Edmonton, Canada - Anti-Semitism on Canadian university campuses is a growing threat and the Canadian government needs to do more to tackle hate crimes against Jews, a parliamentary inquiry has found.
The Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism released its report earlier this month following two years of hearings.
Anita Bromberg, national director of legal affairs for the Jewish group B'nai Brith, said the coalition's findings are "bang on" with what her organization has been studying for more than 25 years. She added that this report can help set a zero-tolerance policy for hate in all communities, not just the Jewish one.
In 2010, B'nai Brith reported 1,306 anti-Semitic incidents in Canada, up from 1,264 in 2009.
According to the report, anti-Semitism is on the rise in Canada, especially in universities. The report makes several recommendations to the government, including working with police services across Canada to clearly define what constitutes an anti-Semitic crime and looking at rising international anti-Semitism when designating source countries for immigration.
"We have a limited ability to measure (hate crimes against Jews) across the country," said Conservative MP Scott Reid, who headed the coalition's steering committee.
More accurate reporting is needed to understand the nature of criminal and non-criminal anti-Semitic acts, he said. "We need to make (definitions) comparable across the country and comparable to international incidents."
The coalition was formed in late 2009, following an international conference on anti-Semitism in the U.K. Its aim was to find out more about how anti-Semitism is playing out in Canada and suggest ways to deal with it.
A total of 74 witnesses testified at 10 hearings, and more than 150 written submissions were made between November 2009 and February 2010. The coalition was composed of more than 20 MPs and senators, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Bloc Québécois members dropped out, claiming the coalition was biased.
Former Liberal MP Mario Silva, who chaired the hearings, said he was especially disturbed to hear how many Jewish university students felt intimidated or unsafe on campus in light of events such as Israeli Apartheid Week, which the coalition considers to be anti-Semitic. The annual event, held across Canada, opposes Israel's treatment of Palestinians and calls for boycotts of and sanctions against Israel.
"We can't have a situation of fear and intimidation on our campuses," Silva said. "We agree with free speech - it's not an issue of shutting down free speech - but administrators have a responsibility for the security and safety of their students." Critics of the coalition said the process did not include dissenting voices. Groups such as the Canadian Islamic Congress and Independent Jewish Voices were not invited to make statements.
Silva said those dissenting groups and individuals were not prepared to make a positive contribution. "They would rather just focus on attacking the work we were doing," he said. "Just speaking for myself, I didn't want to give a platform to individuals who had no time for us, so why should we have time for them?" Wahida Valiante, national president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, said the process should have been more inclusive and not focused exclusively on anti-Semitism since any policy outcomes could benefit other groups that face racism.
The report's recommendations will be useful if the government establishes the office of religious freedom, Silva said. The office, which would monitor religious persecution worldwide, was proposed by the Conservative party as part of its election platform in April.