A meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican was ‘an incredible moment’ for these Jewish community leaders from Toronto
Michael Levitt is still in awe of his half-hour meeting last Wednesday with Pope Francis inside the Vatican. Fred Waks calls his encounter with the head of the Catholic Church “pretty breathtaking”.
Levitt and Waks were part of a larger delegation of 30 people from the Simon Wiesenthal Center organization who travelled to Rome for a private audience June 22 with the 85-year-old Pope to discuss their concerns about rising antisemitism around the world.
“I was so fortunate to be there and be able to interact and provide an expression of the feelings I believe that so many in our Jewish community have, about what we’re seeing taking place around us,” Levitt told The CJN Daily.
The centrepiece of the meeting was a presentation to the Pope of a copy of a 1919 letter by Adolph Hitler which scholars consider the Nazi leader’s earliest outline of how he was going to get rid of the world’s Jews.
Liberal MP Ya’ara Saks was confronted with antisemitism at her daughter’s graduation. This is her response
Earlier this week I posted on social media about a recent experience of direct antisemitism. At the time, I debated whether to share it because it was so uncomfortable, but I think it is important to make the point that this happens nearly every day and it is not brought to wider attention. On June […]
According to B’nai Brith’s audit, antisemitic incidents increased in Canada for the sixth straight year
Antisemitic incidents increased in 2021 for the sixth consecutive year—with a sharp jump in May 2021, during the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza—according to B’nai Brith of Canada’s League for Human Rights’ annual audit, released in Ottawa on April 25. There were were 2,799 incidents reported across Canada in 2021, an increase of 7 percent from […]
The Greater Toronto Hockey League is looking into alleged antisemitic remarks made by a parent of a player on the Don Mills Mustangs
The Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) has opened an investigation into an allegation of antisemitism after an incident at a game on March 6. At that game, a parent of a player on the Avenue Road Ducks Under 13 A team allegedly heard a parent of a player on the Don Mills Mustangs team use […]
Combating online antisemitism requires public oversight of social media companies: task force report
Fighting online hate against Jews requires clear legislative and regulatory oversight developed by government and civil society with the technology sector, according to the final report of the Canadian Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism. The task force was led by the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) of Concordia University and […]
Liberals have decided to start from scratch on their bill to combat online hate
The federal government is heading back to square one in its attempt to craft legislations that would combat online hate, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced March 30. A panel of 12 experts—some of whom were harsh critics of an earlier bill—will advise the government on a legislative and regulatory framework to address hateful content […]
Ukraine on my mind: Tina Grimberg, who’s now a rabbi in Toronto, reflects on growing up in Kyiv
In my childhood memory I lean into her full Ukrainian breast. I play with Raya Golub’s necklace. It is made of amber, a stone of an ancient sap that captured in its tear—a twig, a leaf, an insect and even me. In the last four weeks of this ugly war (and all wars are ugly) […]
The CJN’s book columnist Hannah Srour looks at three recently translated novels that examine the Holocaust and its legacy of antisemitism
I’d Like to Say Sorry, but There’s No One to Say Sorry To by Mikołaj Grynberg, translated by Sean Gasper Bye First published in Polish in 2017, this is both Mikolaj Grynberg’s first work of fiction, and his first book in English translation. (Polish-language readers may be familiar with the author’s previously published books of […]
Antisemitic graffiti promoting the hate group Goyim Defense League found at another Toronto high school
Antisemitic graffiti was reported at yet another Toronto-area school on March 10, similar to the graffiti that was found at three schools in the city the week before. The most recent graffiti was found at Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, and, like the previous instances of graffiti, it promoted the antisemitic website GoyimTV, which […]
Criminal hate or black humour? A Quebec judge will decide in alleged neo-Nazi’s case
A Montreal man on trial for an antisemitic article evoking violence published on a neo-Nazi website offered the defense that it was satire aimed at goading the sensibilities of the political left. Gabriel Sohier Chaput, 35, is charged with one count of wilfully promoting hatred against an identifiable group that hinges on a single piece […]
