Post Tagged with: "antisemitism"

Committee Room, West Block by Sean Marshall CC BY-NC 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/2hjUQcA

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 221: Inside My Canadian Heritage Committee Appearance on Freedom of Expression

The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has for the past month been conducting a study on protecting freedom of expression. The counters of the study aren’t entirely clear. In fact, after I was invited to appear, I asked for some sense of what the committee was looking to address. There wasn’t much detail, which has really left it open for witnesses to cover whatever issues they like.  I chose to focus my time on two issues: the expression implications of Canadian digital policy and the chilling effect of antisemitism. The two issues have really dominated my attention in recent months. Digital policy – including Bills C-11, C-18, C-63, and S-210 for years now and the antisemitism issues an enormous concern post October 7, 2023.

 This week’s Law Bytes podcast takes the listener into the hearing room and the wide range of questions from Liberal, Conservative, and Bloc MPs my opening statement sparked. 

Read more ›

December 2, 2024 — 3 comments — Podcasts
2017.08.13 Charlottesville Candlelight Vigil, Washington, DC USA 8045 by Ted Eytan https://flic.kr/p/Xrmv7E https://flic.kr/p/Xrmv7E

When Antisemitism Isn’t Taboo: Reflecting on the Response to Nazi-Era Hate on the Streets of Montreal

Last week, as Concordia students staged a “strike” to protest the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, video captured someone giving a Nazi salute to nearby Jewish students while repeatedly declaring the “final solution is coming your way.” Antisemitism has become far too common, but this incident, which had unmistakable Holocaust echoes, still had the capacity to shock. Soon after, the culprit was identified as Mia Abdulhadi, the co-owner of two Second Cup coffee cafe franchises improbably located in the Montreal Jewish General hospital.

The Concordia events later gave way to violent riots in Montreal, but this particular case has been hard to shake. Part of it stems from the affirmation of the campus antisemitism concerns that have been voiced for many months by Jewish students and faculty. Despite the denials, the reality is that the line between legitimate protest and the use of reprehensible antisemitic slurs was blurred long ago. University presidents have acknowledged as much, yet largely failed to respond. The net effect – as evidenced last week – is that the Jewish community has faced intolerable discrimination on campus and is too often left to fear for its own safety.

Read more ›

November 27, 2024 — 48 comments — News
Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, November 18, 2024 by Michael Geist

Protecting Freedom of Expression: My Heritage Committee Appearance on the Chilling Effect of Antisemitism

The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage is in the midst of conducting a study on protecting freedom of expression that has opened the door to discussing a wide range of issues. I appeared as a witness before the committee yesterday and divided my opening remarks into two issues. First, I discussed the way digital policies (notably including Bills C-11, C-18, C-63, and S-210) all intersect with expression in either directly or indirectly, arguing that we haven’t always taken the protection of expression sufficiently seriously in the digital policy debate. Second, I focused on the challenge of when expression chills others expression,  using antisemitism as a deeply troubling example.

I will likely devote a future podcast to the full appearance and my exchanges with MPs, who wanted to learn more about both the speech implications of digital policy and some of the suggestions for addressing antisemitism. In the meantime, my opening comments are posted below in text with a video on the chilling effect of antisemitism. I discuss the myriad of concerns and identify steps that could be taken to mitigate against the harms, including clearly defined policies, such as the IHRA definition of antisemitism, active enforcement of campus policies and codes, principled implementation of institutional neutrality, leadership in speaking out against conduct that creates fear and chills speech, as well as time and place restrictions and bubble zone legislation to strike a much needed balance.

Read more ›

November 19, 2024 — 10 comments — News
IMG_7927 by Steve Eason CC BY-NC 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/2pi3HEy

Why the Conspiratorial Responses to Canada’s Antisemitism Guide Demonstrate Its Necessity

Delegates from dozens of countries gathered nearly 25 year ago in Stockholm, Sweden for the Stockholm International Forum, where they affirmed a global commitment to combatting racism, antisemitism, ethnic hatred, and ignorance of history. That meeting sparked what became a 16-year open process to develop much-needed anti-racism tools, including the creation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

Antisemitism is generally understood as a certain perception of Jews that veers into hatred, but specific examples can be helpful for those seeking to apply policies in the workplace, codes in educational environments, or standards for government funding programs. The IHRA definition, which is non-legally binding, seeks to fill the void by including both general principles and specific examples. It has struck a chord with endorsements from 45 countries and hundreds of provincial and local governments. And Canada has been a leader in this regard: the federal government adopted it in 2019 as part of its anti-racism strategy and the majority of provinces have followed suit with their own support measures.

Combatting antisemitism should not be controversial, yet a new Canadian effort to provide governments, businesses, and schools with greater clarity on implementing the IHRA definition has sparked opposition from the NDP and even outrage in some quarters.

Read more ›

November 5, 2024 — 11 comments — News
Demonstration gegen rechten Terror und Antisemitismus by Rasande Tyskar https://flic.kr/p/2hudtRp CC BY-NC 2.0

When Antisemitism No Longer Shocks

Last week, Green College, an interdisciplinary graduate college on the campus of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, hosted a medieval workshop titled The Writing of Ancient Christianity in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. As the title would suggest, the workshop was highly specialized and of limited interest to anyone outside of the scholarly field. Yet, as my Hub opinion piece notes, the presence of a professor of Jewish Law and Ethics alongside academics from the University of Haifa and Hebrew University in Jerusalem placed a target on the workshop that sparked online harassment of participants as well as vandalism and graffiti that called for the removal of Zionists on the walls of the college.

Few Canadians heard about the incident at UBC. They similarly were likely unaware that last week the University of Windsor’s Board of Governors refused to consider a motion to examine a controversial agreement arising from last summer’s encampment protests on the spurious grounds that the deal falls outside of its purview.

Read more ›

October 25, 2024 — 21 comments — Columns
1 2 3 4 … 6