By Aidan Fishman
Campus Advocacy Co-ordinator
B’nai Brith Canada
Monika Schaefer, who stood as the Green Party of Canada’s candidate in the Alberta riding of Yellowhead in 2006, 2008 and 2011, is denying the Holocaust in a homemade Youtube video.
Schaefer has also taken credit for convincing Green Party Leader Elizabeth May to submit a 9/11 conspiracy petition to Parliament in 2014.
In the YouTube video, Schaefer describes the Holocaust as “the most persistent lie in all of history,” claims that victims of Nazi death camps “were kept as healthy and as well-fed as was possible,” and asserts that “there were no gas chambers there”. She concludes by denouncing “the 6-million lie” and recommending that viewers read the works of Ernst Zündel, a German Holocaust denier deported from Canada in 2005.
B’nai Brith Canada tried to reach the Green Party to relay concerns but calls from the organization were neither answered nor returned.
“The lies spouted by Schaefer in this video are disgusting, and deeply offensive to Holocaust survivors, the Jewish Community, and Canadian values in general,” said Michael Mostyn, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada. “The Green Party must denounce Schaefer and distance itself from all Holocaust-denying groups and individuals. B’nai Brith has filed a report with YouTube concerning the Holocaust-denying channel on which Schaefer’s video was posted, and hope to see it shut down.”
The Green Party has recently come under fire for discussing motions to endorse the anti-Israel boycott movement and revoke the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) at its annual convention in Ottawa this August. May also is sponsoring a petition to reverse Parliament’s condemnation of the anti-Israel boycott movement in February.
This is not the first time that the Green Party has been connected to Holocaust deniers. In a recent interview with the Jerusalem Post, May stated that both the JNF and “Independent Jewish Voices” (IJV), the group sponsoring the anti-JNF motion, had been invited to the Green Party convention to address its membership. Previous research by B’nai Brith has revealed that IJV promoted Holocaust denial through its social media pages. Sid Shniad, who promoted Holocaust denial via his personal Twitter account, remains the Co-Chair of IJV and a member of its National Steering Committee.
To watch Schaefer’s video, click below. Be advised that the content is highly disturbing. It is not suitable for children.
For more information contact:
Marty York
Chief Media Officer
marty.york@bnaibrith.ca
416-633-6224 x163
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Facebook TwitterWhile not Jewish myself, my Great Uncle James Simpson (whom I am named after), was a veteran of the British Army in the last two years of the Second World War and Korea. He entered one of the camps as part of a liberation force. I asked him three times in my life what entering the concentration camps. He refused to go into too much detail. The most vivid he once said was: “Unbelievable horror. All the reels, all the pictures show exactly as it was. The smell of blood and death was unbreathable there. It was so surreal and horrifying. No one needs to see what I saw. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
I disagree with him sadly. Everyone needs to see what happened, so they can understand occurred and to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone ever again. Holocaust deniers are terrible people who have been fed charismatic lies by evil people and movements. I pity the deniers. I truly do.
“Monika Schaefer’s comments denying the Holocaust are outrageous and shocking. Ms. Schaefer has no standing within the Green Party of Canada, and her views are exclusively her own,” said Emily McMillan, Executive Director of the Green Party of Canada. “Ms. Schaefer was rejected as a potential Green candidate for the riding of Yellowhead prior to the 2015 federal election, and also rejected as a potential candidate for the 2014 by-election in Fort McMurray-Athabasca.
“In light of Ms. Schaefer’s untrue statements made in a recent online video, we will be initiating the process to terminate her membership with the Green Party of Canada at the earliest possible opportunity,” Ms. McMillan said.
The Green Party’s policy for termination of a member states a member may be expelled by a resolution of Federal Council or a General Meeting of members. The Party will request a motion be put forward to terminate Ms. Schaefer’s membership at its next Federal Council meeting.
“I am shocked by comments made by Ms. Schaefer and I condemn her terribly misguided and untrue statements,” said Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada (MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands). “Ms. Schaefer does not represent the values of the Green Party nor of our membership.”
https://www.greenparty.ca/en/media-release/2016-07-15/green-party-canada-condemns-statements-made-former-candidate