Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Doug Ford’s IHRA Order-In-Council creates a hierarchy for victims of racism By: Khaled Mouammar

 Doug Ford’s IHRA Order-In-Council creates a hierarchy for victims of racism

By: Khaled Mouammar

The IHRA anti-Semitism definition was passed on October 25 by an Order-In-Council (OIC) before two deadlines set by the Standing Committee on Justice Policy for submitting requests to participate in public hearings and to submit written material.

This anti-democratic move is fitting for the IHRA OIC, which poses a threat to freedom of expression and academic freedom.

 More worryingly the OIC only addresses the racism directed against Jews and implicitly relegates to a lesser status the racism faced by other racial and religious minorities.

An IPSOS poll in May 2019 reveals that almost half of Canadians will admit to having racist thoughts, and more feel comfortable expressing them today than in years past. The poll found that 26 per cent of Canadians believe it has become more acceptable to be prejudiced against Muslims and Arabs.1

A report released in June 2020 by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a UK-based think tank, concludes that Canada has a well-established system of right-wing extremists very much comparable to that of the U.S. and U.K., and it is part of a global pattern.

According to the ISD report, on Facebook, “Muslims were the most widely discussed minority community, and the most common target of posts containing explicit hate speech (23%), with anti-Semitism being the second largest grouping of hate speech (16%).” 2

A poll conducted by Mainstreet Research in June 2020, reveals that a majority of Canadians believe Black and Indigenous people are treated less fairly than white people in Canada when dealing with police and the criminal justice system and within the workplace. 3

A July 2020 Ipsos poll for Global News found that 60% of Canadians agree that there is systemic racism in Canada, up 13% since last year, and 48% agree that institutions like government, the police, the courts, the education system, and journalists tolerate racism. 4

The above reports indicate that the main victims of racism are Indigenous people and Blacks, followed by Muslims and Jews. Clearly then, Ontario needs comprehensive tools to combat all forms of racism.

By only dealing with the racism targeting Jews the Ontario government is discriminating against other victims of racism, especially Indigenous people and Blacks who face discrimination when dealing with the police, the criminal justice system and within the workplace. 

Furthermore the Ontario government is brushing aside the statistics confirming that Muslims face more prejudice and hate than Jews.

Ironically, one can freely criticize racism in Canada but the IHRA OIC makes it unacceptable to criticize racism against Palestinians in Israel.

Seven of the eleven illustrative examples provided by IHRA anti-Semitism definition conflate criticism of Israel with racism against Jews.

In July 2018 the Jewish majority in the Knesset passed the Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State of the Jewish People which stipulates that “Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it”, thus subordinating the rights of 22% of its citizens who are Palestinian Christians and Muslims. 5

One can only imagine the reaction of Canadians if the Christian majority in parliament passes a law granting superior rights to Christians over Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and others.

One of the IHRA illustrative examples claims that “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour” is anti-Semitic. By doing so, the example implicitly endorses the Nation State Law that was passed by the Jewish majority in the Knesset.

Hence, this example could be used by the Israel lobby to target anyone supporting the right of the Palestinian people for self-determination or anyone advocating for equality in a democratic non-sectarian state instead of a specifically “Jewish state” which gives superior rights to Jews – as Israel is currently constituted.

In conclusion, the IHRA OIC is discriminatory since it deals only with racism against Jews and ignores the racism faced by Indigenous people, Blacks and Muslims. It also attempts to cover up the institutionalized discrimination faced by 1.8 million Palestinian citizens of Israel by restricting free speech and threatening academic freedom as asserted by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA).

1.       https://globalnews.ca/news/5262461/canadian-racism-ipsos-poll/?fbclid=IwAR1La2VWa8XSiWpDnCuiFsmAuiq7Ns1ikPRgpWkHPheUxYX32EEmYYHN-Gs

2.      https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-publications/canada-online/

3.      https://ipolitics.ca/2020/07/01/most-say-black-and-indigenous-people-treated-worse-by-police-compared-to-white-people-mainstreet-poll/?fbclid=IwAR0Old2kiN6uXuwAdc4zAMGWMFiM6AtAO99UCgx_xCXKGTZBfrTSBcFB4RA

4.      https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/majority-60-see-racism-serious-problem-canada-today-13-points-last-year

5.      https://knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/BasicLawNationState.pdf

 


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