 2000 - CJC reaffirms support for gun control law

Release no. 50

Ottawa - Concerned about an escalation by the gun lobby against Bill C-68, the gun control law, Canadian Jewish Congress is reiterating its support for the legislation. "Canadian Jewish Congress, along with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, consistently has supported the principle of firearms licensing and registration," stated Mark Weintraub, CJC's National Chair of Community Relations. "We believe Canada's exemplary police forces and the legislation act as main lines of defence in our country's efforts to remain a peaceful community committed to the rule of law."

"We are aware that some groups have expressed concerns regarding the implementation of the government's registration system," added Sheva Medjuck, CJC's National Chair of Social Action. "The government has responded to these concerns and has made the system more efficient and user friendly. The vast majority of Canadians continue to support the new law as a crucial step forward in ensuring that Canada becomes less rather than more of a violent society."

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For more information, please contact:

Ron Singer, Director of Research and Public Affairs

Canadian Jewish Congress

100 Sparks Street #650 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5B7

Tel.: (613) 233-8703 ext. 223

rons@cjc.ca

Manuel Prutschi, National Director of Community Relations

Canadian Jewish Congress

4600 Bathurst Street Toronto, Ontario M2R 3V2

Tel.: (416) 631-5673

mprutschi@ujafed.org

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=news&story=174

CJC News Release: UN Day for the Elimination of Racism

Mar 22, 2000 - UN Day for the Elimination of Racism: CJC active from coast to coast

Release no. 20

Ottawa – Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) continued its tradition of active involvement in events across the country commemorating the UN Day for the Elimination of Racism.

CJC National Community Relations chair Mark Weintraub commented, " For us, combating racism, antisemitism, intolerance and hate is a 365 day-a-year activity. Still, it is useful to have one day set aside around the world to raise our collective voices against the scourge of racism and CJC is always prepared to participate. As we enter a new century we must look back and learn the horrible lessons of the last one hundred years as we strive for a better future."

Fortuitously, this year the Day coincided with the Jewish festival of Purim. CJC president Moshe Ronen observed, "Purim is a holiday where we celebrate the victory of the Jewish people over the forces of hate. On Purim we learn the lessons of the dangers of extreme intolerance and xenophobia. We cannot overlook the parallels this festival has with the Day to Eliminate Racism." (Purim commemorates the events in ancient Persia when a plan to destroy the Jewish community was thwarted).

Mr. Weintraub commented further, "We are proud to have been associated with so many important events across Canada,"

The following are some of the activities that the regional offices of CJC were involved in:

Halifax:
Joanna Mirsky representing the Atlantic Jewish Council (AJC) sang the Hebrew Song of Peace (Shir Lashalom) at the annual Harmony Brunch. The AJC helped organize the brunch which featured Canadian Human Rights Commission secretary general John Hucker and the minister of justice Michael Baker.

Woodstock, NB:
AJC representative Yakov Feig spoke at Woodstock High School on being the child of Holocaust survivors.

Montreal:
CJC Quebec Region, is participating in a week-long activity entitled "Semaine d’actions contre le racisme". This event is sponsored by a number of different groups and has government backing. It features a breakfast meeting with Quebec’s minister for citizen relations and immigration and a reception with the mayor of Montreal.

Toronto:
CJC Honorary Legal Counsel Edward Morgan, will be a keynote speaker at the African Canadian Legal Clinic at a conference being held to commemorate the Day.

Ottawa:
The Ottawa Jewish Community Council participated with NCARR (The National Capital Alliance on Race Relations) as they launched their current outreach project, the "Hate Crime Poster Campaign." The campaign involves displaying posters throughout the region that will proclaim that Hate messages will not be tolerated in the National Capital Region.

Winnipeg:
The Winnipeg Community Relations Committee, through its membership in the Coalition for Human Equality participated in the planning and preparation of a calendar of events throughout the city that commemorate March 21.

Vancouver:
CJC Pacific Region was at the End Racism Awards ceremony presented by the Ministry responsible for Multiculturalism and Immigration in recognition of outstanding initiatives that have contributed towards the elimination of racism in the province. The Okanagan Jewish Community was among the recipients of this award for its "Testimonies" program held in November.

Victoria:
CJC participated at the program ‘Media and Anti-Racism: Mentor or Monster?’ leading up to the March 21 Day. The forum was sponsored by the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria.

CJC representatives, Marilyn Berger and Michael Peters delivered the Face to Face workshop on Hate Propaganda and Racially Motivated Crime to inmates in the Youth Detention Centre as well as to two adult groups in the Wilkinson Road Jail.

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For further information, please contact:

Rubin Friedman National Communications Director
Canadian Jewish Congress
Tel: (613) 233-8703
rubinf@cjc.ca

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=news&story=205

Speech: War Crimes and Redress: the Perspective of a Canadian Jew

Address

of

MARK WEINTRAUB

Authored by Manuel Prutschi Executive Director of Canadian Jewish Congress National Community Relations Committee and Mark Weintraub National Chair of Community Relations of Canadian Jewish Congress

to

International Citizens’ Forum on War Crimes and Redress: Seeking Reconciliation and Peace for the 21st Century

Conference Day Three, Panel Symposium IV

December 12, 1999

Tokyo, Japan

“War Crimes and Redress:
the Perspective of a Canadian Jew"

Fellow members of the panel; ladies and gentlemen:

Our century brings into focus, perhaps more sharply than at any time in the past the elastic quality of human nature; our capacity for great acts of compassion and our capacity for absolute evil. For while extreme acts of barbarism have characterized much of human history, never before has technology reached such a sophisticated level that we can now talk of extermination or liquidation of human beings like they were insects. Technology; mass ideologies and the revolutionary rate of change in which our world has plunged since the industrial revolution have been a fatal combination for our century.

The European Jewish community was the subject of the first hideously successful experiment by which 20th century systems of efficient bureaucracy and advanced technology were combined with the propoganda of dehumanization to destroy a civilization.

The Holocaust, or in Hebrew Shoah, was potentially devastating to the very survival of the Jewish people. So let me talk of some of the practical responses of our community to the Holocaust. Immediately after the War, when the full significance of the Holocaust was realized, elements within the world community and the Jewish community were in great shock. Some did not want to hear the survivors’ stories and many of the survivors felt that their stories would not be believed or were too terrible to tell. Individually they somehow carried on with their lives; they married - had children and tried to suppress their memories. Over time however, the survivors started telling their stories and this courage was a major factor in enabling our community as a whole to begin to respond.

Our communal leadership started advocating for the establishment of human rights legislation in different jursidictions. There is no question that one of the principle factors in the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the Holocaust. As a community, our efforts in working for the establishment of the State of Israel were redoubled so that persecuted Jews in other countries would always have a refuge. And in the 1960’s the cry of Never Again inspired the work of thousands of students and other activists to free Soviet Jews community and other dissidents. The memory of the Holocaust was also the inspiration for the world Jewish communities’ work in saving the tens of thousands of Black Jews in Ethiopia and bringing them to safety in Israel.

In aid of these efforts on the human rights and rescue fronts were the generously funded documentation centres, memorials, museums, Holocaust studies programs in Universities and the reconstruction of synagogues and other Jewish infrastructure in Europe. The Jewish community funded youth trips to the concentration camps and scholarships for the study of Judaism and summer experiences in Israel.Volunteers recorded the oral histories of survivors; indeed efforts are being made to attempt to identify every Holocaust victim for the purpose of some form of memorialization - for while our people were mass murdered we are intent on rescuing their individuality.

In summary, I think it is fair to say that in the last 50 years the response to the Holocaust has engaged Jewish communal political leadership, the artistic community, philospohers, theologians historians and educators, all in their different spheres of expertise.

So, as the Jewish community responded in these different ways how did the perpetratror European states respond?

West Germany initially responded more adequately than any other jursidiction. It replaced Nazi totalitarianism with a strong consitutional democracy. It brought and continues to bring its own Nazi war criminals to justice. It banned through legislation any manifestations of its Nazi past including making the display of the swastika illegal and criminalizing the denial of the Holocaust; not only for concern for Jewish sensibilities but out of the recognition that Nazism brought down the entire nation of Germany. The new Germany institutionalized the Holocaust with official days of remembrance and museums. It confronted its citizens with the ugly reality of what transpired through the promotion of visits by Jewish survivors back to their former homes. The new Germany established strong relations with Israel almost from their mutual beginnings and Germans of all ages, but particularly youth, regularly visit and do volunteer work in Israel.

Germany has also been at the forefront of an elaborate and expanding system of Holocaust redress for the Jewish State, the survivors and the heirs of the victims. The first wave of compensation had a clearly established recipient in the State of Israel, which absorbed so many of the survivors. A subsequent initiative involved government reparations to the survivors themselves. To discuss the evolution of the payment of compensation and the successes and failures is beyond the scope of these remarks. But let me at least highlight some of the issues.

The essential question was that posed by the Canadian journalist and author of Hitlers’ Silent Partners, Isabel Vincent, who succinctly asked: “ How do you bring about justice for the expropriation and murder of a civilization?” The answer of course is we cannot bring about justice but steps towards partial justice are possible and that in fact has occurred.

The process began immediately after the war when Dr. Chaim Weizmann, perhaps one of the most highly regarded Jewish leaders and later to become Israel’s first president, wrote to the Allies in September, 1945 calling for German redress. Six years later, Konrad Adenauer, Germany’s Chancellor addressed his Legislature as follows:

… unspeakable crimes have been committed in the name of the German people, calling for moral and material indemnity… The Federal Government [is] prepared, jointly with representatives of Jewry and the State of Israel… to bring about a solution of the material indemnity problem, thus easing the way to the spiritual settlement of infinite suffering.

Negotiations between Chancellor Adenauer and Nahum Goldmann, then President of the World Jewish Congress, produced a first agreement, which primarily indemnified the State of Israel. This was confirmed by the Luxembourg Treaty of September 10, 1952 between Israel and West Germany.

There were Jews in Israel and the Diaspora who, on principle, opposed accepting any damages payments from Germany. There are those who do see the logic in Israel having accepted these payments, since the State at the time was badly in need of funds to cover the costs of resettling hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors. There does continue to be members of the Jewish community who decry, apart from Israel, the receiving of any indemnification, as “blood money.” They would agree with the views expressed by the commentator Roger Rosenblatt who has written:

The Holocaust not only lies beyond compensation; it also lies beyond explanation, reconciliation, sentiment, forgiveness, redemption or any of the mechanisms by which people attempt to set wrong things right. In a way, that fact is as much a sign of its unique enormity as the monstrosity itself. All moral thought is grounded in the possibility of correction. Yet here is a wrong that will never be set right, and people are left groping for something to take the place of the irreplaceable.

The majority of the Jewish community, however, agrees with the view of Edgar Bronfman, the current President of the World Jewish Congress.

… each dollar recovered represents a little piece of dignity, not just for the survivors who will benefit but for all mankind, who will have demonstrated that it remains morally unacceptable for anyone to profit from the ashes of man’s greatest inhumanity to man. … Financial redress, therefore, has been a central element of the post-Holocaust world. Germany, the central perpetrator, began the process with the Federal Indemnification Law, continued it with the Hardship Fund, and followed it with the Article 2 Fund and the Central and Eastern European Fund. Each new fund brought a new set of Holocaust survivors into the indemnification system. Austria subsequently somewhat followed Germany’s lead.

Today, not only members of the former Axis are involved in restitution. Included are the governments of the occupied and/or collaborator countries such as France and the various central and Eastern European states, as well as those ostensibly neutral states such as Switzerland. It does not merely involve governments but also members of the financial and business infrastructure. Redress is for the suffering inflicted, the forced and slave labour, the gold stolen or indeed extracted from Holocaust victims, the confiscated property and the stolen art, as well as the bank accounts and insurance death benefits not honoured. More and more, the governments, industries and financial institutions across Europe are being called to account for collaborating with Nazi Germany or otherwise providing the funds and resources to wage war, perpetrate the Final Solution, and plunder two thousand years of Jewish life on the continent.

The Holocaust was directed against millions of individual Jews but, at the same time, it was an assault on the Jewish people as a whole and on Judaism itself. One controversy that remains within the Jewish community concerns the distribution of redress funds. Should the focus be on specific individuals for suffering and loss, or on the needs of the collectivity as a whole. It is likely that this contradiction is not resolvable. On the one hand, after all, it was individuals who were victimized, but on the other, the Jewish whole is greater than the sum of its Jewish parts.

The most recent stage is wide-ranging with responsibility shared by government and the country’s entire infrastructure- (all elements of which profited from the catstrophe inflicted upon the Jewish people). Redress is puny in comparison to the slave labour exploited from the victims; the robbery of their property and even exploitation of their body parts for profit after death.. but at least Germany proceeded on a course of partial justice and that must be fully and properly recognized. Some have estimated that in total over 60 billion dollars in some types of compensation have been paid by the German State or institutions but we must be careful of numbers here. I am not certain that this is a correct amount, but certainly we can say that substantial sums have been paid over 50 years though they represent a very tiny fraction of the value of that which was robbed.

Germany, after the war, also assumed with some degree of seriousness the prosecution of its Nazi war criminals. Many, nonetheless, have escaped punishment. The collaborator and/or occupied countries have been much less forthcoming on accountability for mass murder. Even the Allies have been far from vigorous in bringing to justice the criminals that fell under their jurisdiction or ended up in their midst. Between 1945 and 1948, paralleling and flowing from the two International Military Tribunals, for Europe and the Far East, there were trials of some of the major transgressors. But the momentum for such prosecutions quickly dissipated after 1948.

The experience of Canada, which we know best, provides a good example. My country’s refugee policy denied safe haven to Jews fleeing Nazi Europe throughout the 1930’s. Researchers have shown that after the war, it was easier for the Nazi victimizers to enter Canada than it was for those of their victims who managed to survive. Few would question that hundreds if not thousands of Nazi criminals gained refuge.

Canada, nonetheless, in 1948, unreservedly complied with a secret memorandum, in which the United Kingdom directed its Commonwealth partners to cease war crime trials. The Deschenes Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals, established in February, 1985, not surprisingly thus reported that “Canada devoted not the slightest energy to the search and prosecution of war criminals.”

Today, the Canadian picture is somewhat brighter. In the last three to four years there has been a 180-degree turnaround. The government hired a former director of the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations as a consultant. It further demonstrated its new-found determination by committing an additional 12 million dollars specifically earmarked for the prosecution of Nazi criminals. And only two months ago the Minister of Justice initiated steps for new legislation which will facilitate the criminal prosecution of war criminals to supplement the process of revocation of citizenship and deportation. The current War Crimes Unit has a number of active files being pursued in the courts and more new cases are promised. The Government has not been able to win all of its cases, but the will to pursue justice seems to be firmly in place and the government has allocated ample resources to get the job done.
Over half a century has elapsed since the commission of the crimes in Asia. Japan does not have another 50 years to get the process underway. The biological clock is ticking for defendants, survivors and witnesses. It is a matter of the utmost urgency that justice be done now, otherwise justice delayed will undoubtedly mean justice denied.

For justice to be meted out fairly and swiftly there must be the confluence of three positive wills: the political, the bureaucratic and the judicial. One only can bring about this confluence if the Japanese people realize that to move successfully from the “Era of War” to the “Era of Reconciliation, Peace and Co-Existence,” it is absolutely essential that war criminals be brought to justice. This is not a matter of revenge but an issue of fundamental human rights. As the late Arnold Fradkin, a past member of Canada’s War Crimes Litigation Unit in the Department of Justice put it: “Justice does not mean revenge. It means redress according to principles of law, as imposed by courts of law after a fair and impartial trial according to law.”

Mankind, for centuries if not millennia, has set constraints so that war, inhuman by definition, is conducted within certain delimited parameters. This was the expectation in what came to be known as the “Law of Nations” and which was enshrined in pre World War II international agreements such as the Geneva Convention of 1864 and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. Combatants have obligations towards civilians and prisoners of war. Those who fail to uphold these obligations are termed by the community of nations to be “hostes humani generis,” i.e. “the enemies of mankind.” The precedent setting Nuremberg Tribunal of 1945, followed by a vast corpus of reports, resolutions, conventions and declarations by various trans-national organizations certainly mandated legal action against those who carried out war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Ideally the international community must function in such a way that crimes against humanity are stopped before they happen. However, when they do happen, the world must bring those responsible to account.

The Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War (and in Asia that war can be said to have started in 1930’s with the aggression against China) committed monstrous crimes which went far beyond the most callous and hard-hearted definition of normal wartime activity. It is a moral outrage that these war crimes have gone unpunished.

The message must go out, for the sake of the memory of the victims and the survivors who continue to bear witness, that no one has the legal license to engage in the persecution, torture and slaughter of innocent civilians or defenseless prisoners. War criminals not answering for their crimes constitute a rejection of a country’s commitment to the principle of the rule of law. Past war criminals are vindicated and new war criminals encouraged. This gives comfort to those possessed by chauvinism and interested in a renewed militarism.

So what can we learn from the Jewish experience? There are both differences and similarities in the historical contexts. The Jewish communities’ response has not been a coherent response. We staggered to our feet and slowly bit by bit regained our dignity by drawing upon the courage of the survivors, the support of our friends in the non-Jewish community and through seeing the establishment of Israel as a State. We ensured that members of our community funded projects and we linked our near demise as a people to the failing of a world communities’ response to massive human rights violations. Our artists responded and have given us hope, despite the degradation. We have tried to emphasize not only the suffering and helplessness but the courage of Jew and non-Jew caught in horrific circumstances.

I think in dealing with this issue with the Japanese government your approach is a correct one. Continue to emphasize the Japanese contributions to world peace through her strong support of the United Nations while strategically countering the forces opposed to meting out justice in all its forms. Continue to reach out to your friends. Certainly I can tell you that the Jewish community stands as your good friend in solidarity with you….. For your remembrance is our remembrance; your struggle for justice is our struggle for justice and as we link ourselves together we collectively can show that the dogged, resolute and unflinching pursuit of justice is indeed the most powerful of all human forces.

Thank you very much.

Taken From: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/alpha/speech/Weintraub2.htm

CJC News Release: CJC reiterates support for existing gun control law

Aug 26, 1999 - CJC reiterates support for existing gun control law

Ottawa - The Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Police Association (CPA) is slated this Friday to vote on a motion calling for the CPA to withdraw its support from the new system for the licensing and registration of firearms. Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), reacting to the motion, reiterated its support for Bill C-68, the recently enacted gun control law.

"Canadian Jewish Congress, along with the CPA and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, consistently has supported the principle of firearms licensing and registration," stated Mark Weintraub, CJC’s National Chair of Community Relations. "Especially in light of the recent rash of hate-motivated shootings in the United States, we believe Canada’s exemplary police forces and the legislation act as main lines of defence in our country’s efforts to remain a peaceful community committed to the rule of law."

"We are aware that some groups have expressed concerns regarding the implementation of the government’s registration system," added Sheva Medjuck, CJC’s National Chair of Social Action. "The government should take note of these concerns to maintain the integrity of the system and, where necessary, make it more efficient and user friendly. The vast majority of Canadians continue to support the new law as a crucial step forward in ensuring that Canada becomes less rather than more of a violent society."

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Contact: Eric Vernon Director of Ottawa Advocacy Office Canadian Jewish Congress 100 Sparks Street #650 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5B7 (613) 233-8703

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=news&story=244

Canadian Jewish News: CRTC rules out regulating the Internet

June 3, 1999

CRTC rules out regulating the Internet

Decision draws mixed reviews from Jewish groups

By PAUL LUNGEN

Staff Reporter

TORONTO -The Internet may not be sacrosanct when it comes to complying with Canadian law on hate promotion, but neither will the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regulate the rapidly growing communications medium.

In a widely anticipated announcement recently, the CRTC rejected suggestions it regulate the Internet, the world-wide computer network. "Our message is clear. We are not regulating any portion of the Internet," said CRTC chair Franois Bertrand. "The CRTC is concerned that any attempt to regulate Canadian new media might put the industry at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace.

"We believe...that appropriate tools already exist to deal with offensive and illegal content. Tools such as Canadian laws of general application, industry self-regulation, content filtering software as well as increased media awareness," Bertrand stated.

The CRTC announcement drew mixed reviews in the Jewish community. The Simon Wiesenthal Centre (SWC) and B'nai Brith Canada stated they believed the Internet should be regulated while Canadian Jewish Congress was satisfied that law enforcement agencies could employ other tools to control the promotion of hate in the new medium.

"We're not in disagreement per se with the CRTC decision," said Mark Weintraub, national chair of community relations for Congress. "We had articulated our concerns in a brief to the [Commission] and our primary concern was that the regulation of hate not fall through the jurisdictional cracks.

"Our focus is not on which body is ultimately responsible, but to ensure that confusion did not reign...We are of the view there is an arsenal that could be used," including the Criminal Code provision against the promotion of hate and the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA), which prohibits use of telephone and other media to disseminate hate.

(A Canadian Human Rights Commission tribunal is currently hearing a case involving a Web site purportedly operated by Holocaust-denier Ernst Zundel. The Commission alleges the site - known as "Zundelsite" - promotes hatred of Jews. Congress, B'nai Brith and the Simon Wiesenthal Centre (SWC) are interveners in the case. Zundel has challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal, arguing the Internet was not a telephonic form of communication that came within the CHRA's jurisdiction. Although the tribunal ruled against him, Zundel can be expected to appeal that decision.)

B'nai Brith spokesman Frank Dimant said "the CRTC has it half right...The Internet should be regulated, but not by them. The Canadian Human Rights Commission is the body with the mandate and the expertise to deal with hate propaganda transmitted over telephone wires. They should have the clear mandate to deal with hate on the Internet."

Sol Littman, Canadian representative of the SWC, took a tougher line. "I think the CRTC lost a golden opportunity to bring some sanity and order to the Internet," he said.

"The Internet at the present time has become the haven for hatemongers, pornographers, swindlers and nags. For the past three years, the centre has been closely monitoring hate groups."

A few years ago, there were "no more than 50 sites worldwide worthy of our attention. At the present time, there are 1,833 such sites."

Littman acknowledged that Canada is largely free of hate sites but he argued the CRTC should have addressed several issues, including the liability of foreign Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that host hate messages that are acted upon in Canada. Gun manufacturers and cigarette companies are facing lawsuits in the United States resulting from their products, he pointed out.

The CRTC also should have examined the feasibility of cross-border protests to U.S. authorities concerning hate sites as well as legal remedies against ISPs that refuse to remove racist Web sites.

Littman said Canadian ISPs generally co-operate to remove offensive sites once they are brought to management's attention. He commended the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP), a group that meets to discuss the Internet service industry, in that regard.

"We are very pleased with the [CRTC] decision," said CAIP president Ron Kawchuk. "I think it makes a lot of sense it terms of what the commission can and cannot do."

CAIP relies on three "pillars" for self-regulation, he continued: providing end-users with a software filter to prevent the browsing of unwanted Web sites; creating public awareness of the issue; and developing a code of conduct for CAIP members.

Kawchuk said the SWC played an important role in the self-regulation process by informing ISPs when they were hosting racist Web sites. "ISPs do not look at the content, so you have to have someone say, 'we have problems with these sites, and here's why'," Kawchuk said.

Littman acknowledged that Canadian ISPs generally co-operate in removing racist Web content. He pointed to a recent situation involving CadVision, a Calgary-based ISP that quietly removed a "white nationalist" Web site after the SWC had brought it to management's attention last January.

http://www.cjnews.com/pastissues/99/june3-99/main.htm

CJC News Releease: CJC CHALLENGES CLAIM TO MENORAH AS CHRISTIAN TRADEMARK

Jan 07, 1999 - CJC CHALLENGES CLAIM TO MENORAH AS CHRISTIAN TRADEMARK

MONTREAL, JANUARY 7, 1999-- Canadian Jewish Congress has launched a trademark challenge against an attempt by the Chosen People Ministries, a Christian missionary group to use a stylized menorah which would appear on promotional items intended "to reach both Jewish and non-Jewish peoples with the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah."

Toronto lawyers Victor Krichker and Adrian Kaplan, who specialize in intellectual property matters, are acting for CJC in this matter. "We give full credit to Messrs. Krichker and Kaplan for spotting this application in an industry journal in November and tipping us off about it," said CJC National Community Relations Committee chair Mark Weintraub. "This application to the Canadian Intellectual Properties Office is scandalous, immoral and deceptive by a group bent specifically on converting Jews to Christianity."

CJC national president Moshe Ronen emphasized: "We will vigorously counter attempts by Christian proselytizing organizations to appropriate major Jewish symbols as a way of facilitating their conversionary efforts."

Added Mr. Weintraub: "What makes these efforts particularly insidious is that they target the vulnerable and new immigrants not well grounded in their faith."

The menorah is a seven-pronged candelabra that has long been associated with the Jewish faith, identifiable as the symbol of Israel and a Jewish symbol of ancient lineage going back to the tabernacle in the desert.

Only two weeks ago CJC expressed its deep concern about an insensitive full page Chosen People Ministries advertisement published in The Globe and Mail. CJC wrote a letter to publisher Roger Parkinson questioning his paper’s decision to allow such an ad to run. "With the exception of The Globe and Mail, most other newspapers in the country have adopted policies that reject advertisements targetting an identifiable group for religious conversion," said Mr. Ronen.

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Contact: Jack Silverstone

Executive Vice-President

Canadian Jewish Congress

(514) 931-7531

or Manuel Prutschi

National Director and General Counsel Community Relations

Canadian Jewish Congress

(416) 635-2883, Ext. 673

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=news&story=281

Canadian Free Speech Newsletter: Gay Pride In; European Heritage Week Out!

Bludgeoned by the Ontario Human Rights Commission's $10,000 fine of Mayor Dianne Haskett for not proclaiming Gay Pride Week, the London, Ontario city council quickly reversed themselves. Gay Pride is in. Along came a group asking the city council to declare October European Heritage Week. The council obliged. "The white supremacist National Party has effectively duped municipal governments across Canada into declaring a special week to their cause. It has also duped the Queen into thinking the group was supporting a worthy cause: the celebrations of Europeans in Canada.

It had to quickly scramble to undo the proclamation when religious groups alerted council officials to the organizers' racist connections.

'The whole point is to get the imprimatur of council, 'said Mark Weintraub of the Canadian Jewish Congress, which is most often the whistle-blower alerting municipalities about the group's background. 'They are attempting to fain legitimacy by these means.'" (Ottawa Citizen, October 15, 1998)

The obscure Nationalist Party may or may not have "racist" connections. Surely, the point is that European Heritage Week celebrates the vital contributions of Canada's founders, not the Nationalist Party. If a group with "racist" connections is reprehensible, how much more so a celebration of a lifestyle that revels in sexual practices that have led to disease and death and which are repugnant to traditional Christians, Moslems, and Jews. A sign of the times! The Canadian Jewish Congress has tailed the Nationalist Party's requesst for declaration of European Heritage Week from Canadian city to city putting the kaibosh on it wherever possible.


http://www.canadianfreespeech.com/newsletters/1998/fsm_dec.html

CJC News Release: CJC WELCOMES ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEW LAWS TO COMBAT HATE AND HOLOCAUST DENIAL

Nov 26, 1998 - CJC WELCOMES ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEW LAWS TO COMBAT HATE AND HOLOCAUST DENIAL

OTTAWA, NOVEMBER 26, 1998---Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) has commended federal Justice Minister Anne McLellan and her provincial counterparts for the announced package of Criminal Code amendments aimed at combating the promotion of hate and the dissemination of hate propaganda.

"Make no mistake-Canada is a country built on respect for diversity and the vast majority of Canadians abhor hatred aimed at particular groups and communities in our society," stated Mr. Ronen. "Nonetheless, we are not immune to the targeting of minorities for hate and violence, the desecration of sacred sites and the poisoning of cyberspace. We need tough laws that can safeguard bedrock Canadian values while punishing hatemongers who abuse our fundamental freedoms and promote social discord."

While the specifics of the proposals will be spelled out in future legislation, the announced changes appear positive in their orientation. "In supporting this package the justice ministers showed great sensitivity to the concerns of vulnerable minorities in our society," observed Mark Weintraub, chair of CJC’s National Community Relations Committee. "They also understood the need to upgrade the Criminal Code to make our laws more reflective of the demographic reality in Canada and responsive to the tremendous impact of new communications technology."

CJC welcomes the contemplated change to prevent persons indicted for promoting hate from claiming a defence of truth based on a denial of the Holocaust or any other historically recognized act of genocide. "Holocaust denial is a vicious obscenity and the leading edge of contemporary anti-Semitism," observed Mr. Ronen. "The thousands of Holocaust survivors living in Canada who know only too well that there is only one truth about the Holocaust will particularly applaud this change. Identifying the Holocaust as ‘an historically recognized act of genocide’ in law will send a critical message that Holocaust denial is unacceptable in Canada."

The announced package of reforms includes making it a crime to possess hate propaganda for the purposes of distributing it to others. "This new criminal offence should break the link between the hatemonger and his target audience and help prevent the dissemination of hate propaganda," observed Mr. Ronen. "This may be of particular value in keeping this filth out of the hands of impressionable young people."

Also positive is the proposal to create a new offence for the desecration of houses of worship, cemeteries and other institutions. "We have always maintained that such crimes went beyond simple mischief or vandalism," stated Mr. Weintraub. "They are aimed at intimidating the target community and sending a message that they are unwelcome in Canada."

The package also includes recommendations to add to the enumerated list of identifiable groups protected under the ambit of the Criminal Code anti-hate provisions and to permit police to seize computer hard drives containing hate propaganda. Said Mr. Weintraub: "Society has changed and the laws which protect us must respond to the new realities."

In generally welcoming these proposals, Mr. Ronen sounded one cautionary note: "It has always been CJC’s position that any new Criminal Code offences relating to hate had to be introduced as separate and distinct sections from the existing anti-hate provisions of the Code. The Supreme Court of Canada has twice upheld the constitutionality of the anti-hate law as currently constructed and we are loath to amend it directly and pave the way for a new challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We look forward to the tabling of legislation designed to implement the announced proposals as complementary to the existing provisions. In the meantime, we call once again on police departments and provincial Attorneys-General to be vigorous in enforcing the existing law where appropriate."

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CONTACT: Eric Vernon
Director, Ottawa Advocacy Centre
Canadian Jewish Congress
(613) 233-8703

OR

Bernie M. Farber
National Director,Community Relations Committee
Canadian Jewish Congress
(416) 635-2883 EXT. 186
http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=news&story=295

Canadan Jewish News: Jewish connection questioned in abortion shootings

By PAUL LUNGEN
Staff Reporter
Canadian Jewish News

November 5, 1998

TORONTO - Is someone out there hunting Jewish doctors?Early last week, Amherst N.Y. Dr. Barnett Slepian became the third Jewish physician who performs abortions to be shot by suspected anti-abortion zealots since 1994. Slepian was murdered shortly after he and his family returned home from synagogue where they attended Shabbat services. His shooting came about a year after Dr. Jack Fainman was wounded by a sniper in Winnipeg. In 1994, Dr. Garson Romalis was wounded in Vancouver while in 1995 a sniper wounded Dr. Hugh Short in Ancaster, just outside of Hamilton. Short is not believed to be Jewish. A fifth, unidentified U.S. doctor was shot in Richmond, N.Y. in 1997. Other abortion doctors have also been killed or wounded in bombing or shooting attacks in Pensacola, Florida, Boston and Birmingham, Ala. Police and U.S. marshalls in Amherst stepped up security around a physician providing abortion services after an anti-abortion zealot called the Hamilton Spectator offices to say the Buffalo-area doctor was on a sniper's hit list. Earlier, a flyer with a picture of Slepian was left in the Hamilton police washroom. Slepian's face was crossed out with an X and the words "killer, Jew, Nazi" were written on it.While not all abortion doctors singled out for attack were Jewish, the shootings of Slepian, Fainman, Romalis and Short share common elements: they were all shot through a window in their homes within a few days of Nov. 11, Canada's Remembrance Day.Dr. Henry Morgantaler believes it's more than a coincidence that three of the doctors are Jewish."I have noticed it," Morgantaler said. "I don't rule out the possibility that the perpetrator is anti-woman and also anti-Semitic. The anti-Semitic part is nothing new to me. I've been insulted many time for being a Jew."Morgantaler, who pioneered a woman's right to an abortion in Canada, said he doesn't believe Jewish doctors are providing abortion services out of proportion to their numbers in the general population of physicians. "But the people against abortion try to make an issue out of it. It's like a modern blood libel, blaming Jewish doctors for killing Christian children." Mark Weintraub, national chair of Canadian Jewish Congress' community relations committee, adopted a more cautious approach."To date, we simply do not have any information available that would suggest that anti-Semitism is an additional motivating factor in the attacks on our doctors," he said. Nevertheless, he added, "we don't want to ignore the possibility of such a linkage."Weintraub said Congress' staff "will be discussing this with police...Those are members of our community who have been attacked."

Sol Littman, Canadian representative of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, was also cautious in attributing anti-Semitic motivation to the shootings. But he urged police to follow up that angle. "If they fail to take it into consideration, they're failing to do their duty," he said.Littman pointed out that right-wing extremists often link Jews to issues they oppose, whether it is farm foreclosures or abortion."The radical anti-abortion movement people could see Jews as perpetrators, and act against them," he suggested.Staff-Sgt. Bill Vandergraaf, a member of a task force set up to investigate the shootings, said police were aware that three of the victims are Jewish. But "there's nothing in our investigation to suggest that is a motivation. We're not investigating it as a hate crime."Speaking from the task force headquarters in Winnipeg, Vandergraaf said police are not convinced the poster left in the Hamilton police headquarters was connected to the shootings. It might have been left by radical elements that are not connected to the killings, he suggested.Phil Baum, executive director of the American Jewish Congress (AJC), also dismissed suggestions someone was specifically targeting Jewish doctors. "I know of no police effort to identify Jewish doctors. I think the anger and outrage is directed at doctors doing abortion. I know of no reason to believe the motive [in the Slepian shooting] was anti-Semitism...I think it was coincidental that he was Jewish."An AJC news release condemned "those who, in the name of 'a demonic religious belief' provide encouragement for the murderers even if not specifically calling for murder.""It is not necessary explicitly to support a murder to provide the climate which impels psychopaths to take action. Moral shame and culpability attach no less to those who fail to condemn these acts or...condone and even justify them."Referring to Slepian's murder, AJC noted that "the contrast between the Sabbath peace he had returned to celebrate, and the violence of his death make his murder all the more obscene."In the United States, the National Council of Jewish Women planned vigils in Washington, D.C. and other cities in response to the shooting, while the Reform movement sent materials to its congregations to help them address the issues raised by the murder.Meanwhile in Hamilton, police are investigating whether two anti-abortion groups are working together in the four-year terror campaign, the Spectator's Bill Dunphy reported.A caller to the Spectator newsroom warned that another Buffalo-area doctor was targeted and said "our cousins in the United States have their list. We have our own."Hamilton police have linked the caller to a series of anti-abortion threats and messages delivered to the newspaper and a Hamilton-area doctor in the last year. The same man was linked to the flyer left in police headquarters.

http://www.cjnews.com/pastissues/98/nov5-98/main.htm

CJC News Release: CJC URGES SOLICITOR GENERAL TO FUND LEGAL COSTS OF STUDENTS AT APEC COMMISSION MONTREAL

Oct 15, 1998 - CJC URGES SOLICITOR GENERAL TO FUND LEGAL COSTS OF STUDENTS AT APEC COMMISSION MONTREAL

MONTREAL, OCTOBER 15, 1998 - Canadian Jewish Congress has written to Solicitor General Andy Scott, urging him to authorize the funding for the legal costs which are being incurred by the student complainants at the hearing being conducted by the RCMP Public Complaints Commission. These proceedings are looking into incidents which occurred during protests at last year’s APEC Summit in Vancouver.

“Canadian Jewish Congress has played a significant role in the development of constitutionally protected rights and freedoms in Canada,” stated Mark Weintraub, chair of the CJC National Community Relations Committee. Mr. Weintraub emphasized that it is precisely by reason of CJC’s non-partisan engagement with constitutional matters that it has strong interest in the RCMP hearings. “If even a small portion of the media reports is accurate, then all Canadians have a stake in both the process and the outcome of these hearings,” he noted “The Commission has the benefit of presumably unlimited legal resources, as does the RCMP.

The complainants, most of whom are students, are the only ones without funding and are the least able to afford counsel. It was the students who brought these issues to the public eye, thereby contributing greatly to the democratic process.” The reality, Mr. Weintraub says, is that the students have for the most part not been funding the work of their counsel to date; rather, their counsel has so far chosen to provide legal services without remuneration. “It would be troubling if it turns out that all of the facts have not properly emerged because of the financial exhaustion of counsel,” he says. “If significant violations were committed to our constitutional fabric, then we will certainly all benefit from a process that will lead to structural change to ensure that fundamental mistakes are avoided in the future. The student complainants and their counsel will therefore be owed a debt of gratitude by all Canadians.

Recognizing that the issue of funding has taken on a political life of its own in Parliament Mr. Weintraub feels politics should not distort the objective judgment which ought to bear on whether or not the complainants should receive funding. “It was through the efforts of students and their counsel that important documents were released, and continued representation by counsel would appear to be critical for the proper advancement of the complaints and to assure the public that the process is beyond reproach,” he said. Mr. Weintraub concluded that if equality before the law is to have any significance in this case, there must be some parity of legal resources. “We therefore join with those jurists, commissioners and others and respectfully call upon you to authorize legal funding for the complainants, and if there are compelling reasons not to do so, to fully inform the public as to your deliberations,” he said.

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Contact: Bernie M. Farber

Executive Director

Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region

(416) 635-2883, ext. 186

or

Erwin Nest

National Director Community Relations CJC, Pacific Region

(604) 257-5101

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=news&story=303

Canadian Jewish News: Vandals Strike Jewish Sites

October 15, 1998
by Ron Csillag, David Lazarus and Paul Lungen

Three attacks on Jewish targets in Canada in one week have left officials shaken, but confident the offences are not part of a trend.

Two of the attacks are being treated as crimes of hate against Jews.

Arson investigators are busy with two incidents, one in Ottawa and the other in Toronto.

A fire that caused up to $75,000 damage at Ecole Maimonides in suburban Ottawa is not even close to being solved. There have been no arrests and police have few leads. Although it was arson and it occurred hours after Yom Kippur ended, the blaze is not being treated as hate-motivated.

In downtown Toronto, a fire on Sukkot at the Bloor Jewish Community Centre (JCC) was deliberately set. Police say the blaze, which caused at least $10,000 in damage, was a hate crime.

And in Montreal, vandals broke into a private home over Yom Kippur, did thousands of dollars in damage and scrawled anti0Semitic messages on walls.

"To the best of our knowledge to date, we are not aware of any connection between the three," said Mark Weintraub, national chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress community relations committee.

"We are proceeding on the basis that these were ugly, anti-Semitic attacks, but [that] they are not related," he said. Weintraub said that because two of the attacks were hate-driven, he expects they will be given high priority.

On Sept. 30, Simon Bohbol, his wife Jocelyne, and their children Miriam, Benjamin and Jessica returned home after observing Yom Kippur and Miriam's 15th birthday, and were appalled to discover the destruction inside.

According to Police Constable Valerie Fradet, the vandalism appeared to be a hate crime with no precedent in the area.

Major areas of interior walls were covered with large-lettered anti-Semitic and obscene graffiti; rugs, furs and furniture were spray-painted and soiled by finishing stain; expensive basement furniture was ripped to shreds; and jewelry and electronic equipment were missing.

One of the anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled in the main floor hallway of the raised bungalow read: "Death to all Jews" (sic).

Another, above the ruined leather sofa in the basement, said simply, "Jews".

The walls also were defaced with what looked like two satanic pentagrams - one piece of graffiti read: "Satan Rules" - and threats to return to the home, which had also been broken into about 14 months earlier, but without vandalism.
"It's like we were invaded," Jocelyne Bohbol told The CJN, "I came in and screamed, 'Oh my God!'"

"This was a real nice birthday for my daughter," Simon Bohbol said. "This time, they very maliciously left messages."
The Bohbols indicated that who ever invaded their house may have been staking out the property. The family left their home several hours before Yom Kippur began and did not return until about three hours after it ended - an absence of over 30 hours.

They said their home was probably entered through a basement window that they discovered was broken.

The family was at a loss to explain any possible motive behind the attack or its level of viciousness.
In Ottawa, officials at Ecole Maimonides are appealing to all Canadian Jews for financial help in repairing the French immersion Torah day school.

A local anonymous donor has agreed to match half of all funds raised until Oct. 25.

The fire, set after someone broke in through a window, was the second at the school in four years. There were no arrests made in a 1994 arson attack.

The latest blaze cause extensive damage, including from water and smoke.

The school's 10 or so students are faring well, said principal Rabbi Menachem Blum.

"Their spirits are good. We had a sukkah, and the Museum of Civilization [in Hull] opened their doors to us," he told The CJN.

Meantime, Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the attack at Toronto's Bloor Street JCC.

No one was hurt, but an estimated $10,000 in damage was caused by the fire, which was centred in a storage area at the south end of the building.

Police and the fire department were summoned to the scene by a passerby who called 911 around 1 a.m. After extinguishing the blaze, fire officials discovered that the plate glass window on the rear door to the storage area was smashed.

Two gas-soaked rags were found at the scene. A two foot stick with a swivel device on it that was used to start the fire was also found, said Det. Sgt. James Ramer, the police hate crime liaison officer with 14 Division in Toronto.
Noting that the attack took place during a Jewish holiday (Sakkot) and that there were similar, earlier arson incidents in Ottawa, police immediately treated the Bloor JCC fire as a hate crime, Ramer said.

"CJC will work cooperatively with the Toronto Police Services and the Bloor JCC to apprehend those responsible for this crime," said Ellen Cole, chair of community relations for Congress' Ontario region. "This was an attack on one of our key institutions."

Cole noted that "in the past, these attacks had been known to occur around Jewish holidays."

Bloor JCC director Bill Emery said that in his 11 years at the facility, he could recall no other incidents of arson. On one occasion, a bomb threat was called in, and another time someone daubed an outside wall with "a hard-to-decipher slogan" that may have been anti-Semitic.

Emery said his initial "gut reaction" - one shared by many at the centre - was that the fire was a case of simple vandalism without racial motivation. "I think it's a case of being downtown," he said.

Emery noted that in the past, the Bloor JCC and its neighbors had experienced broken windows and kicked-in doors. But, he added, "this is a serious business. We're glad police are stepping up their patrols of the building [and] are treating this as a hate crime."

Prior to the High Holy Days, Congress hosted a security meeting in the Lipa Green Building for representatives of various Jewish organizations and agencies, and security precautions during the holidays were discussed. Police from Toronto, York and Durham regions attended, as did officers of the Ontario Provincial Police. The pre-holiday security meeting has become standard procedure in the Jewish community.

In the wake of the attack on the Bloor JCC, "Congress will consider whether to issue a security advisory alert," to warn Jewish agencies to be "more vigilant," Cole said.

That might include warning employees and users of the buildings to "look out for new people."

Emery said, "Right now, there is no time when there is no one in the building."

A day after the fire, it was business as usual at the centre, although a strong odor hung over the gym.

The storage area was a charred mess and a $5,000 trampoline was damaged, as was other "circus equipment," including rigging for a trapeze. Thanks to the quick response of the fire department, fire damage to the building was minor, Emery said.

It was too early to determine the full extent of the damage to equipment, he added.

Meanwhile, the Bohbols, as well as David Sultan, community relations director of Canadian Jewish Congress' Quebec region, expressed concern that it took police 14 hours to respond to the family's call.

Constable Fradet said that was probably because the family dialed 911, a central police line staffed by civilians, who advised the Bohbols to wait until morning because there was no personal injury or threat to life involved.

But the Bohbols feel police should have responded much faster.

"When the police officer came to the door, her jaw just dropped," Simon Bohbol said. Police said their investigation will continue.

http://christianactionforisrael.org/antiholo/vandals.html