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Dear John, 

This week, we thanked Richmond City Council for taking a strong stand against Jew-hatred and all forms of hate, and we asked the federal government to keep its promise to Canadians.  

Read on to learn more. 

The CIJA Team  

In August 2022, it was revealed that funding from the Government of Canada for anti-racism programming had gone to Laith Marouf – an individual with a long, public history of antisemitic and racist outbursts.

At CIJA, we were appalled by this lapse. We took our concerns to the federal government and worked closely with the Minister for Diversity and Inclusion to ensure this never recurs.

Based on our recommendations, Canadian Heritage promised to cease funding and claw back previously distributed funds to Marouf and his organization, engage in a comprehensive review and enhancement of the government’s vetting processes for grant applicants, improve training on antisemitism and racism for government program officers, and add grantee attestation to all funding agreements to hold groups accountable to Canada’s anti-racism strategy, among other criteria, which would allow for immediate action should a receiving organization be found to have promoted hate.

This week, the Heritage Committee convened to explore the missteps that led to government funding going to Marouf and confirm measures have been implemented to ensure that another situation like that does not happen again.

While we are confident that the government is intentional in its efforts to get to the bottom of this errant funding, the problem goes beyond a single program or organization. We reiterated our asks for a whole-of-government approach to ensure public funds are never again allotted to groups that platform hate and for assurances that the government is taking steps to keep the promises made to CIJA and the Jewish community.

We join the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver in celebrating Richmond City Council’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.  Read our full statement here. 

This historic announcement marked the culmination of years of advocacy by Richmond’s Jewish community leaders, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and CIJA. The decision to adopt the IHRA definition follows examples set by the UN, the EU, and 30 countries, including Canada and the US. The adoption of IHRA signals that Richmond City Council recognizes the struggles faced by the Jewish community and that it stands in solidarity against Jew-hatred and all forms of hate.

Please send Mayor Brodie, Councillor Alexa Loo, and Richmond City Council a note of thanks for adopting this gold-standard tool to define antisemitism and for their commitment to apply it to government policies and actions.

‘My hope for 2023 is that the Canadian jurisdictions that have not yet adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism will do so, and that the ones that have adopted it begin to implement and use it.’

Published in the National Post, Irwin Cotler, Canada’s special envoy for preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism and a former minister of justice and attorney general, urges governments and institutions across Canada to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism, explaining its critical role in the fight against Jew-hatred.

CIJA in the News 

Community Calendar

March 2 | The Abraham Accords: A Turning Point in the Legal World
March 5-6 | Purim 

Careers

CIJA is Hiring:

• Associate Director, Policy and Communications (Pacific Region)
• Program Coordinator - CIJA/Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver
• Associate Director Communications and Media Relations (Quebec)
• Associate Director, Partnerships and Community Engagement (Quebec)

Chief Executive Officer, Jewish Federation of Winnipeg