September 2011
What follows is an
excerpt from the final report of the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat
Anti-Semitism, released July 7.
Though there are no reliable
statistics in terms of the absolute number of anti-Semitic incidents on campuses
across Canada, there are reliable indications that such incidents are on the
rise. The League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada’s 2009 Audit of
Antisemitic Incidents reported that cases of anti-Semitism on Canadian
university campuses had risen by 80.2% from 2008 to 2009. The report notes that
this statistic is “even more alarming given that the number of incidents has
increased almost four‑fold since 2006.”
The report also noted the relationship
on campuses, as in Canadian society more generally, of the level of anti-Semitic
incidents to events in the Middle East. Specifically, the level of incidents
intensified significantly during the war in Gaza in January 2009.
The following represents a sample of
some of the incidents that have occurred in connection with Canadian academic
life in recent years:
In March 2010, a York University
student was charged by police with running a virulently anti-Semitic website (filthyjewishterrorists.com).
He blames his troubles with the law on “Jewish Kikes.”
In September 2009, in Guelph, Ontario,
anti-Semitic graffiti was scrawled on the door of a university campus residence
where Jewish students lived.
In February 2009, it was reported that
at York University, Jewish students who were involved with a petition to impeach
student government were “barricaded” in the Jewish student lounge by a group of
protesters. Police were called and the students had to be escorted out of the
lounge to safety. On the way out, York University Student Daniel Ferman, who was
involved in the incident, testified that he was called a “f–king Jew” and was
told to “Die, Jew.”
In January 2009, the Ontario branch of
the Canadian Union of Public Employees brought forward a proposal to ban Israeli
academics from teaching at Ontario Universities. In response to an appeal from
the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees, Sid
Ryan, president of CUPE Ontario [initially] stated “we are ready to say Israeli
academics should not be on our campuses unless they explicitly condemn the
university bombing and the assault on Gaza in general.
In January 2009, university and
college professors and employees in Quebec called for a boycott of Israeli
academic institutions.
In January 2009, Jewish students in
Vancouver, B.C., were chased and assaulted on campus.
At Queen’s University, Hillel was
forced to remove its “response wall,” which was meant to be a space for people
to share their feelings after walking through a Holocaust education display, due
to the overwhelming number of anti-Semitic remarks, including remarks denying
the Holocaust.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2009,
the York University Free Press published cartoons featuring Israelis dressed as
Nazis shooting Palestinians into a mass grave labelled “Gaza.” Another cartoon
shows a dead Palestinian in a concentration camp wearing a prisoner’s uniform
and a keffiyeh.
In November 2008, a Jewish student’s
vehicle was defaced with several swastikas and the phrase “dirty Jew” written
across the windows.
In April 2008, Natan Sharansky, a
refusenik with the civil rights movement in Russia and Cabinet minister in
Israel came to speak at York University and was shouted down and prevented from
speaking.
On March 10, 2008, immediately
following a terrorist attack on an Israeli yeshiva on March 10, 2008, the
Excalibur at York University published an article that stated, “It’s no wonder
why Yeshivat Merkaz Harav school was attacked,” and went on to justify the
attack based on the fact that the school had a curriculum that combined Talmudic
studies with military service.
In February 2008, “Death to Jews” was
reportedly shouted repeatedly at an anti‑Israel rally held on the McMaster
University campus.
In 2007, Jewish students
reported to Queen’s
University Hillel that their sociology
professor had accused Canadian Jewish Organizations (such as the Canadian Jewish
Congress) of a conspiracy to manipulate Canadian foreign policy. The professor
later apologized.
In March 2004, the Queen’s University
Palestinian Human Rights association distributed literature portraying Jews with
big noses and carrying large sacks of money. Controversy over the issue made it
into the Queen’s Journal, where the president of the club denied the
anti-Semitic nature of the cartoon on the basis that “Palestinians are Semites
too.”
The visiting Israeli consul‑general
was prevented by protesters from speaking at Simon Fraser University in British
Columbia in 2004.
This is by no means a comprehensive
list of recent incidents, and does not even include all incidents that were
discussed during the inquiry. Nevertheless, in addition to demonstrating the
variety and severity of incidents on Canadian campuses, these incidents
highlight a number of troubling issues.
To read the full CPCCA report, please
visit cpcca.ca.
National Post, July 21, 2011
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