Foreign Affairs Committee on May 7th, 2013

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much.

I know Ms. Laverdière wants to ask a quick question, so I'm going to let her do that before we wrap up.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you both for your very interesting presentations. It's always a pleasure to see you, Rabbi Fogel, and to hear your wisdom and your intelligence.

I have one very quick question about Resolution 185, which was passed in the U.S. Congress. What was the follow-up to the resolution? What happened after?

[Regina Bublil Waldman]

Is that for Rabbi Fogel or for me?

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Yes, Mrs. Waldman.

[Regina Bublil Waldman]

There is an organization called Justice for Jews from Arab Countries, and we are working with Congressman Nadler. A bill was written and we're working on getting it introduced. The bill has very similar language to that of the original Resolution 185, but it would be much more binding because it would be a bill. We are working towards that goal.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mrs. Waldman, I was wondering also whether you're in contact or in cooperation with other similar organizations dealing with refugee issues.

[Regina Bublil Waldman]

Refugee issues that regard this particular—

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Other groups of refugees.

[Regina Bublil Waldman]

Yes. Actually, there are some groups in Israel that represent, for example, their respective groups, whether it's Egyptian Jewish refugees, Tunisians, Algerians, and so forth. We coordinate some efforts, and we also coordinate oral history through testimony of people who served in prisons, escaped, or whatever their stories [Technical difficulty—Editor]

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

I guess the teleconference is over.

[Shimon Fogel]

Although I know you are mindful of the time, perhaps I could just offer a 30-second closing thought.

It draws from what Bob Rae observed a couple of moments ago. I think we have to ask ourselves the question of how Canada can contribute in this particular regard. I would be really hesitant about our presuming to shape or to define how we get satisfactory redress. The contribution we can make is to bring closure to the conflict, to allow for all of the stakeholders to feel that they've been noted, recognized, and validated.

The contribution Canada can offer, I would suggest, which the committee could consider by way of a recommendation to the House, is simply the recognition of the reality of their experience and that it has to be noted in a comprehensive resolution to the conflict.

If we could offer that contribution as a template for other countries to follow, I think we would have made a meaningful addition to the dialogue toward peace.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much. We appreciate your time.

It doesn't look as if we've been able to get Mrs. Waldman back, so thank you very much. We're going to suspend the meeting to get set up for our next one.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

If members would come back to the table, we will get started.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to say that I will present a motion to this committee next Thursday to have it submit a report to the House and request that the House give the Standing Committee on Finance the authority to separate Bill C-60 into six separate bills that could be sent to the appropriate committees. My motion will indicate which committees it could all be sent to.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you.

Ladies, welcome. Thank you very much for being here today. We have Lisette Shashoua and Gladys Daoud, both as individuals.

We'll start with Ms. Daoud, and after your testimony we'll take some time to go around the room. We'll turn it over to you, Ms. Daoud, and then we'll go over to Ms. Shashoua.

[Gladys Daoud, As an Individual]

Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen, in 1970-71, the then Government of Canada decided to intercede on behalf of 17 very desperate Jewish families who were trapped in Iraq, with the objective of reuniting them with their Canadian sons and daughters. Your predecessors exchanged our freedom for bales of wheat with a country in desperate need of feeding its population. I owe my life today to that endeavour.

My name is Gladys Daoud. I arrived in Canada on August 28, 1971. I am a management consultant and a lecturer by profession. I have two degrees, a Bachelor of Arts and an MBA, both from McGill. I have two children, a lawyer and a director of finance, as well as two grandchildren. I consider myself blessed to be a citizen of Canada.

This is in great contrast to my life in Iraq.

I was born in Baghdad into a wealthy and prominent Jewish family. On my father's side, my grandfather was a wealthy landowner who owned sizable tracts of land all over Iraq. On my mother's side, my grandfather was a banker who was in charge of the country's treasury.

After World War I, Iraq became independent from the Ottoman Empire. Jews played an important role in the financial, cultural, and political life of the new country. Iraqi Jews occupied prominent positions in the ministries of finance and justice and in Parliament. Furthermore, Jewish lawyers were instrumental in drafting the constitution of the new state.

My grandfather sent my father and his two brothers to France for their education. My father became a doctor, and was lucky to return to Baghdad before World War II. His two brothers, one a real estate developer and the other a medical student, ended their short lives in a concentration camp in Germany, but that is another story.

My father returned to Iraq and established his medical practice after serving in the Iraqi army as a colonel. My parents' life in Iraq until the creation of the State of Israel was relatively happy, even though it was marred by tragic events that occurred at various intervals. For example, my paternal grandfather was murdered. His murder was not investigated by the police, and his murderer was never brought to justice.

In 1941 the people of Baghdad, encouraged by the pro-Nazi government at the time, went on a murderous rampage in the Jewish quarter, killing close to 200 Jews and pillaging homes and businesses. My maternal grandfather miraculously survived despite being hunted by rebels trying to get hold of the key to the country's treasury. In spite of that, my parents endured and prospered.

After the creation of the State of Israel, the Iraqi government embarked on a policy of ethnic cleansing and persecution of its Jewish population. Prominent Jews were publicly hanged. Jewish businesses were confiscated. Import licences were cancelled. Jewish public servants were fired.

Jews were forbidden from leaving the country under the pretense that they would join the Zionist enemy and attack Iraq. Under international pressure, the government finally relented, and allowed Jews to leave Iraq provided they abandoned all of their assets in favour of the state. Out of 150,000 Jews, 140,000 left the country, abandoning all of their possessions with the exception of one suitcase of clothes.

Those who stayed behind were deluded optimists who believed that the violence directed at the Jews would pass, and that coexistence in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbours was still possible.

Things took a turn for the worse in 1963, after the Baath regime took power. Their first priority was to embark on an ethnic cleansing policy towards the Iraqi Jews. They banned all exit visas for Jews, and actively promoted a culture of hatred and incitement towards them.

I was a teenager going to school in 1967 when the Six Day War took place. I saw my entire world collapse around me. All Jews in Baghdad were declared spies and enemies of the people. The radio was blaring all day, calling the people to action to kill the Jews. Needless to say, we were terrified, and we had nowhere to go.

The government proceeded with a plan of total isolation and economic strangulation. Employers were instructed to fire their Jewish employees. Christian and Muslim co-workers and business partners were terrified of being associated with enemies of the state, and thus all Jewish-owned businesses closed their doors, and our school lost all its teachers. Our Muslim and Christian friends whom we grew up with no longer dared to speak to us.

My father's medical clinic was adjacent to the local government intelligence office. His patients were afraid of being seen there, so the only patients he treated were policemen and the intelligence officers who were treated free of charge while keeping a close watch on his movements.

As Jewish students, we were refused admittance to any higher education. The few students who were already enrolled in university were regularly beaten by their classmates while the teachers and administration turned a blind eye.

I finished my government high school exam in June 1967. I ranked second in all of Iraq and was immediately accepted into Baghdad University. In fact, I had also applied to McGill and MIT and was accepted at both of these universities. However, on learning that I was of the Jewish faith, my acceptance at Baghdad University was retracted and I was refused a passport to study abroad. For the four years that followed, I endured the life of a non-person and watched all my hopes and aspirations go to ashes as I sat confined to my room, between four walls, thinking of what other young people all over the world were doing.

I applied for a secretarial job at the Belgian consulate and was accepted. Three weeks later, I was called into the consul's office and informed very politely that although I was not being asked to leave, they had received word that my father would be imprisoned should I not leave immediately. Needless to say, I did just that.

My family's bank accounts were frozen, our property was confiscated, and we were only able to survive thanks to the money that my mother had the foresight to bury in our garden. We were forbidden to leave Baghdad. Our telephone line was cancelled, and we could not meet with other Jewish families since this could lead to an accusation that we were conspiring against the state. Our condition was desperate.

To make things worse, the government decided to publicly execute 14 Iraqis in 1969, most of whom were innocent Jews. I personally knew a couple of them who were students like me, unable to work or study and trying to keep busy by learning a foreign language. They were hanged in the public square and the population was given the day off and invited to gather and dance in celebration underneath the dangling corpses. I still have nightmares about being back in Baghdad and reliving the anguish of those days.

Those were not the only Jews who lost their lives. Every so often, a Jew would randomly be arrested, never to be heard from again. Their families to this day have no closure.

The situation was so desperate that we had no choice but to seek to escape by any means possible. Many left on foot or on the back of a mule, across the mountains in northern Iraq and into Iran with the help of Kurdish guides. Some were arrested and brought back. Those who were carrying any diplomas or valuables with them would try to flush them down a toilet so as not to provide proof about their intended flight. These secret departures added to the despair of those left behind. They saw their close friends and relatives disappear while they were left behind not knowing what the next day might bring.

On April 17, 1971, with one suitcase of clothes and some pocket change, my parents and I locked the front door of our home in Baghdad for the last time and started a long journey to come to Montreal to seek a new beginning.

I was free at last to make a life for myself. That day will remain etched in my heart and memory for all time. I am thankful for the many blessings our great country offers.

By the mid-1970s, most of the Jews were gone from Iraq. We owe our survival to all the people in the free world who demonstrated on our behalf and put pressure on the authorities to intercede for our freedom.

Today there are five elderly Jews remaining in Baghdad.

The 2,500 years of history and Jewish tradition by the rivers of Babylon came to an abrupt and gruesome end. The religious shrines, artifacts, and books of learning that remain in Iraq should be the only reminders, except, as we speak, the Iraqi authorities are trying to deface these shrines and erase any reminder of the Jewish existence.

I hope this story serves as a reminder to all of us to remain vigilant and stand up against all incitement of hatred, racism, and discrimination. Let us always strive to uncover the truth and seek justice for all.

Thank you very much for your time and for the privilege to tell my story.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much, Ms. Daoud.

Ms. Shashoua.

[Lisette Shashoua, As an Individual]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen.

For 25 centuries, Jews lived in harmony with the inhabitants and contributed to the economic, social, and cultural background of first Babylon, now Iraq. There were a few pogroms against the Jews in Iraq, most notably in 1929 and later in 1941: the infamous farhud incited by the Nazi Mufti of Jerusalem. In 1948, the State of Israel was created. Iraq, along with four other Arab countries, suffered a sore defeat on the front against Israel, so Iraq needed a scapegoat to justify this defeat. They tried and hanged the innocent Mr. Shafiq Ades as an Israeli spy. They hanged him in front of his house and forced his wife and children to watch. Three of his children live in Montreal today. Sixty-five years later, this family still carries the scars and the trauma of this inhuman tragedy.

I will now tell you my own story. My father was the son of a well-to-do, self-made merchant and property owner in Iraq. In the early 1920s when England decided to appoint a king in Iraq, King Faisal I, they chose my grandfather's house for him to live in. My grandfather, Shaul Shashoua, duly moved out and rented his house for a nominal sum to the king until a suitable palace was built for him to move into.

Up until 1950, there were approximately 150,000 Jews in Iraq. After the farhud and the persecution of the Jews by their fellow citizens and the government, and after the hanging of Mr. Shafiq Ades, Iraq stated that it would now allow the Jews to leave for Israel on condition they renounce their Iraqi citizenship. Nearly the entire Jewish population asked for this laisser passer. They were denationalized and their assets were frozen while they were still in Iraq waiting for their turn to leave.

Upon their departure they were searched and further stripped of their cash and jewellery, allowed one suitcase each, and only 50 Iraqi dinars to take with them. The Government of Iraq duly confiscated all their property immediately upon their departure. My father and mother, however, decided to stay and weather the storm along with around 7,000 other Jews. Things stabilized slowly in the country, yet Jews, including my sisters, left Iraq for various reasons, never to return. All those who left were eventually stripped of their Iraqi nationality and had their assets frozen. I, being the youngest, stayed with my parents.

I have to stress here the fact that we who chose to stay in Iraq despite all the persecutions had no connections with Israel, especially because of the total Iraqi boycott of Israel. Even drawing the Star of David was taboo, even in the privacy of our own homes.

The regime in Iraq underwent many revolutions and coups d'état, the last one in 1962 when the Baath Party arrived with Saddam Hussein. This party soon restricted travel for the Jews again. They froze the sales of our own property all over again. In 1967, the Six Day War broke out and Israel won the war. As a retaliation against Israel, Iraq tightened the screws on the now 3,000 innocent Jews remaining there. They cut off all our telephones. They refused to admit Jews at universities. They revoked all commercial licences. They instructed all businesses to fire their Jewish employees. There was no unemployment insurance in Iraq, so they had no money left to live on. They froze all our assets. Eventually they allowed us to withdraw only 300 dinars a month from our own bank accounts for daily expenses. Many Jewish children were fainting at school from hunger because their parents had no money left for food. When my grandfather passed away in 1968, my mother and grandmother were forced to pay the government rent for the house my grandfather built in 1927. They were paying for the shares my mom's siblings should have inherited, but now belonged to the Iraqi government.

On top of this, they started to go to Jewish homes at random, usually after midnight. They would search the house, vandalize it, arrest the father, the son, sometimes even the daughter. The accusation was always that they were spying for Israel.

It got to the stage that any time a car passed by at night, I would wake up, kneel, and pray that this car would not stop at our house to raise havoc in our lives. My mother and I bought sleeping pills to commit suicide if ever they came to arrest us.

In 1968 the random arrests intensified. Men were now tortured and forced to say they were spies. They were tied to ceiling fans that were turned to full speed. Some had their fingernails, toenails, teeth pulled out. Their genitals were electrocuted. Many died from the torture alone.

All these arrests and this torture culminated in mock Mickey Mouse trials in December 1968 and January 1969. The defendants were not allowed to have their own lawyer. The state appointed one for them, who further incriminated them as spies for Israel. They sentenced them and hanged them that same night.

When we woke up on January 27, 1969, to our horror we found out that 14 innocent men had been hanged. Ten of them were Jewish. At least three of these victims were less than 18 years of age. The Iraqi courts jacked up the ages to make it legal internationally to hang them. All the charges were glaringly trumped up.

The Iraqi people, so hungry for blood, went into a frenzy of jubilation. Thousands were dancing and chanting and poking the dead men. Women were breastfeeding and entire families were picnicking in front of the dangling bodies of those martyrs. The radio was blaring that the country was now rid of their spies, and encouraged the public to continue denouncing the fifth column.

We were still attending university then, and were in the midst of mid-term exams, so we had no choice but to go to university that day. I was thinking, “Surely we are among the educated. Surely they are smart enough to discern that the whole trial is utter nonsense. Plus, they are our friends, our colleagues. They will surely sympathize. They'll understand.” Yet to our surprise, when we arrived at the university, we were greeted with banners applauding what the government did and demanding more such acts. They were looking at us and laughing. The message was, “You are next.” We were horrified, yet we were too terrified to show our grief.

Israel attested that those victims were innocent and not its spies. There was a world outcry following these fake accusations, and the Iraqi government defiantly answered that it had enough trees to hang all the remaining Jews in the country.

You can just imagine the sheer terror that dominated our daily existence after that horrid day. It was the blackest day in our young teenage lives, a day that is indelible in the memory of any Jew who was living in Iraq then.

Eventually, in 1970, a small window of opportunity presented itself to us. There was a temporary truce between the Kurds in the north of Iraq and the Iraqi government. The Kurds were willing to help us escape because they too were a mistreated minority and understood what we were going through. The Iraqi government decided to turn a blind eye to the Jews who were escaping, partly because of international pressure, partly because they were paid by Jewish agencies abroad for each one who left. Yet the big prize was still the assets left behind.

They still managed to terrorize us anyway, because from time to time they would perform mass arrests of entire families.

Seeing that there was no future for me in Baghdad, I decided to take a chance. I knew that by leaving illegally I was endangering both my life and the lives of my parents, who were staying behind in the hope of someday salvaging some of their now frozen properties. We were acting out of desperation.

I was among the lucky ones. I managed to escape with another family successfully. However, many of my friends were caught while trying to escape; some of them were even arrested twice. Imagine the interrogations, the torture, and the terror they went through.

I arrived safely in Iran in November 1990 and stopped in London on my way to North America.

I met many of my childhood friends and met some of my uncles, aunts, and cousins for the first time because they had left Iraq before I was born and were, as I have just become, banned from ever going back.

I finally arrived at my final destination, Canada, that wonderful utopia called Canada, where I was reunited with my sisters and even more family. We finally tasted freedom. North America was and is this haven where everyone is equal and free. We arrived in this glorious country where we were able to finally close an ugly chapter of our lives and start a new and fresh one.

I became a flight attendant with Air Canada. I was able to fly all over the world, except to Baghdad to see my parents. For 20 years, we could not speak to them because their telephones had been cut off during the Six Day War. The letters to and from my parents were censored and took three weeks to reach Baghdad. It took another three weeks to get an answer. I never knew if they were still alive from the time they would write the letter to the time I'd receive that letter. For 20 years I had that constant ache about my parents. It was like a scar in the heart that would never heal. It was also this constant worry about their welfare, well-being, and safety.

Finally, a miracle happened. After the Iran-Iraq war, they granted passports to everyone in Iraq, including the Jews. My parents were finally able to leave Iraq. The first time I heard them on the phone I did not even recognize their voices. It was a miracle that they finally arrived in Canada in 1990. We were finally happily reunited. We were with our beloved mom and dad, who waited 20 years in vain to sell any of their properties. My dad was 80 years old. He left everything he owned in Iraq and came out with nothing. All his siblings had long lost their inheritance upon leaving Iraq 40 years earlier.

They came penniless, but Canada offered them a haven to come to after all those wasted years when my parents lived in constant fear. They missed all the special occasions with their children, such as their daughters' weddings, grandchildren, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs. My parents got to meet their grandchildren for the first time only after they became teenagers. They did manage, however, to walk me down the aisle when I got married to my wonderful husband.

It is a happy ending in many ways because most of us survived those harrowing times, but it does not mean that we did not suffer emotionally and financially and we still struggle to make a living while we have all these properties in Iraq that we cannot access. I would like to point out also that none of the Iraqi Jews who came to either Canada or the United States, or to England for that matter, asked for or received refugee status or privileges, including my parents. We all came as immigrants and threw ourselves immediately into starting new lives, into working hard, paying taxes, and enjoying, as well as serving, this glorious country that has so much to offer. It is a happy ending because we arrived in this wonderful country called Canada.

In closing, we pray that God bless Canada and the United States, these two great countries where we live free and normal lives, our new wonderful country and home that embraced us and that we are privileged to be a part of. We hope to continue to contribute towards its growth and well-being. Amen.

Thank you, Canada.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you.

We're going to start on my left-hand side with Madame Laverdière.

Seven minutes, please.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you very much for those two moving stories.

They were extraordinary.

My question is almost personal.

Ms. Daoud, if I understand correctly, you still live in Montreal?

[Gladys Daoud]

Yes.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

So, you are not too far from my riding. Maybe you even live in my riding.

[Gladys Daoud]

Which riding is that?

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

It is the Laurier—Sainte-Marie riding, which includes the Plateau Mont-Royal.

[Gladys Daoud]

Yes, I'm right near there. I can walk there.