Canada Anti-Semitism And Hate

Legal/Legislative Remedies and Current Realities
Racism, Anti-Semitism and Hate in Canada

Karen R. Mock
National Director of the League for Human Rights of B'nai B'rith Canada

It has been well documented that racism and hate propaganda have long been part of the Canadian experience. Native peoples were deprived of their lands and marginalized in poverty by Canadian society. Today,' aboriginal land claims and the quest for self-government occupy a significant part of the current political agenda of most Canadian provinces. There is also evidence of rampant anti-Semitism in the early days of Canada. Regular attacks on Judaism and the Jewish community appeared in Semaine religieuse de Quebec and other religious publications, and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion were promoted by various religious leaders in Canada. From 1910 through the 1940s prominent Canadians were associated with virulent anti-Semitism, which included justifying Russian pogroms against the Jews, openly praising Hitler's charismatic leadership, and denying safety in Canada to Jews who were fleeing Nazi persecution. Other minority groups also suffered hate propaganda, notably the Sikhs and Chinese.

Canada also witnessed the rise of hate groups during the pre-war years. The 1920s and 1930s saw the development of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and the roots of the Western Guard and Aryan Nations. Such groups promoted hatred against Catholics, Blacks and Jews; signs along the beaches or other places in Toronto or Montreal often read "No Jews or Dogs Allowed."

There was a postwar decline in overt racism and anti-Semitism. However, with the increase in immigration, the relaxation in immigration regulations, and the policies of multiculturalism and bilingualism, hate group activity and hate propaganda increased. In the 1990s there were several KKK-style crossburnings throughout the country; and the Klan was implicated in the anti-Mohawk agitation in Quebec; Klan propaganda was distributed in some Montreal schools, the Eastern Townships of Quebec, several rural Ontario towns, and in Alberta and Manitoba; and anti-immigration white supremacist telephone "hate lines" attracted attention in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto. Racist skinheads rallied regularly during the 1990s, and were implicated in and/or convicted of a number of racially-motivated crimes.

Holocaust denial has increased as a new form of anti-Semitism in schools and public venues across the country, along with active recruitment of young people in high schools and campuses to the racist and anti-Semitic cause, primarily through the dissemination of hate in pamphlets, tapes, videos and the Internet.

An analysis of the records of reported incidents of anti-Semitism since 1982 reveals a strong correlation between periods of economic difficulties and a rise in racist attitudes and behavior. After peaking in 1995, followed by a decrease in reported incidents for two consecutive years, 1998 saw a 14 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Canada. Cases in the human rights commissions and courts, and reports from various multicultural and anti-racist organizations across the country, corroborate these findings.

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