GLOBE AND MAIL

Sarah Boesveld

From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail

Published on Monday, Aug. 30, 2010 9:54PM EDT

Last updated on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010 8:47AM EDT

Toronto – Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) is delighted to announce today that internationally-acclaimed architect and designer Daniel Libeskind has been selected to design and create an historical monument – the first of its kind – memorializing Canada’s 1939 refusal of entry to the 900-plus Jewish refugees on board the M.S. St. Louis and the “none is too many” exclusionary anti-Jewish immigration policy that it epitomized.  The historical monument is the centrepiece of a CJC national project to educate Canadians, especially youth, about the St. Louis and its impact on Canada’s society and immigration history.  We take this opportunity to thank once again Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Community Historical Recognition Program (CHRP) which has generously provided funding for this project.  The monument will be housed in the Rudolph P. Bratty Permanent Exhibition at Pier 21 Canada’s Immigration Museum, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with whom CJC has been working collaboratively on this project. “We are absolutely thrilled about Daniel Libeskind’s participation in the ‘None Is Too Many’ project,” said CJC National President Mark Freiman.  “His selection comes at the conclusion of an intensive jury process involving several world class artists, and we thank all of the contributors for their submissions. Mr. Libeskind’s expertise, experience, creativity, and sensitivity will contribute immeasurably to the project’s successful completion. “There are important universal lessons to be drawn from the St. Louis incident about the importance for democratic societies of tolerance, understanding, and respect for religious and cultural diversity. This is especially relevant to contemporary Canadian society given the many immigrant and refugee groups that have been welcomed into this country in the seven decades since Canada cynically closed its doors to the St. Louis and its 900-plus Jewish refugee passengers.”

Daniel Libeskind added, “I am thrilled to create a work of art for Canada’s Immigration Museum at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  The composition as a whole is inspired by the desperate plight of the Jewish refugees and their tragic destiny on the ship M.S. St. Louis. This work of memory will express the importance of eradicating the evils of hatred, racism, xenophobia and antisemitism. It is this particular story which is embedded in a dynamically moving memorial.” “We are honoured to work with the Canadian Jewish Congress and Daniel Libeskind on the M.S. St. Louis monument project,” said Robert Moody, CEO at Pier 21 Canada’s Immigration Museum. “Mr. Libeskind’s unique design thoughtfully tributes this significant, albeit tragic, moment in Canada’s history. The monument will educate and engage visitors, and is a welcomed addition to the Museum’s collections.”

To view a copy of the Daniel Libeskin’s design presentation click here.

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]]> http://www.cjc.ca/2010/08/31/cjc-congratulates-daniel-libeskind-on-st-louis-monument-project/feed/ 0 http://www.cjc.ca/2010/08/30/daniel-libeskind-to-design-ms-st-louis-monument/ http://www.cjc.ca/2010/08/30/daniel-libeskind-to-design-ms-st-louis-monument/#comments Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:30:47 +0000 Susan http://www.cjc.ca/?p=9544 Toronto Star
They started out from Hamburg on May 27, 1939, on the MS St. Louis. They were a small group — about 900 plus Jews looking for a place to escape the Nazi Holocaust.]]>

Toronto Star

August 30, 2010

Debra Black 

They started out from Hamburg on May 27, 1939, on the MS St. Louis. They were a small group — about 900 plus Jews looking for a place to escape the Nazi Holocaust.

They had visas for Cuba, but the Cuban government changed and the visas were revoked. America didn’t want them. Neither did Canada.

In fact, when they sent word from the ship asking for a safe haven — entry into Canada — they were refused. It was, historians wrote, part of an exclusionary anti Jewish immigration policy by the Canadian government.

They were left with no choice but to return to Germany where many were eventually killed in concentration camps.

Now, more than 70 years later, the Canadian Jewish Congress has commissioned, in cooperation with the Pier 21 Canada’s Immigration Museum, in Halifax — and thanks to a $500,000 grant from the Canadian government — a monument to those 937 Jews on the MS St. Louis.

Internationally renowned architect Daniel Libeskind has been awarded the commission to design it.

Libeskind has a long list of buildings and monuments to his credit, including the Michael Lee–Chin Crystal at the Royal Ontario Museum as well as the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the New York project, which commemorates those who lost their lives at the World Trade Centre on 9/11.

Libeskind, who was born in Poland and is the son of Holocaust survivors, was “inspired by the desperate plight of Jewish refugees and their tragic destiny,” he said in a news release released by the Canadian Jewish Congress on Monday.

“This work of memory will express the importance of eradicating the evils of hatred, racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism,” he said. “It is this particular story which is embedded in a dynamically moving memorial.”

The Canadian Jewish Congress was wowed by Libeskind’s design, said CEO Bernie Farber. It was chosen from a number of submissions by international artists, he said.

The monument is at the centre of a Canadian Jewish Congress national project to educate Canadians, especially young people, about the MS St. Louis and its impact on Canadian society and immigration history.

To that end, an educational package has been put together by the Canadian Jewish Congress for teachers to use as a tool to help their students understand racism and discrimination, said Farber.

“All actions, even inaction, have consequences,” Farber in an interview with the Star Monday.

“There were no heroes here. No one was speaking out on their behalf. … It speaks to us to take the high road. Racism has dire consequences.”

The monument will be unveiled sometime between early December and mid-to-late January 2011, Farber said. It will be housed in the Rudolph P. Bratty Permanent Exhibition at Pier 21 Immigration Museum.

Pier 21 in Halifax was where most refugees and immigrants came into Canada before Canada’s immigration gates were shut under the administration of then-Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. It was reopened after the Second World War, once the exclusionary immigration policies had been changed.

The story of the MS St. Louis is one that needs to be told, Farber said, as it’s not just part of Canada’s past, pointing to the recent case of Tamils who came to Canada on board a ship.

“Even with the Tamil ship, it was not turned away,” Farber said. “I like to think that given the history with the St. Louis what happened with the Tamil ship comes from our understanding of the past.”

Adds CJC National President Mark Freiman: “There are important universal lessons to be drawn from the St. Louis incident about the importance for democratic societies of tolerance, understanding, and respect for religious and cultural diversity. This is especially relevant to contemporary Canadian society given the many immigrant and refugee groups that have been welcomed into this country in the seven decades since Canada cynically closed its doors to the St. Louis and its 900-plus refugee passengers.”

This article is provided as a public service and does not necessarily reflect the position of Canadian Jewish Congress.

As our Korean taxi driver rocketed through the streets of Gwangju, I marvelled while our 23-year-old daughter, Gillian, speaking Korean, gave directions to her home.

For the past eight months, Gillian has been teaching English in Gwangju, South Korea, a city of six million where she has assured me that she is the only Jew in Gwang “ju.” It boggled my mind: wasn’t it just yesterday that my little girl was riding atop Daddy’s shoulders, happily squealing her joy and flashing that beautiful smile? When did she learn Korean? And certainly it could only have been a short while back that I was helping her with her Bat Mitzvah lessons and chauffeuring her and her friends from one party to another. When did she turn into a woman?

Obviously fathers simply want to hang on to their little girls longer than nature would otherwise permit. This became clear to me and my wife this summer as we travelled with our daughter through South Korea and parts of China. While the beautiful curls and radiant smile were still present, gone was the childlike reticence, replaced by a mature sense of self and a beguiling personality.

As any parent will attest, once a parent always a parent, so imagine our confusion when in Korea it was our daughter taking care of us for the first time. Gillian’s apartment is the size of a large postage stamp: a utility kitchen, a bathroom with a shower hose over the toilet of all places, and a bed. She calls it home and seems to thrive there. In her work she is responsible for teaching English to more than 140 Korean elementary children. That would mean making lesson plans, engaging in parent/teacher interviews, marking tests and disciplining children. Yes, this was the same young woman whom I recall would sleep in till 2 p.m., party all night (not that the party piece is dormant in Korea) with few worries other than ensuring her cellphone was charged.

I was floored when we went to a nearby restaurant where, reading from the Korean menu, Gillian ordered FOR US-and whatever it was, it was delicious. I revelled in sharing time one evening with her group of teacher friends at a “German” pub run by a Korean brew-master who creates a passable wheat beer.

And Gillian, with obvious great pride, guided us in our travels to Busan, right on the Yellow Sea at the southern tip of this unique country. “We are staying at a love motel,” Gillian tells us with a twinkle in her eye. A “love motel?” Seems that Koreans, many of whom stay with their parents until they leave the family home, rent these rooms at low cost, sometimes for a few hours where, among other things, they watch movies on large-screen TVs.

Gillian also helped us piece together the different culture and world that is Korea. What we might consider inappropriate in Western culture may be far different in Korea.

I was somewhat taken aback when one of Gillian’s Korean friend’s commented that I could lose some of my midriff. Koreans are a very upfront people. Explicit signage is another cultural difference. Gillian explains Korea has become known for signs that caution you about everything from not vomiting in public to asking that you not have sex in public bathrooms.

We travelled on to Beijing, where Gillian had no facility with the language, but her months in this part of the world gave her experience that we did not have. Most of all, she made us feel at ease in her own sense of comfort.

My wife, Karyn, and I discovered a great deal on our trip to this part of the world. We learned to use “squatter toilets,” and to bring toilet paper whenever we travelled outside our hotel; we learned to eat foods not part of our Western tastes (silkworms anyone?); we became accustomed to using umbrellas more for the sun than the rain.

But most of all – how wonderfully bewildering – we had the chance to see how our daughter has grown into a mature and engaging adult.

We all might want our children to stay young, but by letting go we discover a whole new person.

Bernie M. Farber is a parent who wonders where the years went. In another life he is also the CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress

Toronto councillors have cut by four days the period people can display municipal candidates’ signs out of consideration to the city’s Jewish community.

Except at candidate’s offices, the signs were not to be posted before Sept. 30.

Jewish organizations, and at least one candidate for council, however, complained this would give candidates a disadvantage if they observed Jewish religious law, since Sept. 30 and three days following it this year are holidays in which Jews are told to “do no work.”

In a motion they brought Thursday to Toronto Council, Case Ootes and Mike Feldman said this religious observance may mean Jewish candidates are “unable to engage” in erecting or displaying campaign signs, so the date should be changed to Oct. 4 to put all contenders “on equal ground.”

The motion passed, 31-4, leaving candidates three weeks for signs on lawns, billboards and shop windows before the Oct. 25 voting day.

Feldman, a longtime North York councillor who isn’t seeking re-election, later said he wants a level playing field for candidates vying to replace him.

In his ward, he added, “there are nine candidates who are Jewish, one who is not. I’m supporting the one who is not,” Feldman said, referring to his former senior executive assistant, Nancy Oomen.

Feldman said Len Rudner, regional director of the Canadian Jewish Congress, was the first to call him and say that starting the display period for signs on the festivals of Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah, and then the Jewish Sabbath, gave non-Jewish candidates an “unfair advantage.”

Feldman had wanted to start the display period a day earlier, but a law setting election dates makes that impossible without the province’s agreement.

On Friday, James Pasternak, a candidate running in Feldman’s York Centre ward, welcomed council’s decision as part of “what fair elections are about”.

In an online posting before the vote, he thanked Feldman and Ootes “for responding to the issue. Mike Feldman, in particular, has been very supportive,” said Pasternak, who raised the issue in a newspaper article this month.

He too said he would have preferred a “wider window” for posting signs instead of a shorter one.

“For the general public, the date of affixing signs is not uppermost in their minds,” Pasternak added, but having it on a date that is fair for all “is pretty crucial.”

Ootes, an East York councillor also stepping aside this year, said he didn’t think the change is “a big inconvenience” to anyone.

The city has a large Jewish population, whose religious days should be respected whenever possible, he said.

Feldman said if the conflict had been with a Muslim or Christian holiday he would have acted the same way. “We’re a multicultural city and we have to respect the rights of others,” he said, pointing to the council chamber as a reminder members stop city business there during the Jewish Sabbath.

“We close here every Friday night at sundown.”

The moon-based Jewish calendar shifts the dates of its festivals, so the incoming council may have to examine the issue again in 2014.

© 2010 Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing

A prominent Canadian Muslim group is calling for the condemnation of the doctrine of armed jihad and says there is a “serious problem” with radicalized Canadian youth in light of the recent terror arrests in Ottawa.

“This is not something that comes as a total surprise . . . we have a problem,” Raheel Raza of the Muslim Canadian Congress told CTV.ca Thursday. “There is a serious problem among Canadian Muslim youth and if we don’t address this now, it can culminate into something dangerous.”

The Muslim Canadian Congress says that the accused must be treated with the presumption of innocence, but Raza says the situation can be used to open a dialogue on radicalization within the Muslim community.

“We have to stand up and tackle this,” she said, adding that she thinks the community needs to start asking itself tough questions about the radicalization of some youths and where those messages are coming from.

Despite the recent controversy in the United States regarding the “Ground Zero” mosque, Raza says that she is not worried about a backlash against Canadian Muslims, saying there will always be “hate-mongers.”

“There are always going to be bigots, we can’t stop speaking out against radicalization just because we are afraid of a few bigots and hate-mongers,” the outspoken activist and author said. “Those people who are sensible . . . will understand what we are talking about.”

Raza added that she knows she is not being “politically correct” but says she is speaking out because she “loves my faith and my country.”

The Canadian Jewish Congress commended the Muslim Canadian Congress for its statement.

“We are heartened by the statements of the Muslim Canadian Congress . . . calling for Muslim leadership in Canada to condemn irrefutably the doctrine of armed jihad and for the ‘mosque establishment’ to acknowledge and repudiate the serious threat of homegrown extremism,” CEO Bernie Farber said in a statement Thursday.

The Canadian Islamic Congress, one of Canada’s largest Muslim organizations, said they are waiting for more information before commenting on the story.

Imam Zijad Delic, executive director of the Canadian Islamic Congress, told CTV.ca that leaders would be discussing the case with the RCMP and commenting Thursday evening.

The Muslim Canadian Congress is considered a liberal Muslim organization, but recently announced its opposition to the building of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York.

“We believe the proposal has been made in bad faith and, in Islamic parlance, is creating ‘fitna,’ meaning ‘mischief-making,’ an act clearly forbidden in the Qur’an,” the group said in a statement.

This article is provided as a public service and does not necessarily reflect the position of Canadian Jewish Congress.

Aug 26, 2010 by macleans.ca

Jeff Hutchens/Getty Images

It took years for Al Jazeera English to be allowed into this country, accompanied by quite a bit of controversy. But now that it’s here, we don’t hear much about it; Bernie Farber, chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, says that “from what we have noticed, there seems to be little reaction to AJE in Canada.” People were fearing (in some cases, hoping) there would be fireworks from the anglophone arm of the Middle Eastern news channel. CRTC commissioner Marc Patrone warned of “the potential use of our broadcast system to spread ethnic or religious hatred.” But so far, the reaction seems to be something more startling: indifference.

Tony Burman, the former CBC editor-in-chief who now runs AJE, thinks people have realized that “there’s no real comparison between Fox News and AJE. AJE does not push an ideological line.” Farber has a more prosaic explanation: “The number of subscribers may not be large enough” for people to complain about anti-Western coverage, since it’s not available in all parts of Canada. But it may also be that AJE is not exciting enough to be controversial. On a network that devotes half an hour to Avi Lewis interviewing Cornel West, or four minutes to a reporter walking around the oil sands in Alberta, shock value is in short supply.

AJE is considered middle-of-the-road compared to its parent network; that’s why it was cleared for broadcast while Al Jazeera Arabic failed to get clearance in 2004. Farber told Maclean’s that though AJE seems unsupportive of Israel, there is “nothing to suggest that AJE has engaged in some of the blatant anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial that was emanating from its parent network.”

That middle-of-the-road style also extends to the network’s relaxed pace. Instead of cutting stories into tight, fast-paced segments, AJE lingers. When its crew travels to the Canadian Arctic, we spend time with interviewees doing mundane things like eating or trying to fold their underwear. Another piece, on the effect of the U.S. oil spill on Newfoundland, includes a shot of a fisherman’s daughter mugging for the camera.

In technical terms, too, the network tends to be low-tech, with harsh lighting and sound. In a segment on Canadian relief efforts in Haiti, the editors sometimes stop the narration and allow us to hear snatches of conversation and the sounds of crying and laughing. Even in-studio segments sometimes have distant miking or interviewees who don’t hear the question until several seconds after it’s been asked. It’s an international network, but it has a strangely local look to it.

Burman says this is a conscious choice to make the network “easy to distinguish from the other mainstream English networks.” He argues that the “greater length” of the stories is a selling point, getting attention with long segments on international issues. The Arabic version is faster and livelier, and devotes more time to pundits; it’s closer to what Burman calls “the heated pacing that is really now part of a lot of modern news channels, to the point where you’re almost breathless after a few minutes of watching.” AJE tries to be more measured: a 22-minute segment on the Afghan detainee documents (with Bob Rae among the participants) was framed as a partisan debate but didn’t have the high emotional temperature—or loudness—of arguments on Al Jazeera Arabic or CNN.

Of course, the reason most networks try to go for what Burman calls “highly paced news” is that it works. When doing a report on Israel’s demolishing of houses, AJE’s reporter referred to Israeli settlements as “illegal.” But what stood out was not the report’s point of view, but that it was a bit genteel, picking interviewees who weren’t particularly angry or ostentatious in their suffering. Compared to reports on Al Jazeera Arabic or even the BBC, with more interviews per minute and more spectacular footage of violence, it may seem tame. Though Farber says AJE will hold “regular, as-needed meetings” with Jewish organizations to address concerns, the real issue about the network’s future in North America may be that it’s not enough like its Arabic parent—at least, when it comes to excitement.

This article is provided as a public service and does not necessarily reflect the position of Canadian Jewish Congress.

TORONTO—Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) commends the RCMP and CSIS for yesterday’s arrests in Ottawa of individuals allegedly involved in a secret terrorist cell with suspected ties to Al-Qaeda.

“It is of great comfort to all Canadians, including the Jewish community which has often been singled out as a target of terrorist violence, to see CSIS and the RCMP deal so effectively with this potentially lethal threat,” said CJC national vice- president Barbara Bank.  “CJC has consistently supported the comprehensive anti-terrorism legislation enacted after 9/11 and all Canadians should be relieved that our national police and intelligence services have interdicted an alleged terrorist plot before it could be carried out.  We commend Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and urge our anti-terrorist forces to continue this crucial effort to protect our security.”

CJC CEO Bernie M. Farber added that, “We are heartened by the statements of the Muslim Canadian Congress, including founder Tarek Fatah, calling for Muslim leadership in Canada to condemn irrefutably the doctrine of armed jihad and for the ‘mosque establishment’ to acknowledge and repudiate the serious threat of homegrown extremism. We wholeheartedly join with the Muslim Canadian Congress in stating unequivocally that Canada must not be a breeding ground or hospitable host for any form of terrorist activity.”

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]]> http://www.cjc.ca/2010/08/26/canadian-jewish-congress-commends-arrests-in-alleged-ottawa-terror-cell/feed/ 0 http://www.cjc.ca/2010/08/26/u-n-knew-of-rebels-in-area-of-congo-rapes/ http://www.cjc.ca/2010/08/26/u-n-knew-of-rebels-in-area-of-congo-rapes/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:47:01 +0000 erudner http://www.cjc.ca/?p=9516 The New York Times
The United Nations knew Rwandan rebels were occupying villages in eastern Congo at the time the rebels raped nearly 200 women there... ]]> By JOSH KRON

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — The United Nations knew Rwandan rebels were occupying villages in eastern Congo at the time the rebels raped nearly 200 women there, United Nations and aid officers said Wednesday, raising questions about why peacekeepers failed to move to protect villagers.

Between July 30 and Aug. 3, hundreds of soldiers from two rebel groups took over the villages, raping at least 179 women. Many of the attacks were gang rapes by two to six men. The humanitarian group that documented the rapes, International Medical Corps, said that it first notified the United Nations of the attacks on Aug. 6. The United Nations claims the group told it about the rapes on Aug. 12 for the first time. The U.N. made its first public comments on the rapes Sunday.

According to the officers, an e-mail alert from the United Nations Department of Safety and Security was sent to United Nations staff members on July 30, the day the rapes began. The message warned them to stay away from the area — part of Walikale, in the North Kivu Province of Congo — because it had been taken over by rebels.

“Everyone got that e-mail,” said an officer from a humanitarian organization in the area, who spoke on the condition of anonymity on strict instructions from the organization. “That rebel elements were active in those specific villages, and humanitarian workers should not go there.” The officer said that the alert did not mention rape.

On Wednesday, the top United Nations official in Congo said that the rebel activity reported on July 31 was not out of the ordinary. “There was no particular suggestion of an attack, much less the kind of events like the mass rape,” said the official, Roger Meece, speaking to reporters in New York by video teleconference from Goma.

Even so, a United Nations official based in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, said that such an alert would almost certainly have been shared with peacekeepers and should have prompted them to try to protect the villagers.

“I don’t know why they didn’t act in time,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity about a matter of confusion within the United Nations. “It is beyond my mind.”

The United Nations keeps a forward peacekeeping base nearby, for better communication with villagers, and the Congolese military has a presence in the area. It had sent a patrol down the main road at the time to remove a roadblock set up by other rebels, Mr. Meece said.

Mr. Meece said that a United Nations patrol had passed through a couple of the villages where the rapes were taking place — once while at least some rebels remained in the area and once after they were gone — but that the villagers never said anything about the horrific sexual assaults. The first word came via humanitarian workers nearly two weeks after the rapes occurred, he said.

The presence of the patrol during the time of the attacks meshes with reports from the area. A United Nations spokesman, Madnodje Mounoubai, said humanitarian organizations alerted the United Nations of the attacks a week after the rebels left the villages, on Aug. 12. The United Nations then organized a team for fact-finding, security and aid.

Another United Nations officer, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing departments in the United Nations, said that the team heard from witnesses that peacekeepers had been in the area on Aug. 2, while the rapes were still taking place.

The official said that there had been “a lot of miscommunication” within the peacekeeping mission.

“There seems to be a disagreement between the military and civilian sides” of the mission, the official said. “Everyone has their own information, and we are trying to piece everything together.” A meeting is to be held on Thursday to clarify the situation.

There has been no official apology for this dark episode, nor has the Jewish community ever sought one. We were, however, looking to partner with the government to memorialize the St. Louis with a view to using a past injustice to educate and sensitize Canadians today and in future generations.

To its credit, the current government has stepped up and done just that and not for crass political reasons, as the article states without attribution, “many” believe.  Rather, the Community Historical Recognition Program (CHRP) is a commendable initiative under Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney, who understands that as a nation we cannot move forward until we face up to the dark historical truths in our past.

CHRP, for example, has funded initiatives by the Chinese and Sikh communities in Canada, which are also commemorating historically restrictive immigration policies and others, like the Ukrainians and Italians, to memorialize the war-time internment in Canada of their communities.

With CHRP funding, Canadian Jewish Congress is erecting a monument to the St. Louis to be permanently housed in Pier 21, Canada’s Immigration Museum. This memorial will be neither a backward-looking salve over wounds, nor a sop to the Jewish community of Canada, but a forward-looking tool for remembrance and education of all Canadians.

Together with the creation of new pedagogical materials that explain the story and the lessons of the St. Louis, this will reinforce for Canadians that we must work hard to foster the kind of society where such injustices could not again occur.

Eric Vernon

This article is provided as a public service and does not necessarily reflect the position of Canadian Jewish Congress.