Special Interest
Posts: 1,644 
April 10th, 2008, 09:27 AM
Anti-Semitic incidents hit record high, report finds
Meagan Fitzpatrick, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, April 10, 2008
Last year marked another record high for the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada, according to an audit by B'nai Brith that attributes a jump in cases in Quebec to the controversial hearings on reasonable accommodation in that province.
According to the annual audit released yesterday by the Jewish community's human rights and advocacy organization, there were 1,042 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2007, an 11.4-per-cent increase over the previous year. It was the highest figure recorded in the 26 years that B'nai Brith has been keeping statistics. This latest audit shows anti-Semitic incidents have jumped more than fourfold in the last decade when just 240 cases were reported in 1998.
At a news conference in Ottawa, members of B'nai Brith said the report provides a snapshot of bigotry against the Jewish community and a barometer of prejudice against minority groups in general in Canada. var addthis_pub = 'canada.com'; function textCounter(field,cntfield,maxlimit) { if (field.value.length > maxlimit) // if too long...trim it! field.value = field.value.substring(0, maxlimit); // otherwise, update 'characters left' counter else { var divLabel = document.getElementById("divLabel"); divLabel.innerHTML = maxlimit - field.value.length + " characters remaining"; } }
"Silence is not an option. We must continue to speak out to realize the reality as reflected in the audit and use all the tools available to us to counter the chilling and isolating effects of the results documented here," said Anita Bromberg, legal director of B'nai Brith.
Harassment, which includes verbal slurs, hate propaganda, and discrimination at school or work, was the most common form of anti-Semitism reported in the audit. Of the 1,042 cases, 699 were harassment, 315 were vandalism and 28 involved violence.
Twenty-two synagogues, six community centres and nine cemeteries were targeted last year. Given as one example was a Jewish cemetery in Ottawa that was vandalized three times in three months, while in Edmonton, the city's oldest synagogue was defaced with swastikas right before its 100th anniversary.
The highest number of anti-Semitic events in Canada was reported in November and two-thirds of them were reported in Quebec. It's no coincidence, according to B'nai Brith, that the Bouchard-Taylor Commission hearings, examining the integration of minorities into Quebec society, were in full swing that month. The group says the spike in incidents in Quebec "suggests an obvious link" to the commission, which it described as a "magnet for intolerance and bigotry."
Bloody Frogs.
Anti-Semitic incidents hit record high, report finds
Meagan Fitzpatrick, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, April 10, 2008
Last year marked another record high for the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada, according to an audit by B'nai Brith that attributes a jump in cases in Quebec to the controversial hearings on reasonable accommodation in that province.
According to the annual audit released yesterday by the Jewish community's human rights and advocacy organization, there were 1,042 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2007, an 11.4-per-cent increase over the previous year. It was the highest figure recorded in the 26 years that B'nai Brith has been keeping statistics. This latest audit shows anti-Semitic incidents have jumped more than fourfold in the last decade when just 240 cases were reported in 1998.
At a news conference in Ottawa, members of B'nai Brith said the report provides a snapshot of bigotry against the Jewish community and a barometer of prejudice against minority groups in general in Canada. var addthis_pub = 'canada.com'; function textCounter(field,cntfield,maxlimit) { if (field.value.length > maxlimit) // if too long...trim it! field.value = field.value.substring(0, maxlimit); // otherwise, update 'characters left' counter else { var divLabel = document.getElementById("divLabel"); divLabel.innerHTML = maxlimit - field.value.length + " characters remaining"; } }
"Silence is not an option. We must continue to speak out to realize the reality as reflected in the audit and use all the tools available to us to counter the chilling and isolating effects of the results documented here," said Anita Bromberg, legal director of B'nai Brith.
Harassment, which includes verbal slurs, hate propaganda, and discrimination at school or work, was the most common form of anti-Semitism reported in the audit. Of the 1,042 cases, 699 were harassment, 315 were vandalism and 28 involved violence.
Twenty-two synagogues, six community centres and nine cemeteries were targeted last year. Given as one example was a Jewish cemetery in Ottawa that was vandalized three times in three months, while in Edmonton, the city's oldest synagogue was defaced with swastikas right before its 100th anniversary.
The highest number of anti-Semitic events in Canada was reported in November and two-thirds of them were reported in Quebec. It's no coincidence, according to B'nai Brith, that the Bouchard-Taylor Commission hearings, examining the integration of minorities into Quebec society, were in full swing that month. The group says the spike in incidents in Quebec "suggests an obvious link" to the commission, which it described as a "magnet for intolerance and bigotry."
Bloody Frogs.
Grossly Underrated
Posts: 5,188 
Location: In the bush somewhere near Sudbury
Location: In the bush somewhere near Sudbury
April 10th, 2008, 10:02 AM
Now ... is this because of Muslims moving in, little-mindedness (on both sides of the fence) or mountains being made from molehills. Whatever happened to cause that 18 year old Israeli soldier to beat a kid to death on Bathurst Street?
Bloody frogs????
Woof!
Now ... is this because of Muslims moving in, little-mindedness (on both sides of the fence) or mountains being made from molehills. Whatever happened to cause that 18 year old Israeli soldier to beat a kid to death on Bathurst Street?
Bloody frogs????
Woof!
