Rabbi Reuven Bulka

Ottawa Citizen

Re: It’s my right, April 12.

Ezra Levant and the Canadian Jewish Congress have not always seen eye to eye. Nonetheless, his book Shakedown does open the door to a potentially serious debate on human rights law.

The debate would have more hope for success were Levant to recognize that he has taken certain liberties with some facts.

Should the book go into a second edition, I am hopeful that Levant will address the concerns raised by Citizen writer Andrew Potter in his generally positive review. Potter states that “Of more concern is that clarity, fairness and perhaps even accuracy are often sacrificed in the greater service of the author’s polemical objectives.”

Mr. Potter cites Levant’s claim, based on an article printed in Maclean’s magazine at that time, that in 1966 the Canadian Jewish Congress helped fund the fledgling Canadian Nazi Party. Potter correctly points out that the only “bankrolling” expended by a private detective hired by the Congress to expose the Nazi group was money put out to purchase a bottle of rum. Between “rum” and “bankrolling” is more than a nuanced difference. It is the difference between accuracy and fiction.

Hopefully Mr. Levant will see fit to correct this for future editions.

Rabbi Reuven Bulka,
Ottawa,
Co-president
Canadian Jewish Congress