TORONTO – Until the issue of city funding for the annual Pride festival and its tolerance for the group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) came up, a Sept. 19 debate between Toronto mayoral candidates John Tory and Olivia Chow, hosted by the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) for Holocaust Studies, was quite subdued.
But when asked whether the city should continue funding Pride despite numerous Jewish groups’ objections to QuAIA’s participation in its parade, the two candidates diverged: Tory said he’d side against funding Pride if QuAIA is allowed to take part, while Chow said she wouldn’t vote to yank funding.
Pride received $160,500 this year from the city.
Chow said that, while she doesn’t support QuAIA, it isn’t fair to pull Pride’s funding because of the controversial presence of one group.
Further, she emphasized that the city solicitor has ruled that QuAIA does not stand in violation of Toronto’s anti-discrimination policy.
“I may not agree with this group,” she said, “but is it fair to ban them? To cut funding to Pride?”
Tory, whose remarks were met by applause and cheers from the audience, said he felt Pride was wrong to let QuAIA march in the parade and that he believes the rhetoric used by the group is “not consistent with the city’s human rights policy.”
“Using the term apartheid in the context of Israel is insulting to Israel as the only democracy in the region and also to people [from South Africa] who actually have experienced apartheid,” he said. “There’s no place for that kind of virulent political demonstration at Pride… I’m not saying this group should be shut down, but they should demonstrate elsewhere.”
Chow noted that she has, in past, shown support to the Jewish LGBTQ group Kulanu Toronto, and she challenged Tory to definitively answer whether he would have, given the chance, cast his vote to withdraw city funding to Pride because of QuAIA’s participation.
After initially appearing somewhat reluctant to answer, Tory eventually responded: “Yes, I would have [voted to withdraw city funding to Pride]… Given the group’s rhetoric and conduct, they shouldn’t march [in the parade]… I would cast my vote and say this is not on.”
Held at the downtown law firm Dentons Canada LLP, the debate was moderated by FSWC president and CEO Avi Benlolo and featured questions posed by Benlolo and members of the audience, consisting of senior FSWC members, its boards of directors and governors, and the organization’s top donors.
Between 65 and 80 people attended.
Aside from QuAIA and Pride, the debate was fairly low key, with Chow and Tory generally agreeing on issues related to human rights, expressions of hate and community security.
Both spoke out strongly against hate crimes in the city and stressed the importance of Holocaust education, as well as agreeing that Toronto is generally an accepting and harmonious city, and that those who are hateful make up a small minority of citizens.
Tory pledged to ensure that the Jewish community gets a lot of support from Toronto police when it comes to dealing with security in places like synagogues.
Chow talked about the importance of calling out hate speech for what it is, instead of using the excuse of “freedom of speech.”
In addition to issues concerning human rights and anti-Semitism, the candidates fielded questions about more general city issues, including transit, building approval processes and property taxes.
Speaking to The CJN after the debate, Benlolo explained why he believes such an event is beneficial.
“We felt there wasn’t, up until this point, sufficient discussion around the human issues and the issues that affect the Jewish community,” he said. “So we wanted today to spend some time with the candidates to talk about those issues, including things like hate rallies and the funding of Pride, which really is a bone of contention at City Hall. We wanted to establish their opinions on this, and I think they were very clear about whether they will or won’t support pride. That’s really the benefit of this type of debate, we now have them on record saying…how they would react to anti-Semitism.”
On a more personal note, Benlolo said, “I’m looking for a mayor who will speak out when there’s an Al Quds Day rally or a Queers Against Israeli Apartheid march or when you see hate on university campuses… someone who will step out and speak out against it. I think that’s really important and has not been addressed sufficiently [in the campaign so far].”