Monday, April 29, 2019
Anti-Semitic incidents in Quebec increased by 50% in 2018, audit shows
The League for Human Rights, an agency of B’nai Brith Canada dedicated to combating anti-Semitism and racism, has been tracking anti-Semitic incidents reported to police forces, media and to the B’nai Brith Anti-Hate hotline since 1987.
Never before has the total reached beyond 2,000 incidents, but in 2018, due to a spike in harassment incidents, the total was 2,041, a 16.5 per cent increase over 2017. The number of total reported anti-Semitic incidents in Quebec increased by almost 50 per cent in 2018 over the previous year, from 474 to 709.
More incidents were recorded in Quebec than any other region of the country, including Ontario (which had 481) despite the fact that Ontario is home to the largest Jewish population in the country.
The total number of incidents reported across Canada has increased steadily over the past three audits.
“To put that in stark perspective, this represents the third straight record-breaking year of anti-Semitism in Canada, reflecting a new normal regarding the landscape of anti-Semitism here,” said Harvey Levine, regional director of B’nai Brith Canada, Quebec region, at a news conference in Montreal on Monday.
“Data from the audit reflects the figures from Statistics Canada indicating that Jews continue to be the most targeted religious community for hate crimes in the country,” he added.
“Not only have we seen a significant uptick in online expressions of anti-Jewish hatred, but anti-Semitism has increasingly sprouted in regions that are typically less prone to such prejudices, including Eastern Canada, the Prairies and parts of Western Canada.”
The vast majority (88.6 per cent) of the anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2018 involved harassment, which includes actions such as promoting hate propaganda or hate mail via social media, verbal slurs, stereotyping members of the Jewish community, discrimination in the workplace or at school, as well as verbal threats of violence. There were 1,809 such acts reported in 2018, up from 1,409 in 2017. Incidents of harassment have jumped 61.1 per cent in the three years since 2015.
Vandalism — such as posting images such as swastikas, damage to religious objects, desecration of cemeteries or synagogues, fire bombing and arson — represented 10.8 per cent of anti-Semitic incidents reported. There were 221 acts of vandalism reported in 2018, down from 327 in 2017.
Violent acts against Jewish people or groups, including assault and threats of violence where this is reasonable cause to believe that bodily harm is imminent, represented 0.5 per cent of reported incidents. There were 11 incidents of violence reported in 2018, down from 16 the year before.
The internet is playing a huge role in anti-Semitic incidents, the report notes. Of the total number of incidents reported across Canada, 80 per cent had an online component. Only 8.6 per cent of the harassment incidents reported occurred in person.
The report contains examples of specific incidents, including the following from Quebec: the words “Kill All Jews” and “Jews are Cancer” scribbled on a métro seat, graffiti reading “Kill the Jews” with a swastika on a bus stop in Kirkland and a group of teens who allegedly launched lit fireworks at Hasidic Jews in Boisbriand last June.
The data includes an incident in October 2018 where Montrealer Robert Gosselin allegedly posted death threats against Jewish school girls on a Montreal newspaper’s Facebook page. Gosselin was charged with inciting hatred toward an identifiable group
“The League regularly heard from Montrealers who were afraid to visit Jewish institutions, synagogues, schools, or go about their lives out of fear that Gosselin would make good on his threats,” the audit report notes. “While it appears that no harm has come to any members of the community, it is evident that instances of harassment have wide-ranging and devastating effects.”
The report includes a section on “BDS and Anti-Semitism” in which it denounces the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement on university campuses for “engaging in the demonization and delegitimization of the Jewish state, (which) leads to the worsening of anti-Semitism on campus.”
“While still marginal in Canada, BDS works to exploit Canadian student governments to foster prejudices against Israel — and by extension Israelis and Jewish students,” the report says.
B’nai Brith proposes an eight-point plan to tackle anti-Semitism, which includes establishing dedicated hate crime units in every major city, holding universities accountable for campus anti-Semitism including “far-left activism against Israel,” and adopting a national action plan for anti-Semitism.
Levine said B’nai Brith has heard from students at both Concordia and McGill who say BDS movements have caused many Jewish students on those campuses to feel unwelcome. He suggested some of those advocating for BDS should face hate crime charges.
Allan Adel, co-chair of the Advocacy and Policy Committee for B’nai Brith Canada, said advocating for BDS does not necessarily “rise to the level of criminal” activity, because BDS advocates are “usually more nuanced than that.” But he said universities in Quebec give student associations much leeway when it comes to advocating for BDS.
“Some of these student associations … want to advocate on behalf of the so-called discriminated-against Palestinians, and then they advocate on behalf of BDS, and the university will give them a long leash … let them do whatever they feel like doing. We are saying the student association is part of the university and should be subject to the university guidelines and governance and it’s not a situation where anything goes. There are limits as to what the student association should be allowed to do and promoting anti-Semitism through BDS, in our view, crosses the red line. … We would like governing councils at universities to be more proactive on this front.”
https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/anti-semitic-incidents-in-quebec-increased-by-50-in-2018-audit-shows
Never before has the total reached beyond 2,000 incidents, but in 2018, due to a spike in harassment incidents, the total was 2,041, a 16.5 per cent increase over 2017. The number of total reported anti-Semitic incidents in Quebec increased by almost 50 per cent in 2018 over the previous year, from 474 to 709.
More incidents were recorded in Quebec than any other region of the country, including Ontario (which had 481) despite the fact that Ontario is home to the largest Jewish population in the country.
The total number of incidents reported across Canada has increased steadily over the past three audits.
“To put that in stark perspective, this represents the third straight record-breaking year of anti-Semitism in Canada, reflecting a new normal regarding the landscape of anti-Semitism here,” said Harvey Levine, regional director of B’nai Brith Canada, Quebec region, at a news conference in Montreal on Monday.
“Data from the audit reflects the figures from Statistics Canada indicating that Jews continue to be the most targeted religious community for hate crimes in the country,” he added.
“Not only have we seen a significant uptick in online expressions of anti-Jewish hatred, but anti-Semitism has increasingly sprouted in regions that are typically less prone to such prejudices, including Eastern Canada, the Prairies and parts of Western Canada.”
The vast majority (88.6 per cent) of the anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2018 involved harassment, which includes actions such as promoting hate propaganda or hate mail via social media, verbal slurs, stereotyping members of the Jewish community, discrimination in the workplace or at school, as well as verbal threats of violence. There were 1,809 such acts reported in 2018, up from 1,409 in 2017. Incidents of harassment have jumped 61.1 per cent in the three years since 2015.
Vandalism — such as posting images such as swastikas, damage to religious objects, desecration of cemeteries or synagogues, fire bombing and arson — represented 10.8 per cent of anti-Semitic incidents reported. There were 221 acts of vandalism reported in 2018, down from 327 in 2017.
Violent acts against Jewish people or groups, including assault and threats of violence where this is reasonable cause to believe that bodily harm is imminent, represented 0.5 per cent of reported incidents. There were 11 incidents of violence reported in 2018, down from 16 the year before.
The internet is playing a huge role in anti-Semitic incidents, the report notes. Of the total number of incidents reported across Canada, 80 per cent had an online component. Only 8.6 per cent of the harassment incidents reported occurred in person.
The report contains examples of specific incidents, including the following from Quebec: the words “Kill All Jews” and “Jews are Cancer” scribbled on a métro seat, graffiti reading “Kill the Jews” with a swastika on a bus stop in Kirkland and a group of teens who allegedly launched lit fireworks at Hasidic Jews in Boisbriand last June.
The data includes an incident in October 2018 where Montrealer Robert Gosselin allegedly posted death threats against Jewish school girls on a Montreal newspaper’s Facebook page. Gosselin was charged with inciting hatred toward an identifiable group
“The League regularly heard from Montrealers who were afraid to visit Jewish institutions, synagogues, schools, or go about their lives out of fear that Gosselin would make good on his threats,” the audit report notes. “While it appears that no harm has come to any members of the community, it is evident that instances of harassment have wide-ranging and devastating effects.”
The report includes a section on “BDS and Anti-Semitism” in which it denounces the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement on university campuses for “engaging in the demonization and delegitimization of the Jewish state, (which) leads to the worsening of anti-Semitism on campus.”
“While still marginal in Canada, BDS works to exploit Canadian student governments to foster prejudices against Israel — and by extension Israelis and Jewish students,” the report says.
B’nai Brith proposes an eight-point plan to tackle anti-Semitism, which includes establishing dedicated hate crime units in every major city, holding universities accountable for campus anti-Semitism including “far-left activism against Israel,” and adopting a national action plan for anti-Semitism.
Levine said B’nai Brith has heard from students at both Concordia and McGill who say BDS movements have caused many Jewish students on those campuses to feel unwelcome. He suggested some of those advocating for BDS should face hate crime charges.
Allan Adel, co-chair of the Advocacy and Policy Committee for B’nai Brith Canada, said advocating for BDS does not necessarily “rise to the level of criminal” activity, because BDS advocates are “usually more nuanced than that.” But he said universities in Quebec give student associations much leeway when it comes to advocating for BDS.
“Some of these student associations … want to advocate on behalf of the so-called discriminated-against Palestinians, and then they advocate on behalf of BDS, and the university will give them a long leash … let them do whatever they feel like doing. We are saying the student association is part of the university and should be subject to the university guidelines and governance and it’s not a situation where anything goes. There are limits as to what the student association should be allowed to do and promoting anti-Semitism through BDS, in our view, crosses the red line. … We would like governing councils at universities to be more proactive on this front.”
https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/anti-semitic-incidents-in-quebec-increased-by-50-in-2018-audit-shows
Comments:
Post a Comment
