As cakers love to crow: Canadians are so nice. They're so progressive and accepting, and multicultural. For all the caker self-applauding, we can assume they treat Jews well, right? Wrong!
A 2014 article on the subject stated:
"Jewish Canadians, remarkably, are more than 10 times as likely to be the victim of a hate crime than Muslim Canadians, while black Canadians are more than 14 times as likely to be victimized than the average Canadian (and three times as likely as the next highest race or ethnicity tracked by StatsCan). By any reasonable reading of the data, these are profoundly concerning figures."
"B’nai Brith Canada, which tracks antisemitic incidents in the country, sees no letdown in the pace of such crimes, noting in a statement that “2014 was the worst year that we’ve recorded since we began [tracking] in 1982, with a 28% increase over the numbers from 2013.”
Since then, little has changed: Jews are the top victims of religious-based hate crimes in Canada year after year. Although Muslims have been closing in recently, Jews remain at the top - which is surprising given the influx of refugees, ISIL supporters (foreign and home born), and media coverage of Muslims.
Jewish History in Canada
Canada's history with Jews isn't particularly pretty either. From the Canadian Encyclopedia:
Regarding early settlement:
"Jews in western Europe participated in the opening up of the Americas to European settlement, but were legally barred from residence in New France, where immigration was restricted to Catholics. Jews settled in the British colonies to the south and after the incorporation of New France into the British Empire began also to settle in Lower Canada."Depression:
"In 1930 the Canadian government responded to the unemployment caused by the beginning of the Depression by imposing severe restrictions on immigration. Although the cabinet could, and did, approve certain kinds of immigrants, permission for Jews to enter was almost never given. Religious intolerance was still a common feature of Canadian society. Anti-Semitism, which compounded religious intolerance with the new "science" of racism, was found among cultural and political leaders."World War II:
"... throughout the Depression and war years, pleas on behalf of the trapped Jews of Europe went unheeded. Canada took in proportionately fewer Jews than any western country."Modern day:
"Canada is now home to the 5th-largest Jewish community in the world - following the US, Israel, the former USSR and France."But that hasn't stopped Canadians from disproportionately discriminating against and committing hate crimes against Jews. As was noted in writing about Nazis in Canada, the post-WWII treatment of war criminals remains yet another shameful disgrace in Canada.
Since World War II:
- Not a single Nazi has been successfully prosecuted in Canada
- Imre Finta, the first war criminal put on trial was acquitted in 1990
- "The courts allowed a defence that said believing Jews to be the enemy was a legitimate reason for killing them. Two appeal courts agreed."
Canada has a history of anti-Antisemitism stretching back many years. It was virulent in Quebec:
"Anti-Semitism was particularly acute in Québec, where the Church associated Jews with modernism, liberalism and a host of other "dangerous" doctrines.
... Not only were Jews denounced in the Catholic press but popular newspapers also joined in the assault. Out of this was created the "Achat Chez Nous" movement, an attempt by Church and nationalist leaders to institute a boycott of all Jewish businesses in the province, thus forcing the Jews to leave. As well, since in the view of the Catholic and Protestant clergy Québec was a Christian society, Jews were barred for years from various school boards. What is most surprising about this concerted campaign against the Jews was that they made up only 1% of Québec's population."
As for other provinces:
Furthermore, there were restrictive covenants on properties preventing them from being sold to Jews. As well, many clubs, resorts and beaches were barred to Jews. Signs warning "No Jews or Dogs Allowed" or "Christians Only!" could be found on Halifax golf courses, outside hotels in the Laurentians and throughout the cottage areas of Ontario, the lake country of Manitoba and the vacation lands of BC."
Antisemitism in government:
Canada's total refugee acceptance of Jews was approximately 5000, compare that to 30,000 in tiny Switzerland!
Of course Antisemitism is a common theme around the globe, and Canada's history isn't particularly unique in that regard. It is worth noting however, that Jewish-Germans in the Wiemar Republic were allowed to practice in medicine, law and business; they were less restricted than Canadian-Jews.
Of interest is the continued hate-crime trend against Canadian Jews considering Canada's 'tolerant' and 'multicultural' self-aggrandizing. (It fails the test yet again regarding treatment of its minorities.)
Also, considering Canada had the worst record of western nations for accepting Jewish refugees post-WWII, this continued belief in Canada as inherently superior regarding immigration and multiculturalism is absurd. (But cakers love to cling to their spoon-fed myths.)
Further reading:
"None is too many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933-1948" (Amazon)
Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre: "A Brief History of Antisemitism in Canada" (PDF)
National Post: "Why the Jews of Montreal had to keep their heads down in 1930's" (article)
Blog TO: "That time anti-semitism blighted Toronto" (article)
