Canadian Human Rights in Shreds

"Across the past two years, multiple independent analyses and advocacy groups have documented patterns in CBC's reporting that exhibit a concerted pattern of bias against Israel -- not just occasional missteps. One detailed report released just last month by HR Canada Charitable Organization analyzed 2,789 CBC news articles published between October 7, 2023 and June 7, 2025, using large-scale textual analysis."

"It concluded that CBC's online coverage displayed consistent narrative imbalance, routinely minimizing Israeli and Jewish experiences while privileging Palestinian perspectives and framing them with more sympathetic language."

"The analysis identified what it referred to as a 'consistent pattern' in CBC's coverage that 'dehumanizes Israelis while humanizing Palestinians', raising questions about whether the [public] broadcaster met its own journalistic standards for impartiality."

Beryl P. Wajsman, president, Institute for Public Affairs, Montreal 

Canada does not recognize itself other than as a stalwart defender of human rights. Its history leaves that belief open to question on a number of fronts. In the late 1930s when German Jews fled Germany to seek haven from Nazi persecution, they discovered themselves being viewed in Canada as in the United Kingdom, as 'enemy aliens'. And, as enemy aliens, people who were in fact destined to be slaughtered during the Second World War as fascist Germany under Nazi rule determined to eradicate all Jewish life from Europe, they were a people in dire need of rescue from an existential fate of annihilation.  Yet close to 2,400 Jewish refugees were interned in Canada behind barbed wire. Ironically, Jews were forced to live in alien-prison camps alongside actual imprisoned German Nazis. 

Dr. Friz Bender (on the left sawing wood) was a Phase I internee who developed the technology to waterproof plywood.

"During the first phase, 711 German and Austrian Jews were interned here. Many were refugees of Nazi Germany oppression who had fled to England. British government not knowing where the loyalty of these Jewish people lay, asked Canada and Australia to house these refugees. After a year, the government of Great Britain realized that many people among the refugees could contribute to the war effort. The internees were given the choice to return to England and join their military, or obtain a sponsor to remain in Canada or the United States. Many contributed to the fields of medicine, the arts and business, some leading to international recognition."

New Brunswick Internment Camp Museum 

During the war when Jews were desperate to escape Germany for haven in any country that would offer them refuge, Canada refused to give that refuge to German Jews aboard the S.S. St. Louis out of Germany packed with Jews pleading for rescue. No country responded to their pleas for haven, including Canada. The ship was forced to return to Germany with all the Jews hoping against hope that humanitarian impulses of Western nations would come to their aid, discovering that for Jewish lives there were no humanitarian impulses.

The St. Louis, carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees, waits in the port of Hamburg.

 

It was not only Jews that were given the treatment of suspicion and alienation from the greater society. Over 22,000 Japanese-Canadians, citizens of Canada or the United Kingdom, were dispossessed of their citizenship, their properties confiscated, interned as enemy aliens, despite no evidence of having ever engaged in espionage or attempts at sabotage against the West on behalf of Japan. It was not until 1988 that Canada made a formal apology to its Japanese citizens and offered material reparation. 

 

Canada admitted fewer than 5,000 Jewish refugees before and during the war while the knowledge of Nazi atrocities were widely known. That number of Jews that Canada permitted to enter the country represented the least of any allied country of Western democracies. Prime Minister Mackenzie King's infamous statement of 'None is too many" summed up the political, governmental and population disinterest in rescuing a people that a profound sense of antagonism was aimed toward. 

 

Talia Ben Sasson, right, hugs Ayellet Tzur as they attend a rally in support of Israel in Montreal, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

 

Since then, as a minority population of loyal Canadians, all Canadian governments have ensured that civil liberties embraced all its ethnic and religious groups with equal security and protection under the law. Canada's Criminal Code addresses provisions against trespass, hate propaganda intimidation and obstruction, assault and mischief. And that section of the Criminal Code is more needed to be enforced today than ever before in recent history. 

 

In the last several years, Canadian Jews have been subject to all of those attacks that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms prohibits in its guarantee of equal treatment under the law and security of the person. Despite which, law enforcement in Canada fails Canadian Jews against an unprecedented level of attacks on individuals and community institutions following the atrocities in southern Israel launched by thousands of Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas against Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023. 

 

The immediate response to that horrendous onslaught of organized mass murder and hostage-taking has been an eruption on the streets of Canada of Palestinian celebration and support, degrading Israel's sovereign and human rights of existence, and embracing a generalized hostility against Canada's Jewish community. The two Liberal governments, one led by Justin Trudeau the second by Mark Carney have taken no notice of the persecution and attacks against Jews in Canada.

 

The demonstration outside the Israeli Consulate in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks became the first of many in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza over the next two years. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

 

Their inaction has led other levels of government, from provincial to municipal, to remain deliberately oblivious to the dangerous situation that unfolded and continues to this day to destroy Jewish security  in the place of their birth as Jewish Canadians. Police forces have followed suit. Illegal mass marches and street prayers that serve no purpose other than intimidation, and threats of accelerating the venomous hatred along with violently potentially lethal fire-bombing of Jewish community centres, schools and synagogues have failed to move authorities to react and uphold the law.

 

Hateful incidents directed against Jews in Canada amounting to 6,200 police reports in 2024 alone, far outstripping such acts against any other group in number, yet go unaddressed. Canada's inaction over the ongoing provocations, threats and violence make Canada the leader of such events over the U.S., France, the U.K. and Australia all of which have also been overwhelmed by Muslim-led pro-Hamas protests in the streets calling for a 'Final Solution' and to 'Globalize the Intifada'. 

 

Canada has, in essence, submitted itself voluntarily to accepting as normal ongoing attacks that seriously abrade its reputation as a country devoted to human rights. 

Adil Charkaoui's speech has drawn broad condemnation from politicians like Premier François Legault and groups like the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. (Adil Charkaoui/X)

 

"Independent Jewish Voices"

"Our politicians cannot be complacent in these marble hallways while Israel continues to burn Palestinians alive in their tents."

"Canada's ongoing arms exports and diplomatic support make it complicit in these atrocities."

Niall Ricardo, Independent Jewish Voices Canada 

"Their actions represent an egregious distortion of Jewish values and a calculated attempt to hijack Jewish identity to serve a hateful anti-Zionist and antisemitic agenda."

"We refuse to remain silent as Independent Jewish Voices and their partners recklessly endanger Jewish Canadians by perpetuating lies and fomenting hostility."

"Their shameful antics today, which trivialize genocide and vilify Israel, undermine Jewish safety and foster the very antisemitism they claim to oppose."

Joint statement of  19 Jewish groups in Canada

Members of the Parliamentary Protective Service and Ottawa Police Service detain members of an antiwar protest that occupied the lobby of the Confederation Building on Tuesday morning. The building houses MPs' offices. (Raffy Boudjikanian/CBC)

 

Canada's exports of arms and military equipment to Israel has never been other than peripheral to actual military equipment as in lethal weaponry. Months ago, Melanie Joly, Canada's minister of foreign affairs announced that her government was placing all such 'military equipment' on hold until the cessation of the Israel-Gaza/Hamas conflict. "Our policy has been clear," she said. "Since Jan. 8, we have not accepted any form of arms export permits to be sent to Israel."

 

Weapons permits by non-governmental weapons producers in Canada have also been suspended. Canada's Liberal government is quite a bit ahead of these shameful 'Jewish' action groups demanding that Canada completely isolate Israel from Canadian military exports. Canada through this Liberal government abandonment of an ally at war, has nothing to be proud of. Perhaps they chose to overlook that Canada buys missiles manufactured in Israel, along with indispensable radar equipment.

“For some reason, (Foreign Minister Melanie Joly) forgot that in the last decade, the Canadian Defense Ministry purchased Israeli weapon systems worth more than a billion dollars,” according to an analysis by the Jerusalem Post, which noted that Israeli military technology is “protecting Canadian pilots, fighters, and naval combatants around the world.”

National Post

A member of the Swiss army walks past an Israeli-made Spike LR2 Long-Range Missile on March 21, 2024. A version of the Spike LR2 was recently fast-tracked by Canada for its troops in Latvia. Photo by STEFAN WERMUTH / AFP

This past Tuesday a group calling itself Jews Say No To Genocide Coalition, took Parliament Hill hostage to its campaign, with an occupation it vows to continue until the government accedes to its demands. A group estimated to number 100, of anti-Israel protesters rushed the lobby of the Confederation Building in Ottawa, housing the offices of Members of Parliament. Parliamentary Protective Services and Ottawa police responded, and 14 protesters were arrested, then released.

The coalition stated through a news release that its membership is comprised of Jewish Canadians, announcing its intention to occupy the building indefinitely, with "MPs and staff blocked from business as usual". Which led a group of 19 mainstream Jewish groups that include B'Nai Brith Canada, the Tafsik Organization, the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation, Allied Voices for Israel, Canadian Women Against Antisemitism, the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, and groups representing Jewish lawyers, doctors and educators to decry the protesters, standing in direct opposition to the values of the entire Jewish Community in Canada.

An estimated 91 percent of Canadian Jews believe that Israel has a right to exist, stated the group of 19 organizations. Numbers from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance were cited in support of their contention that connection to Israel is a core part of Jewish identity. They urged Parliament and Canadians to view the protesters as "fringe activists operating outside the mainstream Jewish community."

Jews Say No To Genocide Coalition demanded that Canada must end "its active participation in Israel's genocide", an astonishingly egregious statement falsifying the entire conflict history between Palestinians and Israel of over a century, culminating in the atrocities committed in southern Israel when thousands of Palestinian terrorists swept through farming villages and kibbutzim to rape, burn families alive, torture and slaughter infants, the elderly, women and men, civilians all. Israel still awaits the return of the 101 hostages remaining in Gazan captivity by Hamas.

In the choice of that estimated 100 Jewish protesters to  make their demands and stage their dramatic storming of Parliament buildings, the Canadian Jewish community, already under huge duress by pro-Hamas instigators of violence against Jews, knowingly and deliberately add to the uncertainty and insecurity experienced by Jews in Canada. That tight little group of 100 Jewish dissidents chose to support Palestinian terrorism over Israeli existence. Absolutely not to be believed!

Dozens of antiwar protesters that occupied the lobby of the Confederation Building in Ottawa early Tuesday have now been removed by police and security services. (Raffy Boudjikanian/CBC)

 

Risen Tide of Antisemitism in Canada

"[Samidoun, also known as Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network], claims to be campaigning for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails."

"Many Palestinian prisoners for which Samidoun advocates for release have ties to terrorism, assassinations and countless attacks against Israel."

"Samidoun's ideology revolves exclusively around the worldview that Israel and Zionism are the greatest danger to the Middle East and the world."

Public Safety Canada

"The Vancouver Police Major Crime Section, with assistance from the Vancouver Police Department Emergency Response Team, executed a search warrant yesterday at a residence in the 1800 block of East 1st Avenue, as part of an ongoing hate crime investigation under Section 319 of the Criminal Code."

"One person was initially taken into custody and has now been released pending completion of the investigation."

VPD media spokesperson Tania Visintin

Social media posts from pro-Palestinian activists supporting Kates and Samidoun expressed outrage and questioned the “excessive” police presence involved in the Nov. 14 raid (top left, via Global News) to execute a search warrant in a public incitement of hatred investigation. (Via Instagram)

"At times, the community [Vancouver and wider B.C. Jewish community] feels alone… Jewish businesses have been targeted, Jewish members of the community have been targeted in schools, at university, in the workplace."

"We have seen the glorification of terrorism at the hands of members of Samidoun [including at weekly protests on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery]."

"[The community is feeling] threatened and unsafe."

"We believe that it is crucial for civil society that Charlotte Kates be charged immediately. She’s now the leader of a terror organization."

"Let the courts decide."

Nico Slobinsky, vice-president, Pacific Region, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

Since the Palestinian terrorists' attack on southern Israel led by Hamas in Gaza on October 7, 2023, Samidoun, along with other Palestinian agitprop group have been inciting to violent antisemitism in the guise of criticizing 'Zionism', and organizing ongoing weekly and sometimes daily marches, protests and groups harassing Jewish communities and Jewish-owned businesses. Crowds of Palestinian-flag-waving antisemites have gathered outside hospitals, old-age retirement homes, synagogues, Jewish schools and community centres to shout invectives and threats against Israel veiled with 'From the River to the sea".

Clearly antisocial verging on psychopathic activities like blocking streets and  highways with marchers shouting 'Intifada!' and 'Final Solution' have inspired no reaction by authorities at any level, anywhere across the country. Jews are left to fend for themselves against the risen tide of antisemitism, viral in its endless permutations of isolation and hate-messaging. The federal government, much less provincial or municipal authorities have been satisfied to sit back and 'not notice' that a cultural/ethnic/religious minority in Canada's equal society with its guarantees of security for all, have been besieged for over a year.

And then when it became obvious that Jews were the appetizer, and once that went down well, the main course would commence, when Palestinian, pro-Hamas groups and organizers turned on Canada itself as a purportedly racist, colonialist, imperialist country perched on land not their own, taken by force from its original denizens, and shouts of derogatory derision damning Canada along with the attempted burning of a Canadian flag by Samidoun supporters moved the government to finally outlaw Samidoun as a terrorist group, closely aligned with the already-designated Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. 

Despite Samidoun being listed as a terrorist organization in Canada last month, its co-founder and director Charlotte Kates has been proceeding with the group, continuing to organize marches that demonize Israel, calling for its destruction, and threatening Canadian Jews' security, with no moves by either the Federal government or law and order to step in and put a halt to those activities. Listing Samidoun as a terrorist entity was a first step, but it seemed that following through to stop its activities was a step too far.

Now, finally, the Vancouver home of Charlotte Kates, out of which the management of the Samidoun group and its many branches abroad is located, was raided by the Vancouver Police Department's Emergency Response Team. A search warrant was executed relating to a hate crime investigation. During the raid, a flash-bang grenade was used, resulting in windows of the house being broken. It was explained by a police spokesperson that the emergency response team is "often used in the execution of search warrants when we believe there could be a risk to the public or a risk to the officers".

 

Time for justice and the Canadian court system to work in tandem with the police departments of the nation, in coordination with government, serious about condemning racism and terrorism and putting a halt to its expansion within Canada.