Thank you for having me here today. I represent the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus, a group of around 200 rabbis from across the country and from across the Jewish denominational spectrum.
On October 27, 2018, 11 Jews were murdered at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The murderer had been highly active in promoting anti-Semitism on social media. It's reported that he posted more than 700 anti-Semitic messages online in the nine months or so prior to the attack. Just two hours before the attack, the murderer foreshadowed his actions in his final disturbing online post.
On Friday, March 15, 50 Muslims were murdered by a white nationalist terrorist at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. These murders played out as a dystopian reality show delivered by some of America's biggest technology companies. YouTube, Facebook, Reddit and Twitter all had roles in publicizing the violence and, by extension, the hate-filled ideology behind it.
The shooter also released a 74-page manifesto denouncing Muslims and immigrants, which spread widely online. He left behind a social media trail on Twitter and Facebook that amounted to footnotes to his manifesto, and over the two days before the shooting he posted about 60 of the same links across different platforms, nearly half of which were to YouTube videos that were still active many hours after the shooting.
As these horrific attacks demonstrate, hate can be lethal, and online hate can foreshadow mass violence. There is no question that the Internet has become the newest frontier for inciting hate that manifests itself disturbingly offline.
ln 2017, the World Jewish Congress, representing Jewish communities in 100 countries, released a report indicating that 382,000 anti-Semitic posts were uploaded to social media in 2016. Stated differently, that's one anti-Semitic post every 83 seconds.
Although information on online hate in Canada is limited, between 2015 and 2016, according to Cision Canada, a Toronto-based PR software and service provider, there was a 600% rise in intolerant hate speech in social media postings by Canadians. The architect of the study explains that while some of that intolerant or hateful speech was generated by bots, as determined by analyzing the high frequency of posts over a short time, the researchers noted that the bots' language was later mimicked by human users, and therefore it was just as destructive.
These numbers are staggering.
The Canadian government rightfully prides itself as a global thought and action leader in the area of protecting the rights, the safety and the quality of life of the people both within its borders and worldwide. We personally have felt this. Canadian law enforcement agencies have been exceptionally responsive in providing support to our institutions, particularly following the Pittsburgh attack.
However, what is now needed is for federal policy-makers to prevent similar atrocities by launching a national strategy to combat online hate. The explosive growth of digital communications has coincided with rising alienation from traditional media and institutions. Extremists have taken advantage, preying on vulnerable disaffected individuals through the same digital tools and collaborative online culture that now shape so much of our world.
There is, of course, no way to fully eliminate the threat of hate-motivated violence, but a strong national strategy to combat online hate can make a meaningful difference in protecting Canadians. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, CIJA, has set out a four-step policy recommendation towards fighting online hate.
Step one of that recommendation is defining hate. One very important prong of this step is for the Canadian government to define what constitutes hate. This should begin with the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance—IHRA—definition of anti-Semitism. The IHRA definition is a practical tool that should be used by Canadian authorities in enforcing the law and as well by social media providers in implementing policies against hateful content.
The further steps of CIJA's recommendation include tracking hate, preventing and intervening to stop hate.
On that last step, intervening to stop hate, I would like to make it very clear that we are not looking to police distasteful speech. Freedom of expression is of course a core Canadian value. We are focused on the glorification of violence and systematic propaganda affecting Jews and other communities.
We are confident that an effective balance can be struck between protecting free speech and combatting online hate that demonizes entire communities and leads to violence and murder.
This of course is a complex issue, but we are calling on the Government of Canada to take the lead in understanding it and developing the tools to counter it. We are calling on the Government of Canada to launch a national strategy to tackle online hate, working in partnership with social media platforms and Internet service providers, as well as other appropriate partners. This is a crucial step in making a difference that we so badly need.
Thank you.