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

Western Jewish Bulletin: Province takes the lead

September 17, 2004

Province takes the lead

Five minutes could save lives, says head of CJC.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

The British Columbia Jewish community is taking a lead role in drawing world attention to the humanitarian disaster unfolding in the Sudanese region of Darfur.

Racially motivated attacks by Arab militias against the African, agricultural community of Darfur have led international relief agencies to warn that as many as 1.2 million lives are at risk if the world community does not mobilize to prevent a slaughter on a scale that rivals the catastrophe a decade ago in Rwanda, where 800,000 lives were lost in a race-based conflict.

Senator Mobina Jaffer, a representative of British Columbia in Parliament's upper house, is Canada's special envoy to the Sudanese peace process. She met with members of Canadian Jewish Congress last week and both parties say they are working to raise awareness and humanitarian relief for Darfur.

"We are doing all we can on a humanitarian basis," Jaffer told the Bulletin in an interview after her meeting with CJC. "We are, of course, providing help with food through the World Food Program, also through UNICEF and also with maternal health for mothers and young girls. We're having impact with the kind of programs we are choosing."

In addition to immediate humanitarian aid, Jaffer said Canada is using diplomatic channels to raise the global condemnation of the Sudanese-government-backed militias who are terrorizing the people of Darfur.

"At the United Nations, we are working very hard," Jaffer said. "Ambassador [Allan] Rock is working very hard to get our message across, which is that we want to give one consistent message as an international community: that the militias have to be disarmed."

Canada's new foreign minister, Pierre Pettigrew, recently returned from Europe, where Jaffer said he raised the issue of Sudan with every government representative with whom he met. Prime Minister Paul Martin is in close contact, Jaffer said, with President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria to see how Canada can help empower the African Union to take a constructive role in finding a peaceful resolution.

Jaffer was the first international envoy to tour the Sudanese crisis region, and her two visits there in the past two years left an indelible impression.

"The situation was desperate," Jaffer said of her first visit 15 months ago. "Now things have improved. Humanitarian help is going through, food is going through. But when I was there, people were living under twigs. There was very little food. Security was a huge challenge."

The United Nations, under the auspices of the World Food Program, has been able to get aid into the region despite the dangers and challenges presented by the violent atmosphere. Nevertheless, Jaffer echoed warnings by aid agencies that complacency on the part of the world community could be disastrous. The situation facing a million refugees in the region remains potentially cataclysmic.

"When people think of camps, they think of tents in a row and food being given in a pretty organized way," Jaffer said. "Here, people were living literally under twigs, with no protection from the elements. What was for me very, very touching was that the people were not broken; they were very, very strong. They were going to see this through. It led me to work even harder. The people are very, very strong."Jaffer was scheduled to return to Sudan this week for her third trip. Her last visit was in May.

"I have seen a lot of pain, because I'm a refugee myself," Jaffer said. "But the pain I saw in Sudan is just horrendous and we all need to work together to find a way [to alleviate it]."

Jaffer's meeting Sept. 7 with representatives of the Jewish community reflected the active approach CJC is taking in publicizing the Sudanese crisis.

"It made me feel very comforted," said the senator. "This is the Jewish community that, when I came [to Canada] were very kind to me." Jaffer cites Vancouver lawyer and Jewish community activist Jack Kowarsky as the only Canadian among the countless she approached three decades ago who would take a chance on hiring her as a new immigrant. She added she has worked on a variety of issues over the years with Erwin Nest, the executive director of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region.

"Their absolute anxiety and also zeal to work on this issue, to make Canadians aware of this issue – but more than that, to be supportive of people in Darfur – was very touching to me."

Canada and the international community must mobilize to ensure that humanitarian aid continues to reach the desperate people of Darfur, Jaffer said. But she added that disarming the militias is the necessary step to security and stability.

"Disarming will be the first step," she said. "It will create security, but it won't create peace."

Efforts by the African Union to bring together representatives of Darfur tribes and Sudanese Muslim leaders must be encouraged to create long-term peace, said Jaffer.

Mark Weintraub, chair of CJC, Pacific Region, and a member of the delegation that met with Jaffer, commended the senator's work and pledged co-operation.

"We indicated to her that we understood the tremendous responsibility and burden that was being placed on her shoulders as Canada's special envoy and we could empathize with the anguish that she must be experiencing in coming up against so many roadblocks," he said. "The United Nations simply is not mandating sufficient funds for peace-keeping troops. Too much time is being given the regime and there is not sufficient resolve within the United Nations to ensure that [a greater humanitarian catastrophe] will not occur."

Weintraub said Jewish leaders have a unique role to play in situations like Darfur."The Jewish community intuitively understands why this is an absolutely critical issue for all Canadians to speak out on," he said. "We wanted her to know that the Jewish community is available to take any suggestions or guidance. We ourselves have determined that there are certain steps we could do."

CJC has communicated with every B.C. MP, with special emphasis on cabinet ministers, to make the crisis in Sudan a priority issue. Weintraub is also urging individuals to act.

"Our plea to all Canadians is to stop for five minutes and pick up the phone or write a letter to a member of Parliament and the prime minister to indicate support for the special envoy's work, to call upon all levels of government to do everything that Canada can possibly do to make sure that there is appropriate civilian protection and that there are sufficient funds to deal with the humanitarian crisis and the peacekeeping efforts," Weintraub said. "There are ways that Canada can act even if the United Nations is frustrating us and even if there are all kinds of impediments."

There is a need for more peacekeepers in the region and additional funds are needed for humanitarian relief, he said.

"While Canada is a middle power and there are limitations to what we can do given the [Sudanese] regime, given all the geopolitical considerations, nonetheless, if Canadians were moved to respond to this tragedy in a more significant way, there is a likelihood that some lives may be saved," said Weintraub. "It takes five minutes."

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

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/Sept04/archives04Sept17-01.html

CJC News Release: CJCPR demands concrete government action on Darfur.

Sep 08, 2004 - CJCPR demands concrete government action on Darfur.

Vancouver - September 8, 2004. After a meeting with Canada’s Special Envoy to Sudan, Senator Mobina Jaffer, Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region (CJCPR) is urging Prime Minister Paul Martin, the Cabinet, and all Members of Parliament to show leadership and do more to stop the murder, bloodshed, and rape in Darfur that is continuing to force thousands from their homes despite appeals from the international community to the Sudanese government.

“Prime Minister Paul Martin showed great leadership by appointing The Honourable Senator Mobina Jaffer as Canada’s Special Envoy to Sudan. She has assumed the burden of confronting, on behalf of all Canadians, the worst humanitarian crisis in the world,” said CJCPR Chairman Mark Weintraub. “However, our political leadership, on all levels must now give urgent voice to support her efforts. The Prime Minister, with the support of the entire House of Commons, must follow through by immediately providing the peace keeping and financial support necessary to stop the violence,” he added.

Leaving the meeting with Senator Jaffer, Weintraub referred to commitments made by former Prime Minister Chretien and Prime Minister Martin to make Africa a priority and called upon all appropriate officials and political leadership to demand a public debate of the crisis in Canada and at the United Nations. “Canada must continue to keep this crisis on the public agenda if another Rwanda is to be avoided,” warned Weintraub.

Holocaust survivor Robert Waisman said he finds the Darfur situation outrageous and beyond comprehension. “When I was liberated from Buchenwald concentration camp, I was sure that the atrocities I witnessed would never again occur because the world would have learned the lesson. Today there is absolutely no excuse for silence.”

CJCPR is also calling on all citizens to write Prime Minister Martin expressing their concern that Canada is not fully utilizing its international reputation as peacekeepers to support efforts to end the crisis.

A Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region (CJCPR) delegation led by Weintraub and Board Member Sheila Fruman, met Tuesday with Senator Mobina Jaffer to support her efforts. Senator Jaffer assured the delegation that she would continue her efforts for an end to the crisis.

Canadian Jewish Congress, a national organization representing the Jewish community on issues of concern, has been involved in advocacy on religious intolerance in Sudan since 1999.

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Contact:
Erwin Nest, Executive Director
Suite 201-950 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 2N7
Tel: 604-257-5101
Fax: 604-257-5131
E-mail: erwinn@cjc.ca

www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=news&story=665

Western Jewish Bulletin: Jews mobilize for Darfur

September 3, 2004

Jews mobilize for Darfur
Imminent genocide needs urgent action, says Congress.

PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

Tens of thousands of people have died, more than a million have been displaced and as many as 1.2 million face death unless the world community unites to intervene in what appears to be a looming genocide in the African country of Sudan.

In recent weeks, cries of alarm have risen across the diplomatic community worldwide as the conflict in the western Sudanese region of Darfur has spiralled into what observers call a genocide or potential genocide. The current crisis is imbued with urgency due not only to the scale of the human suffering, but by the memory of civilization's failure to intervene when a frighteningly similar constellation of events occurred a decade ago in Rwanda.

In April 1994, about 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered and two million refugees were forced from their homes and country while the world community watched.

For Canadian Jewish Congress, the echoes go back further, to the memory of the Jewish genocide in Europe during the Second World War. Reflecting what it says is a mandate of confronting genocide and intolerance, CJC is intervening in the Sudan issue and is urging all Canadians to immediately act to prevent a looming human catastrophe.

Canadian Jewish Congress has expressed to Prime Minister Paul Martin its concern and willingness to aid. The Quebec region of the national Jewish communal agency helped mobilize a public rally to raise awareness last Friday afternoon in downtown Montreal and Mark Weintraub, chair of CJC, Pacific Region, is spearheading an effort to bring the issue to the fore of public consciousness in British Columbia and across the country. The group is working closely with the tiny Sudanese-Canadian community to co-ordinate efforts.The issue should be a top priority for Canadian Jews, as well as others, said Weintraub.

"We're taking up this issue for a number of reasons," said Weintraub, a Vancouver lawyer who is in his first year as regional head of Congress. Jewish history, recent and ancient, endows this community with a responsibility and a unique perspective on human catastrophes like the one occurring in Sudan and the one that was allowed to unfold in Rwanda a decade ago, Weintraub said.

"I think that goes right back to who we are as an organization and who we are as a people," said Weintraub. "We have a religious heritage of Abraham arguing with God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah so as to save the lives of a few innocents. We have the commandment to the Israelites to remember kindness to the stranger. We have the prophetic call to pursue justice. Congress is a Jewish organization and we are informed by our history. It's who we are to be hopefully preoccupied – and I would hope even more preoccupied than we currently are as a community – with the challenge of how to make the world better.

"It would be completely insular and inconsistent with the most profound teachings of our traditions to take the view that now that we have successfully shunted the most virulent forms of anti-Semitism to the fringes we can pack up our tents and go home. Anti-Semitism is not defeated and the extraordinary gains we made in Canada within one generation were not made just through our own efforts, they were made with the assistance of others. We partnered with other minority groups in fighting for full civil and human rights. We were champions of all the civil rights and human rights legislation that developed over the last 50 years and champions of international declarations of human rights, which had as their backdrop the Holocaust and the Second World War."

The mobilization taking place in diplomatic and activist circles over the issue of Sudan is haunted by echoes of Rwandan failures.

"The message that comes through there is that the world could have done something and it didn't," Weintraub explained. "What's happening now is the recognition that the possible horror could be happening again in the continent of Africa on an absolutely massive scale. What we're being told is that upwards of 1.2 million people are at risk of death through the conflict there. This is something we don't want to look back on 10 years from now and say there was another Rwanda and the world remained silent."

Weintraub conveyed a letter to Canada's special envoy to the Sudanese peace process, British Columbia Sen. Mobina Jaffer, commending her work on the issue and offering support. Jaffer has toured the ravaged region of Sudan and spoken forcefully on the unfolding disaster.

Peace talks continued Sunday between Darfur rebels and the Sudanese regime. The conflict is the massive and catastrophic escalation of a long-simmering dispute between Arab nomads in the region and the largely agricultural population of African ethnicity. An estimated 50,000 have died in the past 18 months of conflict. The Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, are supported by the Khartoum regime and are apparently initiating a genocidal attack in the guise of crushing a rebellion by the primarily black African farmers.

Human Rights Watch, an international body, has stated that the Sudanese government is directly involved in the attacks on three African ethnic groups in Darfur.

"Government forces oversaw and directly participated in massacres, summary executions of civilians – including women and children – burnings of towns and villages, and the forcible depopulation of wide swathes of land long inhabited by the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa," HRW reported.

A U.S. State Department study, in conjunction with independent observers late last month in the neighboring country of Chad, to which refugees have fled, indicated 60 per cent of the Sudanese refugees had witnessed the murder of a family member and 20 per cent had witnessed a rape, according to the New York Times.

"There are enough reports from different organizations, which are not partisan, which collectively communicate that the people there are facing a crisis of proportions," Weintraub said. "We already know that tens of thousands have died and that over one-and-a-half million people have been driven from their homes by this conflict.

"It is of a magnitude that requires the conscience of Canadians to be moved," he said.

"We think there is always more that can be done and politicians are political leadership that responds to concerns of Canadians," said Weintraub. "Our community would be surprised as to how responsive our political leadership can be when they realize there is an issue that is of concern to the populace."

The leading role Congress appears to be taking on the Sudanese crisis stems in part from the special experience of Jewish history, said Weintraub.

"We ourselves know the tragedy and darkness of exile and genocide," he said. "I'm not saying the Jewish community has the only responsibility to speak out when ethnic and religious intolerance is rampant in the world, but there is no question that because of our experience we have greater empathy and certainly we don't want to [have] happen to others what happened to our own people 60 years ago. Tragically, we have that unique perspective. More importantly, we are not an island. We are connected and the Canadian Jewish community has mandated Canadian Jewish Congress since its inception to be concerned about religious intolerance and racism wherever it may be. This is not an issue that we are picking out of the air. It's an issue that goes to the heart of ethnic and racial intolerance, which we know something about."

Pat Johnson is a Vancouver journalist and commentator.

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/Sept04/archives04Sept03-01.html

CJC News Release: Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region calls on Federal Government to increase pressure on Sudan

Aug 31, 2004 - Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region calls on Federal Government to increase pressure on Sudan

Vancouver…August 31, 2004. The deadline of August 30 set by the UN Security Council for the Sudanese government to end the violence in Darfur has passed without any significant improvement. Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region (CJCPR), therefore, as part of a national Canadian Jewish Congress initiative, is calling upon the Canadian public to urge the federal government to step up the international efforts to work for an immediate end to the deteriorating human rights situation and severe humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

Lauding the efforts of Senator Mobina Jaffer, Canada's Special Envoy to the Peace Process in the Sudan, CJC, Pacific Region is currently seeking a meeting with her to discuss how Canadian NGOs can complement government initiatives to prevent further bloodshed and ethnic violence.

“In light of recent reports from various international NGO’s, which clearly confirm that civilians continue to be the targets of government raids, looting and rape, the Government of Canada must redouble its efforts for the consolidation of an international consensus on practical and immediate steps to be taken to improve the situation,” said Mark Weintraub, Chair of CJC, Pacific Region.

He went on to say, "Tragically, this is not the first time Canadian Jewish Congress has given voice to its constituency's profound concern regarding humanitarian tragedies of the magnitude facing the people in Darfur. The response that we have received from the Jewish community is to continue our advocacy to the government on this issue and we plan to continue to raise this issue with appropriate representatives."

In a letter sent to Prime Minister Martin in June, the CJC National President stated: "In the face of reports of mass murder, systematic rape and ethnic cleansing in Darfur, we cannot fail to confront the massive refugee and humanitarian crises emerging from this terrible conflict." CJC called on the government for:

- An unambiguous denunciation of the Sudanese government;
- A call for the immediate disarming, disbanding and withdrawal of the murderous militias, both government and Janjaweed, now operating with impunity in Darfur; and
- The implementation of measures to protect, assist and repatriate civilians displaced by the conflict.

In July, CJC National President Ed Morgan and CJC National Executive Director Manuel Prutschi met with the Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York City to share CJC's deep concern for the worsening situation. Last week, CJC Quebec Region co-sponsored an inter-faith “Day of Conscience” to raise public awareness.

CJC, Pacific Region is requesting a meeting with Senator Jaffer to support her in her efforts to date and to determine what other concrete steps can be taken to ensure that this issue receives the kind of public, governmental, and world attention that it deserves.

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Contact:
Romy Ritter, Community Relations Coordinator
Phone: (604) 257-5101
Fax: (604) 257-5131
E-mail: romyr@cjc.ca

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=news&story=662

Letter to Senator Mobina Jaffer

Aug 30, 2004 - Mark Weintraub

Letter to Senator Mobina Jaffer re: human rights situation in Sudan.

The Honourable Senator Mobina S.B. Jaffer, QC
Suite 202 - 1437 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC V5N 2R6

Dear Senator Jaffer:

On behalf of our community, Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region (CJCPR) would like to commend you for your efforts addressing the deteriorating human rights situation and severe humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan. We applaud the position you have taken as Canada’s Special Envoy to the Sudan.
We request an opportunity to meet with you at your earliest convenience to discuss how CJCPR can support any of the initiatives with respect to the Sudanese crisis, which you have undertaken on behalf of all Canadians.
Tragically, this is not the first time Canadian Jewish Congress has given voice to the Jewish community’s profound concern regarding humanitiarian tragedies of the magnitude facing the people in Darfur. The response that we have received from the Jewish community to date is to encourage CJCPR to continue our advocacy to the government on this issue.

Nationally, Canadian Jewish Congress has formally urged the Canadian government and the international community to take swift and substantive measures to prevent the world from watching the unfolding of another genocide. CJC wrote Prime Minister Paul Martin and then Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham calling upon the government to take all appropriate steps to avert the deteriorating human rights situation.
Last month in New York, our National President Ed Morgan and National Executive Director Manuel Prutschi met with Ambassador Gilbert Laurin, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, to once again bring to the attention of our Canadian representatives our deep concern for the worsening situation.
As well, our Quebec Region is a co-organizer of a Day of Conscience held August 25, 2004 in Montreal. We are continuing to identify how we can assist in ensuring that this issue receives the kind of public, governmental, and world attention that it deserves. We once again commend your various efforts and particularly your strong voice upon your return from Sudan.
We would greatly appreciate it if your scheduling assistant could please contact Romy Ritter, Community Relations Coordinator, Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region by phone at 604-257-5101; by fax 604-257-5131; or by e-mail at romyr@cjc.ca to make the necessary arrangements.
We very much look forward to another opportunity to meet with you on issues of mutual concern.
Yours truly,

CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS, PACIFIC REGION

Mark Weintraub
Chair

cc: All British Columbia Members of Parliament

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?Language=EN&action=briefs&item=72

Western Jewish Bulletin: Working for a tolerant society

Jul 02, 2004

Working for a tolerant society
New CJC Pacific Region head Mark Weintraub says Jews "got it right."

PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

The work done by Canadian Jewish Congress over the past half-century has helped create a "firewall" in Canada that has prevented a worldwide spike in anti-Semitism from reaching full force here.

That's the view of Mark Weintraub, the new chair of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region. Weintraub, a Vancouver lawyer and longtime community activist, met with the Bulletin recently to look forward and back at the climate for Canadian Jews. His main message: "I think you can say with some degree of confidence that the Jewish community got it right, in terms of how to [if] not eliminate anti-Semitism, at least erode it."

Since the Second World War, Weintraub said, Canadian Jewish Congress has been among a number of groups at the forefront of advocating for a comprehensive infrastructure of human rights. And while Congress has fought against specific restrictive covenants and discriminatory practices against Jews in particular, the organization also has advocated for more general measures that prevent discrimination against any group.

"We did it in a way that drew upon the roots of our Jewish tradition," said Weintraub. "What we said was this: That there's no place in a country like Canada for any kind of discrimination, whether it be against Jew, or against Native Indian or Indo-Canadian or Chinese. Therefore, our challenges were not specifically with respect to discriminatory provisions against Jews, but we looked at the overall structural system of Canada and said what kinds of institutions do we need that can fundamentally shift our country."

Working with governments, advocacy organizations, civil institutions and other ethnic organizations, Canadian Jewish Congress has played an important role in bringing to life a whole range of institutions that are now intrinsic to Canadian multiculturalism, including the fundamental recognition that Canada is more than just English and French.

"What we ended up with, if one takes a look at the last 50 years, is a very comprehensive system of judicial, legal, administrative and educative structures, which have essentially been effective in combating discrimination against minorities," said Weintraub. "We advocated for the system of human rights tribunals both federally and provincially on the basis that not all prejudice and discrimination ought to be dealt with by the criminal law. Only the most extreme forms of prejudice, namely the fomenting of hate, which can lead to violence, ought to be criminalized. But there have to be other structures to communicate to Canadians at large that vile prejudice and discrimination have no place."

Congress also unequivocally supported the entrenchment of hate-motivated crime in legislation, based on the assumption that crimes motivated by discrimination are crimes of a different quality.

"When someone from a minority gets attacked by reason of their status, it's really an attack on the entire fabric of the country," he said.

Weintraub credited his immediate predecessor at Congress, Nisson Goldman, with a three-year struggle to convince the provincial government to replace the eliminated funding for the provincial Hate Crime Team. Though funding has not yet been restored, Congress has received a commitment from Premier Gordon Campbell that it will be forthcoming.

Weintraub said his top priority is fulfilling the core mandate of Canadian Jewish Congress, which has always been and remains combating anti-Semitism and providing for the safety and security of the Jewish community. This would have been his top priority even five years ago, before the latest spike in anti-Jewish crimes, though it takes an added urgency now, he said. But while acknowledging that the situation for Canadian Jews is as difficult as it has been in decades – a recent report by Canadian chiefs of police determined that one-quarter of all hate crimes reported in this country were directed at Jews – Weintraub insists things are better here than in the United States and far better than the grave situation in places like France.

"I think it's fair to say when there are expressions of anti-Semitism, which in the United States might be permitted because of freedom of expression and because they don't have human rights tribunals, because they don't have criminalized speech, those expressions here in Canada are immediately dealt with," Weintraub said. As examples, he cited the recent publication of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories in a B.C. newspaper, the Miracle, and the anti-Semitic expressions of former Saskatchewan First Nations leader David Ahenakew.

"The response [to the Miracle] from the community was quick and overwhelming – the mainstream community, the Muslim community, the human rights community – and we had a venue for dealing with it. We handed that document over to the Hate Crime Team to see if it violated the criminal law," he said. "[In the Ahenakew case], immediately the Assembly [of First Nations] leadership, and leadership throughout the aboriginal community, was very swift in its condemnation.

"So when, every once in a while, you have one of these eruptions, we have created a climate in Canada wherein the leadership of the various communities where the anti-Semitism might erupt from, recognized that this is harmful not only to Canadian society, but harmful to the Jewish community and harmful to their own community."

More than most countries in the world, Weintraub said, Canada has a formally structured and highly sensitized response to discriminatory behaviors and attitudes, not only through legal recourse, but in educating people in the first place to challenge prejudice in themselves and society.

"We've got structures in place that can deal with [acts of discrimination] more swiftly and effectively," he said. "That is the work that Canadian Jewish Congress is in the middle of and sometimes, I think, in the forefront of."

Though the re-emergence of anti-Semitism in Canada has been jarring, Weintraub added, "The eruption in the last three years was not a huge surprise to those who are [working] in this area."

Members of CJC got a hint of what was coming down the pike three years ago at the United Nations conference on racism in Durban, South Africa.

"We saw there how the conference was turned against Israel in a way that was very frightening," he said. "We saw there what was indeed a strategy to turn Israel into the next South Africa, the apartheid state. We saw it systematically being talked about and how over the next number of years that campaign needed to spread to the campuses and into the media and other institutions and, sure enough, we saw it happen."

Weintraub said one thing the Jewish community in Canada and elsewhere needs to investigate more and make the public aware of is the relationship between extreme anti-Zionist activities and the extreme elements of the Middle East.
"The campaign of anti-Zionism and of equating Zionism as racism has emanated from some of the most reactionary and despotic regimes in the Middle East," he said. "I'm not here to say that we can trace right now the funding of this campaign, except to say that we know as a fact that this attempt to delegitimize the state of Israel has for decades and decades come out of countries like Syria and Saudi Arabia and Egypt."
Weintraub added that the anti-Israel activists of the Middle East may have made common cause with some of the darkest figures from history.
"We do know that in the 1950s and the 1960s, a country like Syria, for example, gave refuge to Nazi leadership fleeing Germany. I think it behooves our community to spend more time in exposing what are the links between Nazi and fascist ideology and the most extreme anti-Zionist ideology that is coming out of the Arab countries. If we bring that more into the centre, I do believe that people will recognize that this extreme anti-Zionism is supported by people that, on every other front, they would completely repudiate."

As Canadian Jews struggle against anti-Semitism, the communal bodies of the community have undergone a major structural change. The Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy was created in the past year as an umbrella group to oversee the various advocacy agencies in Canada. Weintraub welcomes the new body, especially since it has explicitly promised greater support for CJC's work.

"The function of Canadian Jewish Congress has been maintained and in fact we have been told that we need to have more funding because what we're doing is good work and the collective Jewish community decision-makers in this regard want us to carry on and do more," he said.
Over his three-year term, Weintraub said, he will continue to improve communication between the Jewish community and other ethnocultural groups, especially Muslim communities, First Nations and Christians. While advocating for Jewish Canadians is the core objective of Congress, Weintraub noted it has always been in the interest of Jewish communities to live in a society that is accepting of all peoples.
"We've always felt that what we want is the most peaceful, tolerant society because it's the right thing and because it also ultimately assists Jews," he said. "So we have this confluence of what is good for the Jewish community is good for the overall community."

Internally, he added, the Jewish community must continue to look outward but also undertake an introspective look.
"The question which must engage Jewish leadership of every organization is the future: What kind of Canada are we going to have 20 years from now?" he said. Changing demographics will have an impact on Canadian Jews.

"We have a declining Jewish community. We know the ravages of intermarriage and assimilation," Weintraub said. "Where is our Jewish community going to be 20 years from now?"

http://www.cjc.ca/template.php?action=itn&Story=875

Western Jewish Bulletin: B'nai Brith 668 no more

June 25, 2004

B'nai Brith 668 no more

The end came Sunday for 94-year-old organization.

PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

As the sun set out the window behind her on the last day of spring Sunday night, Rivka Arieli, the president of B'nai Brith Lion's Gate Lodge, presided over a small meeting that ended an era for British Columbia's Jewish community. B'nai Brith Lion's Gate Lodge voted itself out of existence.

B'nai Brith has had a presence in this province since 1910, when Samuels Lodge #668 was formed. A second lodge, Lion's Gate #1716, was formed in 1948 and the two lodges amalgamated in 1985 into Lion's Gate Lodge #668. But a year of desperate rebuilding and struggling to find relevance amid the changing world of the local Jewish community resulted in the conclusion by Arieli and her few remaining members that there was no interest in continuing the organization. Less than a dozen members were present when the lodge unanimously voted to dissolve.

Despite the unexpected drama – the decision to dissolve came just in the few days before the annual general meeting – neither the B'nai Brith name nor the charitable work that the group has pioneered in the province will disappear. Though the lodge ceases to exist and the membership-based structure ends, the core objectives of the group will be rolled over into the B'nai Brith Foundation of British Columbia. The foundation will undertake a narrower mandate, leaving behind the meetings and social events that once defined the lodge.

Originally founded as a social organization for Jews, the mandate of the group has changed. Nobody is interested in a bowling league or holiday dances anymore, said Arieli. The work of the lodge has evolved toward more social action, with a special emphasis on fighting hate. B'nai Brith Lion's Gate has provided financial and volunteer support to numerous court cases and public awareness efforts against neo-Nazi and other extremist anti-Semitic brush fires over the years. The foundation will continue to advance the objectives of the international B'nai Brith movement by providing awards for community service, organizing an annual anti-hate month, and continuing to support the Interfaith Brotherhood, a cross-cultural organization that has embodied B'nai Brith's commitment to multifaith dialogue.

Arieli noted that the choice of guest speaker for the final meeting of the lodge – Mark Weintraub, the new chair of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region – represents the foundation's commitment to working closely with Congress and other Jewish community organizations. (Weintraub's provocative presentation of the successes and failures of fighting anti-Semitism in Canada and the world will be featured in a profile of the new Congress leader in a future issue of the Bulletin.)

In her remarks to the membership, Arieli noted the realities that led to the fatal decision.

"B'nai Brith Lion's Gate Lodge has come to a time of completion and to a time of change," she said. "During the last year, our executive assistant, Tamara Segall, and I have discovered that despite our best efforts, few are interested in joining B'nai Brith Lion's Gate. We have only 30 paid members. Old members are not attracting their children or friends. We are unable to find anyone interested in working on the administration and building of B'nai Brith Lion's Gate Lodge."

Yet, even in the twilight of the organization, Arieli was able to point out the panoply of contributions the lodge has made to the B.C. community. The lodge has served as a sort of incubator for some of the most successful stand-alone organizations in the Jewish community here. Partly because the lodge has never had a legal charitable status, the organizations it has formed to fulfil its mandate have become independent offsprings of the parent body.

"B'nai Brith Lion's Gate Lodge has done a remarkable job over the many years since its founding," said Arieli. "The works of B'nai Brith Lion's Gate Lodge are far too numerous to acknowledge completely at this time, but the major projects which are now mature and independent include the B'nai Brith Building Society, with two seniors homes, and other housing in several apartments; the non-sectarian food bank; B'nai Brith Youth Organization with an international board; [the campus Jewish organization] Hillel; [and] the B'nai Brith Foundation of British Columbia."

Also formed originally under the auspices of B'nai Brith but operating independently are groups such as Shalom BC, which welcomes Jewish newcomers to the province, the free loan fund and Jewish Women International.

"Much of the work of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver was inspired and begun by the B'nai Brith Lion's Gate Lodge," Arieli added.

For several years, the financial operations of the lodge have been conducted under the auspices of the B'nai Brith Foundation of British Columbia, which is a registered charity. The foundation will now become the primary vehicle for B'nai Brith's work in the province.

"To go forward with the B'nai Brith name in British Columbia, we must do so in a different way," Arieli told the meeting. "To better address the changing needs of our community, we must no longer be a membership-focused organization, but an action-focused, nonprofit, charitable society, which continues the work of B'nai Brith."

The dissolution of the lodge coincides with a number of other structural changes. For example, B'nai Brith's B.C. chapter has always been an anomaly, being part of the Evergreen chapter of B'nai Brith – an American branch of B'nai Brith International – and strangely divorced from the rest of B'nai Brith Canada, which covers the other nine provinces. That anomaly will change somewhat, as current (and any future) members will be encouraged to either join the Canadian or the international B'nai Brith organizations, or both. The foundation will strengthen its association with the Canadian arm of the international B'nai Brith body.

An event later in the summer is expected to bring together members of the now-defunct lodge to mark its passing, and to educate about and celebrate the new mandate of the foundation.

Pat Johnson is a Vancouver journalist and commentator.

Western Jewish Bulletin: Election calls Jews to action

June 4, 2004

Election calls Jews to action
National, local bodies urge activism in your choice political campaign.

PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

In what is shaping up as one of the most unpredictable election campaigns in recent memory, federal candidates are seeking the support of Jewish voters – and Jewish Canadians are taking a hard look at the choices facing them.

A candidates' forum sponsored by three multicultural agencies, including Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), is slated for next Wednesday at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. Candidates from the three national parties in each of the five Vancouver ridings have been invited to the forum, which is sponsored by CJC, with the Chinese-Canadian organization SUCCESS and the Vancouver Multicultural Society. The forum, which is similar to events in previous elections, will address issues of social justice, immigration, human rights and Canada's international role, in addition to questions raised from the floor.

In an open letter to CJC members and supporters, Mark Weintraub, the new chair of CJC, Pacific Region, urged Canadian Jews to get involved in politics.

"A campaign is a most significant time to establish relationships with and provide information of concern to potential members of Parliament," he wrote. "One of the best ways in doing this is to become active as a volunteer in a campaign. Even if your candidate is unsuccessful, the educative value of your participation for the longer term cannot be overemphasized."

Weintraub told the Bulletin he is encouraged that there have been a few signs of increased political activity among Jewish British Columbians, something CJC has long been encouraging.

In terms of issues specific to the Jewish community, Weintraub said the community shares the same concerns as the bulk of the Canadian electorate, from health-care policy, domestic security issues and the environment, to fair and equitable taxation. Even issues like anti-Semitism should not be considered "Jewish issues," he said. Citing as an example violence against women, Weintraub said. "we're all affected by the pathology." Though anti-Semitism affects Jewish Canadians most directly, he said, it is a Canadian problem and needs to be addressed as such.

At the national level, the new umbrella agency CIJA-PAC – the political action committee of the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy – is set to release "issue sheets" that will help Jewish and Zionist voters to query their local candidates. In a letter to CIJA members, the group's chair, Mark Waldman, equated participation in political activity with tikkun olam, the Jewish interdiction to help repair the world.

"Other groups are involving themselves in various political parties," Waldman wrote. "We too need to offer support to candidates and volunteer for their campaigns. Without our presence, visibility and participation, we will lose the ability to be heard in Ottawa on important policy issues at a time when a strong voice is needed most. The most effective means of conveying the Jewish community's messages and mutual understanding to our political leadership is by actively participating in the political process.... We need a strong base of support among all of the political parties."

Waldman told the Bulletin he would like to see Jewish Canadians avoid placing all their political eggs in one basket. Each member of the community should become active in the campaigns of the political party they feel best reflects their views – participation is key, rather than the support of one particular party.

"It's critical for our community to get involved in political activity," said Waldman. "The federal government plays an important role in all aspects of our life."

Waldman and others were recently in Washington, D.C., meeting with American political leaders and other Zionists. The speeches he heard from Democratic and Republican politicians, Waldman said, indicated that American leaders recognize the shared values between their country and the only democratic regime in the Middle East.

"Supporting Israel is an American value, it's not a Democratic or Republican value," he said. "We need to do that here."

Though the Jewish community has concerns with a wide swath of political issues, Canadian foreign policy toward Israel has leapt to the top of the community's agenda since the last election. Increasing acts of verbal and physical hatred over the past four years in Canada have created a sense of urgency and isolation. Canada's votes against Israel at the United Nations have often riled Jewish community leaders, though the addition of groups like Hamas to the list of banned terrorist organizations has been seen as a positive development.

Few Jewish candidates have put themselves forward for election in recent years. Two members of Vancouver's Jewish community contested Conservative party nominations in Vancouver-Quadra and Vancouver-South, but neither was successful. Canadians vote June 28.

The Vancouver candidates' forum being co-sponsored by CJC takes place Wednesday, June 9, 7 p.m., at the Norman Rothstein Theatre in the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.

Pat Johnson is a native Vancouverite, a journalist and commentator.

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/June04/archives04Jun04-01.html

Western Jewish Bulletin: It starts on campuses

May 14, 2004

It starts on campuses
Local CJC stresses need to counter anti-Semitism.

KYLE BERGER, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

With the recent acts of anti-Semitism around the country, change is needed on Canada's university campuses. This was the topic of a presentation by Prof. Ed Morgan, guest speaker at Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), Pacific Region's triennial general meeting May 5.

In an interview with the Bulletin prior to the meeting, Morgan, a member of the faculty of law at the University of Toronto, explained that there is a constant political battle being fought on campuses that is not easy to win.

"We have a polarization of values on campus," he said. "We value free speech and academic freedom and we have this idea that the campus is the place where you are supposed to freely debate everything.

"At the other end of the spectrum, we also put a very high value on inclusiveness, making sure that no one feels alienated on campus," he continued. "Which means that we have a lot of protective rules for students. So when it comes to Jewish issues and Israel-oriented issues, university administrations are having a hard time figuring out which end of that spectrum they're supposed to be on."

Morgan noted a couple of incidents at York University in which anti-Israel speakers were allowed to announce their hatred to 200 cheering supporters, while pro-Israel presenters were refused a place to speak. He did not suggest that the administration of York University was anti-Israel or anti-Jewish. Instead, he pointed to the likelihood that the school's administration simply wanted to maintain a low profile rather than stir the pot with radical students.

"It's not that I'm suspicious of them, but they need to be pushed because they want to keep their heads low," he said. "It's hard for administrations to take on student groups, because they always end up looking heavy handed and clumsy when they try to discipline student politics."

The answer, Morgan suggested, is to push advocacy to a new level, including stronger efforts from university faculty. He is currently involved with a group of teachers who are trying to form such a group.

"Often times, if community advocacy groups that aren't used to how campuses work [speak to a school administration], administrators listen politely but they dismiss everything they say," he explained. "We're hoping to have a faculty body that understands the concerns about academic freedom that can give a pitch when there are problems on a campus."

Another solution, Morgan said, is to educate and involve more students."We have to make sure we have the resources to bring in interesting pro-Israel speakers and make sure there are Jewish events for people who want to participate in them."

The triennial meeting marked several changes at CJC, Pacific Region. Mark Weintraub was installed as chair, taking over from Nisson Goldman. The slate of officers included Jon Festinger, vice-chair, Richard Kurland, vice-chair, Dr. Mark Wexler, vice-chair, David Schwartz, secretary, Tony DuMoulin, treasurer, Gerry Cuttler, general counsel, and Herb Silber, national vice-president.

Joining the evening's proceedings were Chief Leonard George of the Tsleil-waututh nation, who spoke on behalf of the aboriginal community, and Attorney General Geoff Plant, who shared greetings from the B.C. government. The Morris Saltzman Award for outstanding contributions to community relations in British Columbia was presented to Sgt. Mark Graf of the Vancouver police department.

Weintraub, in his speech, which he provided to the Bulletin, also touched on the anti-Semitic acts that have been raging in Canada.

"Most of us here tonight are aware that Jewish communities around the world are facing an increased virulence of anti-Semitism not seen since the Holocaust," he said. The new anti-Semitism in fact differs little from the old, in that each careens into defamatory conspiracy theories of overwhelming Jewish power, argued Weintraub.

"One of my priorities will be to have us continue to vigorously advocate to all levels of government to ensure that our communities are as safe and secure as possible," he said. "To paraphrase one of our time-honored teachings, 'We are not obligated to finish all the work, but we are obligated to do our part.' "

For more information about CJC, Pacific Region, call 604-257-5101.

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/Archives/May04/archives04May14-03.html

Western Jewish Bulletin: Multifaith meditation

April 30, 2004

Multifaith meditation

LORNE MALLIN, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

A weekend-long multifaith meditation retreat in Vancouver was treated to presentations from the Dalai Lama and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. Compared to the large-scale events of the much-heralded visit, it was like getting a personal audience with the renowned spiritual leaders for the 276 participants, about 10 percent of whom were Jewish.

On Saturday afternoon, April 17, at Shaughnessy Heights United Church, the Dalai Lama spoke briefly about practising compassion and forgiveness and led a 20-minutes meditation. He slipped out with his security detail after saying he'd been up since 3:30 in the morning and was tired.

The next day, Reb Zalman was warmly welcomed as keynote speaker for the retreat called Inner Peace - Active Love, presented by the Multifaith Action Society of British Columbia. He was introduced by a fellow Jew, Joan Borysenko, moderator of the retreat and a former Harvard medical scientist and psychologist, who called him a "living treasure."

Reb Zalman touched on themes that he elaborated on at the April 20 roundtable. "Bring down blessings on each other," he said. "It will attune us to a higher vibration. There are beings hovering over us ready to bless us."

Before speaking, he privately gave a healing blessing to Dodie Katzenstein, 54, of Vancouver, who was diagnosed three years ago with advanced breast cancer.

"He held my hand and did a mishebeirach. It was lovely and it meant a lot to me," she said.

Four local rabbis played leadership roles in the two and a half day event, which attracted Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, Sufis, followers of First Nations spiritual tradition and other. Beth Israel Rabbi Charles Feinberg spoke on Saturday as president of the Multifaith Action Society.

"Insights of one tradition can illuminate what may be hidden from us in our own tradition," said Feinberg, while urging participants to be rooted in their own spiritual discipline. "The spiritual treasures of another faith can help us reach a greater degree of enlightenment and commitment."

Also on Saturday, during a series of presentations by different traditions, Rabbi Shmuel Birnham spoke about the Jewish contemplative dimension of Shabbat. He explored that idea further on Sunday when he led a workship on Jewish meditation and changint. Rabbi Itzchak Marmorstein led a session on Ophanim, Kabbalistic Yoga of Abraham, which he teaches at Or Shalom. Dr. Alan Morinis of Vancouver led a workship on the ancient Jewish spiritual tradition of mussar. And Rabbi David Mivasair of Ahavat Olam shared with 30-40 mostly non-Jewish spiritual seekers and followers of other religions an experiential exploration of the value of Jewish liturgical prayer.

"At least two Jewish people who had been involved for years in other religions came up to me afterward and told me they 'came home' during that hour and want to learn and do more," Mivasair said.

Among the Jewish participants moved by the weekend was Mark Weintraub, incoming president of the Pacific Region of the Canadian Jewish Congress, who attended on a personal basis. "What I was most taken with was the emphasis on embracing seemingly new and yet obviously timeless paradigms for healing the planet and intra-community conflict by drawing upon each tradition's greatest wisdom teachings of our essential unity."

There was further Jewish involvement in the entertaining musical tribute to the Dalai Lama April 20 at the Orpheum Theatre. Mordehai Wosk blew the shofar to welcome the Tibetan leader and Moshe Denburg closed out the evening conducting the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra, members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Laudate Singers in a performance of his composition, "Ani Ma-amin" ("I Believe").

Lorne Mallin is an editor in the entertainment secttion of the Province.

Western Jewish Bulletin: Thanks for the kind words

January 10, 2003

Thanks for the kind words

Letters

This letter was originally sent to Chief Dora Wilson of the Hagwilget Village Council and is reprinted with permission.

Dear Chief Wilson:

I received a copy of your letter written to Chief Coon Come regarding Mr. Ahenakew. Currently, I am a national vice- president of Canadian Jewish Congress, being the representative from the Pacific Region (British Columbia/Yukon/Northwest Territories and Nunavut) to our national board.

I was involved in the deliberations of our regional board to craft an open letter to Premier Gordon Campbell condemning the recently held referendum and I had the pleasure of meeting with Chief Stewart Phillip at the union's open house, at which time we had an excellent exchange and reaffirmed our collective commitment to ensuring that the Ahenakew incident would in fact be used to strengthen relations between our communities. As such, I am somewhat aware of relations between our communities' leadership. Your letter is most appreciated and is representative of the overwhelming views of aboriginal leaders. Please be assured that our community knows this well.

Your letter truly speaks to the shock that Mr. Ahenakew's statements caused. Your understanding of the hurt and concern to our community was powerfully expressed. Indeed, the reaction we have received from many aboriginal leaders and individuals has been overwhelming and our national office will be making a public statement to this effect soon.

One of the unfortunate consequences of Mr. Ahenakew's statements is that they had the potential to give those in the larger community a purported justification for saying that racism exists everywhere and not just in the white community. The achievement of aboriginal goals is in fact an important goal to us as a community and therefore we were troubled not only by the expression of anti-Semitism but also by the potential setback to the aboriginal community.

Without minimizing in any way the Ahenakew affair, we will not let our focus be shifted from the main centres of anti-Semitism and attacks on Jews today. As I write this letter, our community is in mourning by reason of another attack on the Jewish nation, which just occurred last weekend, resulting in 22 deaths and more than 100 injured. Your letter of understanding, referring to the fact that Jews are in "constant alert for acts of terror," is comfort at a time when there are some who would attempt to justify these murderous acts as legitimate expressions of political aspirations.

While there is still much work to be done in both of our respective communities to advance greater understanding, it can be said with certainty that the bonds that we have created through working together in the past are strong enough to endure this incident and indeed have been strengthened through your expressions of denunciation and shock and reaffirmations of hope.

Many in the aboriginal community suffer each day from policies rooted in institutional racism and colonialism. The deaths arising from poverty and poor health care, which occur every day in Canada, ought to be ever-present in our consciousness. We are also aware that this current travesty of policy is only part of the contemporary reality – the indigenous peoples' survival in the face of over 500 years of attempted physical and cultural genocide is testament to the strength of your history, your traditions and the universal human spirit. In this way both of our people's have much in common.

Mark Weintraub
National Vice-President
Canadian Jewish Congress


http://www.jewishindependent.ca/Archives/Jan03/archives03Jan10-09.html