Bernie Farber On Ezra Levant And The Jewish Tradition

My favorite bit:

All too often Levant cloaks himself in his Jewish heritage as a true defender of Jewish values, in contrast to those he refers to as the “official Jews,” or Jewish leadership.

Make no mistake, Levant’s antics and intimidation tactics have nothing whatsoever to do with Judaism. Both Jewish law and tradition speak powerfully about “loshon hora,” derogatory speech against a fellow human being, which is absolutely forbidden.

Indeed, in the Jewish tradition, we believe that the tongue has such awesome power that it requires two gatekeepers, the teeth and the lips. It is recognized that words have meaning and that malicious words can have foul consequences. 

Centre For Israel And Jewish Affairs Censors Holocaust Survivers

Bernie Farber's new column for the CJN is now on-line.  Its about the crummy manner in which the Canadian government has treated the Pusemas, a family of Hungarian refugees which includes a six year old girl named Lulu.  What I'm particularly interested in is this bit:

Lets be clear: CIJA is financially muscling a group of holocaust survivors for protesting the behavior of the current government.  Why?  Well:

Of course this is only speculation.  But if so, CIJA and these other organizations have transformed themselves into a single issue advocacy groups, trading their ability to speak out generally for a single paltry policy stance from the current government.

Since the Canadian Jewish Holocaust Survivors wrote their letter regardless, it appears that all CIJA et al have managed to accomplish is to muzzle themselves.

Farber Vs. Gwyn On John A.

From Bernie's piece in The Star:

The latest hullaballoo around renaming Toronto’s Union Station after Sir John A. Macdonald should have and could have been avoided from the start. It simply boggles the mind that Toronto Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, a savvy municipal politician, would have suggested such a change without engaging in at least some research.

From Richard Gwyn's defense in the same paper:

About John A. Macdonald two comments can be made with near certainty.

The first is that but for him no Canadians would be reading this article because no Canadians would exist to read it other than Americans who happened to live in the new state of that name.

Apparently, attacks on John A. are "shabby" and "opportunistic", but Mr. Gwyn declines to explain why.  I think the most important bit in either column is Bernie's reference to the newly published Clearing The Plains, by James Daschuk of the University of Regina:

In arresting, but harrowing, prose, James Daschuk examines the roles that Old World diseases, climate, and, most disturbingly, Canadian politics—the politics of ethnocide—played in the deaths and subjugation of thousands of aboriginal people in the realization of Sir John A. Macdonald’s “National Dream.”

Mr. Gwyn's piece would have benefited by directly engaging the claims in this book. I admit I have not read it (yet), but the fact that this kind of thing went on into the 1950s makes its claims plausible at least.

All of which is not particularly relevant to the renaming of Union Station.  That's just a dumb idea whatever the truth about John A.  It's just  Denzil  floating a few  balloons to get his name out front before he announces he's running for mayor.

Bernie Farber On Injustice And The Jewish Community

There is an ancient Jewish folktale which tells of a man visiting hell and being amazed to find its inhabitants all seated at long tables with fancy tablecloths, beautiful silverware and delicious food in front of them. Yet no one was eating. They were all wailing. On closer examination the visitor saw that none of them could bend their elbows. So while they could touch their food no one could bring the food to their mouths.

The visitor then went to heaven where the scene was identical: Long tables, fancy tablecloths, beautiful silverware and delicious food. And here too people could not bend their elbows.

But here no one was wailing – because each person was serving his neighbour.

The concept of human rights within the Jewish tradition is derived from such ancient Jewish folktales. Our tradition is replete with our sages reminding us of our duty to be the guardians of the world through the concept of “Tikun Olam”, the commandment that directs us to leave this world a better place.

I like Bernie.  He's an old school Liberal. Not many left anymore.

Fontaine And Farber On First Nations Genocide

Our conviction is that Canadian policy over more than 100 years can be defined as a genocide of First Nations under the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.

Read it all if you can dodge the pay-wall.  I have nothing particularly interesting to add except that under such circumstances it is generally good politics and good policy to own-up and move on.

Bernie Farber Has Advice

Now that Jason Kenney has left his position as Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Bernie makes some suggestions to his successor, Chris Alexander:

Refugees - Remove Hungary and Mexico from the Designated Safe Country list. This can be done immediately and without legislative reform. These designations impact vulnerable communities - ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ community and women facing gender violence. The Minister can also propose an amendment to the law to provide for an expert human rights panel to assess whether a country might be safe, rather than allow designation by statistics. And he can seek to amend the law to provide an automatic periodic review after designation and add appeal rights to persons from designated countries.

I haven't written much about Mexico in this regard.  In the case of Hungary, however, it is quite clear that the country is no longer safe for either its Roma or Jewish minorities.  What is particularly galling is the possibility that these groups are being sacrificed in the name of a Canada-EU Free Trade agreement.

Bernie also suggests:

Health Care - Change the Order in Council to restore the same health care system that has worked well since 1957. No legislative amendment is required, it can be done immediately. Institute a means test as suggested by Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care.

The kind of changes that Bernie wants rolled back were made to the Interim Federal Health Program, I believe.  These recently resulted in a mid-East refugee, who had left home because he had been persecuted for his Christian beliefs, being denied chemotherapy in this country.  As Brad Wall said at the time:

“It’s unbelievable that some of the decisions that have been taken federally are having this impact on people who are clearly the most vulnerable, refugees who are obviously fleeing something quite terrible — that’s why they’re refugees..."

“On the face of it, you just consider the case of this particular gentleman or others who, for example, as it was pointed out … might need prenatal care, this is just common sense. You just do this.

“This is the kind of country we are. You cover it.”

In this case, Saskatchewan eventually picked up the cost of treatment.  So, to prevent the poor fellow from dying, the province paid for a bad federal policy.

And Bernie's last recommendation:

Immigration - Scrap the proposed regulatory amendment to lowering the age of dependency to 18 from 22. This will affect every family applying for permanent residence in Canada. No family believes a 19 year old should be excluded from a family application and left behind.

I am not terribly familiar with these particular changes, I will leave this bit unglossed.

Bernie's  piece, incidentally, is entitled Restoring Canada’s Dignity and Respect, and the entirety of it  lies behind the Globe pay-wall.  Good luck digging it out.

New Jewish Group Fills Gap Left By The CJC

...whose members include  Stephen Lewis, Michele Landsberg and Bernie Farber, and whose mandate includes more than just Israel 24/7 (includes, for example,Hungarian, Slovak and Czech nationals of Roma heritage).  Good luck to them.  Hope to hear lots from them in the future.

Your Daily Nazi: U.S. Nazis Inherit Canuck Gold?

An odd story, this.  A Canadian nutter has bequeathed  $1,000,000 in ancient gold coins and other valuables to the National Alliance, an American hate/terror group.  The Canadian government may be lobbied to stop the transfer.  And a few familiar figures are involved.  So: one to keep an eye on.

Bernie Farber

...poses with: Conservative Party organizer Georgeanne Burke, PCPO riding association president for Thornhill (MPP Peter Shurman's riding) Gila Martow, and York U professor Merle Jacobs.  Also in the picture is officer Ricky Veerappan, the fellow that got Pam Geller turfed from her Thornhill gig.  Kathy Shaidle thinks there's something scandalous going on here on Bernie's part.  I don't see it myself, but what's weird is how it doesn't seem to bother Shaidle that a couple of known Tories are also "in deep", as it were, with Veerappan.  Also doesn't seem to bother her that, according to Geller herself,  Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, was involved in the conspiracy to keep her from her Thornhill appearance.  Apparently there's lots of freedom hatin', Jihadi lovin' types playing for the blue team as well.

Remembering All Of The Victims

Yesterday, to mark both  Holocaust Remembrance Day and International Roma Day, Bernie Farber and Gina Csanyi-Robah of  the Toronto Roma Community Center penned this story about the Porajmos (Devouring), the genocide of Europe's Roma population under the Nazis.  It is not an easy thing to read, but remembrance is a duty we owe the past.

A Little Perspective Please

An interesting thing about The Jewish Tribune's story about the death of Doug Christie, lawyer to Canada's far right, is that it isn't really about the death of Doug Christie.  Rather, it is about the reaction to Doug Christie's death by ex-CJC head Bernie Farber.  Anyone that knows Bernie knows that he likes to play things clean, keep it classy, and so forth, so it isn't surprising, and hardly a big deal, that he would have sent the dying barrister a conciliatory email.   Nevertheless Tribune correspondent Joanne Hill spends  300 or so words trying to make something of the issue, finally tracking down Frank Dimant, CEO of B'nai Brith Canada, for a negative quote.  Frank thunders stentoriously:

“hell would freeze over” before he would have sent “a get-well card” to Christie.

“Doug Christie was a despicable human being who delighted in tormenting Holocaust survivors during cross-examination....Christie went well beyond championing freedom of speech in the courtroom. He caused anguish to all those survivors who were forced to recall their own torment, as well as the suffering and deaths of their loved ones, during the Nazi regime. I can find no redeeming traits in a man who served as Zundel’s mouthpiece in the courts.”

Well, I'm not sure I would be able to point to  redeeming trait in Doug Christie either, though I generally think its best to keep things civil around the time of a man's funeral.  But its worth noting that other commentators, indeed other Jewish commentators, have been far more complimentary towards Mr. Christie than Bernie was.  Ezra Levant, for example.  His whole eulogy can be found here,  but highlights among the flowery BS include Ezra denying, against all the evidence, that Christie was personally anti-Semitic, and calling him "a passionate scholar of history", which is I suppose true at least insofar as Christie passionately believed that Hitler was "demonized" in the wake of that whole WWII thing.  So perhaps Ms. Hill and Mr. Dimant can throw a little outrage in Levant's direction.  

Farber On Cdn Human Rights

With little fanfare, Canada was scolded earlier this year by both the United Nations and Amnesty International over its human rights record. Yes you read this correctly — Canada.

The two areas that attracted the most attention by the UN/Amnesty International human rights experts were Canada’s record when it came to refugees and, internally, the manner in which we continue to discriminate against our First Nations people.

While politicians mouth the usual platitudes in support of refugees and First Nations their actions demonstrate the platitudes are nothing but a smoke screen.

A nice column to kick off the holiday of Passover.

The Curious Case Of The Disappearing Quote

So, as I mentioned a couple of days ago, T.O. Sun reporter Kevin Connor wrote up a short piece re last week's protest outside of the Israeli consulate on Bloor Street.  Probably the most notable thing about it was the apology that soon appeared above its first paragraph:

A version of this story that briefly appeared on torontosun.com contained quotes wrongly attributed to Bernie Farber, former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress. The Sun regrets the error and apologizes to Mr. Farber.

I've emailed both the reporter and his boss (James Wallace) for clarification, but have received no response.  However,  here's the thing.  There are not many ways the fake quote (which can be seen here) could have made its way into the story.

1) Connor might have invented it, which is a firing offence.  Its also difficult to believe.

2) It could have originated with someone at the protest who decided to impersonate Farber as a means of embarrassing him/damaging his reputation.  This appears to be the opinion of blogger Arnie Lemaire, who also attended--ie The Sun got punk'd.  But in this instance, such a prank would have amounted to an illegal act.

And I would point out that someone has recently been impersonating the various players in the small circle of activists/culture warriors that involve themselves in the issues that Bernie also cares about.  For example, here . Furthermore, among this small circle at least one person has already developed a reputation for getting up to this kind of silliness.

Here's hoping The Sun lives up to its responsibility and at least gives some kind of explanation.  One of their reporters has either done something quite unethical or inadvertently aided a lawbreaker.

Another Sun Bung-Up

In a story about the weekend's pro-Palestinian rally on Bloor St.:

A version of this story that briefly appeared on torontosun.com contained quotes wrongly attributed to Bernie Farber, former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress. The Sun regrets the error and apologizes to Mr. Farber.

Most interesting thing here is: since Mr. Farber didn't supply the quotes in question (which can be found here), did someone identifying themselves as Bernie Farber offer them?  An impersonator, in other words.

I've emailed the reporter for clarification.

Congrats Bernie

The president of Gemini Power Corporation, Dr. Michael Dan is pleased to announce the appointment of Bernie M. Farber as Senior Vice President for Government and External Relations. Mr Farber formerly the Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Jewish Congress brings to this new position over 30 years of experience in government and public relations, human rights advancement and his own personal work with Canada’s First Nations which is a key partner in Gemini’s ongoing clean and sustainable energy development.

Here's hoping Bernie's new responsibilities don't stop him from penning the occasional Op-Ed piece on the same issues that have always concerned him.  It would be a pity to lose that voice.

Update On Roma Vs. Kenney

Members of Toronto’s Roma Community Centre will disassociate itself from a number of other groups protesting a reception for Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney--who will be honoured by the Canadian Friends of Haifa University (CFHU) on Nov. 4 at the Fairmount Royal York hotel-- to symbolically show that  they are not anti-Israel, merely oppose Kenney’s Bill C-31, which they feel unfairly targets the Roma community.

Everyone's favorite human rights activist and Jewish community leader Bernie Farber, who has been helping the RCC prepare their hate-speech complaint against Ezra Levant, will nevertheless be attending the Kenney presentation as a guest:

Farber, who will attend the university’s gala event as a guest, said he has a “deep and abiding respect” for Kenney’s stances on Israel and antisemitism.

“On those issues, we stand shoulder to shoulder, and I consider him a friend. But like all friends, we can have differences of opinion on some issues,” Bill C-31 being one such item, he said.

Farber added that he felt Kenney was being “very hard on the Roma” and that many respected representatives of the Jewish community are in agreement. Earlier this year the Toronto Board of Rabbis and Elie Wiesel, among others, had urged the minister to reconsider the legislation. 

Some of the other groups protesting the event include  Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, Independent Jewish Voices, Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network and Jews Opposing Zionism.

PS. Its quite possible that Ezra, an official  "friend of Haifa", will be at the same reception.  If it comes to it, my money is on Bernie by TKO.

Bernie Farber On The History Of Pride

Mostly an historical overview of the history of the LGBTQ movement in T.O..  But this little bit:


Even the politics seemed more subdued. While this year a Disputes Resolutions panel agreed that QiAIA (Queers against Israeli Apartheid) could march in the parade, its numbers as reported by the Jewish Tribune were half that of the Kulanu revelers and their message muted with apparently no mentioning of "apartheid" other than in their name. 


...I've heard elsewhere as well.  The "pride wars" appear to be over.

Bernie Farber On Richard Warman

Two fellas I am proud to call friends.  And I would just note that this fight is not yet over.  To all you journos that teamed up with the CDN Neo-Nazi movement to effect the repeal of S13,   I can't speak for these two gentleman, but as for me I will pursue you to the gates of Hell itself, and farther if necessary.  If you guys are not unemployed or in jail when I die, then that will mean that I  have fucked up in life.

Word.

Some Things Are Important

Bernie Farber  explains why this one is.  Donate  here.

Bernie Farber On The Canadian Museum for Human Rights

A useful corrective, if only because we  usually hear about  the museum's various downsides.