Justice Committee on May 9th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Lena Metlege Diab]

We'll start the meeting.

Welcome, everyone.

I call the meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 104 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on March 21, 2024, the committee is commencing its study on anti-Semitism.

I have a few things to read before we start.

The first is on audio feedback. I want to remind all members and other participants in the room of the following important preventative measures.

To prevent disruptive and potentially harmful audio feedback incidents, which can cause injuries, all in-person participants are reminded to keep their earpieces away from all microphones at all times. As indicated in the communiqué from the Speaker to members on Monday, April 29, the following measures have been taken to help prevent audio feedback incidents.

All earpieces have been replaced by a model that greatly reduces the probability of audio feedback. The new earpieces are black in colour, whereas the former earpieces were grey. Please use only a black, approved earpiece. By default, all unused earpieces will be unplugged at the start of the meeting. When you're not using your earpiece, please place it face-down in the middle of the sticker that you will find on your table.

Please consult the cards on the table for guidelines to prevent audio feedback incidents.

The room layout has been adjusted as much as possible, especially for this morning, to increase the distance between microphones and reduce the chance of feedback from an ambient earpiece.

These measures are in place so that we can conduct our business without interruption, and to protect the health and safety of all participants, including the interpreters.

Thank you for your co-operation.

For those who don't need the earpiece, again, do not plug it in. That way, it won't cause any feedback for the interpreters.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format. I note that all witnesses are appearing in person. Members' connections were completed in advance of the meeting.

Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking.

This is a reminder that all comments should be addressed through the chair.

For the benefit of all those attending and viewing the webcast, I will remind you that all briefs can be sent to the committee until May 27, 2024, and they should not exceed three pages in total.

For the benefit of the witnesses, I want you to know that this is how all meetings are conducted. It is nothing personal, but I will let you know right now that we've actually prepared these cards, which I will raise when you have 30 seconds left. I know that when somebody is doing their business, it's hard to look up, but I will keep raising it, and then when the time is up, I'll just raise the “time is up” card and give you a few seconds to wrap up if you haven't already wrapped up. Out of fairness, I will do that for everyone.

All members know this—there are a number who have been on this committee for quite a while, and we have a number who are new—but I will just remind everybody that it's important that we all be compassionate in our conversations and respectful to each other and to the witnesses. I expect that to continue this morning. Thank you very much.

Now I want to welcome the witnesses for today.

As individuals, we have students Rachel Cook, Michael Eshayek and Nicole Nashen; attorney Neil G. Oberman; Nati Pressmann, founder of the Canadian Union of Jewish Students; and Yos Tarshish for Hillel Ontario.

You each have up to five minutes for your opening remarks, after which we will proceed with the rounds of questions. Again, if your comments are six, seven or eight minutes long, don't worry. You will probably get an opportunity to go back to them during the questions.

Just as a reminder, I will say now that if there's anything you want to bring up that you do not have an opportunity to do during the meeting, whether in your opening remarks or during questioning, please feel free to submit it to us in writing, as long as it does not exceed three pages.

Thank you very much.

With that, we will start with five minutes each. I will call on you as I have you here on the paper in front of me.

We'll start with Rachel Cook, please, for five minutes.

[Rachel Cook, Student, As an Individual]

Thank you very much, members of the committee, for using your platform to elevate our voices today.

My name is Rachel Cook, and I'm a rising 2L at the University of Alberta faculty of law. I am Jewish and I am a Zionist, but most importantly, I am a Canadian.

On December 6 last year, I asked my law faculty's department of student services if they would be willing to include a menorah in their annual holiday decorations, which included Christmas trees, Christmas garlands and Christmas lights. The reaction to my request was initially positive. However, that evening, I received an email from a member of the administration, stating that I would not be permitted to add my menorah and, furthermore, due to my concerns, the trees would be removed as well.

The administration's reasoning was primarily due to the secularly festive intent. However, I believe there was another, more insidious goal. One day, before I requested adding a menorah, an administrator had wandered around campus dressed up as Santa, handing out candy canes to faculty and students, including me.

I think, however, the faculty and the University of Alberta were concerned that displaying a menorah would be seen as supportive of Israel, which is a politically unpopular opinion on campuses throughout Canada. Someone at the U of A administration made the decision to subtract from the enjoyment of the Christmas season to avoid including Jewish symbols in that display. In my opinion, that's especially problematic, given the number of churches that have been burned throughout this country.

Contrary to my administration's assertion that few, if any, people would notice the removal of the trees, their removal became international news. My story was covered by the National Post, various American channels, including Fox News, and various European and Israeli news agencies. In addition to media requests, I had discussions with federal and provincial politicians, and many concerned members of the legal community. I also heard from Jewish students throughout North America who had had similar experiences on their campus and who were terrified to return to campus after their break.

I sympathize with that. In the weeks leading up to my going viral, there were a number of anti-Israel protests at the time at the U of A, including one advertised as a rally for martyrs.

The director of the U of A's sexual assault centre, Samantha Pearson, was fired after making headlines for signing an open letter, calling the well-documented sexual assault that occurred on October 7 “unverified”.

Additionally, Students for Justice in Palestine was permitted to operate openly on campus, contrary to the U of A's statement saying otherwise.

Specifically in the faculty of law, student groups advertised in the Law Students' Association's weekly email that they had partnered with organizations that had been banned in Israel and other countries for their support of Hamas. One of the founders of that club was selected to speak at an awards dinner, where she stated they had a lot to learn from the bravery of Palestinians.

Personally, I accepted a mid-semester move between sections, after a criminal law professor concluded that the system kept Black and indigenous people of colour from their land, and made what I believed was a “Farrakhan-esque” comparison of the system to a roof infested with termites. This professor is still teaching, and would later sign an open letter stating that they “reject the notion that it is antisemitic, hateful, or illegitimate to contextualize the October 7, 2023 attack”.

One month after the trees were banned, an EDI feedback meeting took place at the faculty of law. No Jewish student or Jewish faculty member was present at that meeting. According to the minutes, which I received by freedom of information, it was noted that my appearance in the media was one of the greatest attacks to student safety, and that there was space for the faculty to make comments and hold people accountable. I could never have imagined that voices on campus would advocate for holding me accountable for asking to display a menorah or for asking to speak out against anti-Semitism.

I was reminded of all this earlier in the week, when I walked through Rutherford library on my way to my final exam. There was a display of student artwork, including an interactive piece discussing Gaza. Students were invited to write their feelings about history washed over by colonialism on this interactive display. Students had done so, and the display included a swastika, support of a terrorist organization recognized by the Canadian government—the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—and a message reading “Death to ZOGs”, implying that the Jews run western governments like Canada and the United States.

After this year, I have been left with the impression that the U of A is more interested in covering up systematic anti-Semitism on campus than addressing it head-on and working toward change. Unfortunately, speaking publicly about documented anti-Semitism has been seen as a greater risk than the behaviour I've worked to draw attention to.

I've heard from numerous members of faculty and classmates and many Albertans who have quietly offered their support for my advocacy.

I have no doubt that when I return to campus, I will be broadly disliked for speaking out, but only by a vocal minority of students.

As you undertake this study, I encourage you to keep the following in mind.

We have been told for years that words are violence, feelings of safety are paramount, and that we should be mindful of actions and interactions, and how our behaviour can harm shared goals on campuses. It is embarrassing for institutions across Canada to admit they have allowed a cultural environment of anti-Semitism to thrive, but light, like the light from a banned menorah or a banned tree, is the best way to shine attention on hate.

Albertans, and Canadians as a whole, are hard-working, ethical people with a deeply ingrained moral compass—

[The Chair, Liberal, Lena Metlege Diab]

I'm going to interrupt you for a moment. I gave you about a minute more, but that's okay. You'll get a chance to give us your feedback and recommendations during questions.

Thank you for that.

We'll go to Michael Eshayek, please.

[Michael Eshayek, Student, As an Individual]

Hi. Thank you for inviting me today and for leading a national conversation on the disturbing and troubling rise in anti-Semitism on university campuses since the barbaric terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7.

My family fled persecution in Iraq, settling in Israel, where I was born. As a teenager, I often visited my great-aunt who had moved to Canada, and I fell in love with Montreal. I arrived at Concordia to study finance two years ago and felt right at home. I became part of a global community comprising students of different backgrounds and cultures, bringing unique perspectives to our studies in a respectful and open manner. It was what learning was meant to be.

In this spirit, I became one of the founders of the StartUp Nation, with the goal of bringing Israel to our campus through business, innovation, culture and technology. Little did we know that we would soon become leaders in the fight against anti-Semitism on campus.

Let me share some milestone dates with you.

On October 8, a day after the horrible attack, SPHR Concordia posted, “Last night, the resistance in Gaza led a heroic”—heroic—“attack against the occupation and has taken over 30 hostages.”

On October 25, hundreds of students walked out of class at 1.30 p.m. and participated in an anti-Semitic sit-in in solidarity with Palestine in Concordia's main lobby while chanting “From the river to the sea,” “Intifada now,” and “Resistance is justified.” These chants are threatening and a call for the genocide of the Jewish people over and over again.

On November 8, 30 Jewish students made a Shabbat table with empty chairs on campus to raise awareness of the hostage crisis. As a result, about 300 pro-Hamas students and faculty harassed, threatened and physically accosted us while yelling, “Go back to Poland” and “Kike”, among other threats and chants. Personally, my life was threatened, as I was told, “You'd better get off campus or you will not get to see tomorrow.”

On November 23, a second anti-Semitic walkout took place. All participants were fully masked, screaming, “There is only one solution! Intifada revolution!”

On December 13, students from across Montreal came to the main building on our downtown campus, chanting anti-Semitic rants and waving offensive signs and banners with things such as “Globalize the Intifada”, which is a clear call for another October 7 or another 9/11.

On March 4, the administration cancelled our event because we were hosting three reservists on a diplomatic mission to speak about Israel's journey toward stability and peace. The event was then moved to the Jewish federation, the Federation CJA, where pro-Hamas students, such as SPHR Concordia, again came together to physically block all access to the building while again chanting anti-Semitic slogans. We were trapped in the conference centre for four hours while police were on site, trying to get us out.

On March 12, Jewish students in the Hillel club-room, which is the only Jewish club-room on campus, were harassed by masked individuals who were banging on the walls and chanting, “All Zionists are racists. All Zionists are terrorists.” Again, Jewish students were trapped and traumatized.

On April 8 and April 10, an Israeli scholar was invited by the Israel Institute to speak about the importance of Arab representation in the Israeli Knesset. In response, demonstrators physically blocked access to the classroom.

Our greatest disappointment is that the leadership of Concordia sat idly by, ducking and refusing to enforce its own policies and step in to ensure the safety and well-being of Jewish students. The leadership seems intent on muzzling us, and has certainly shown an insensitivity to our views and concerns.

Our policy on campus safety and security forbids demonstrators from hiding their faces by wearing masks, yet at all events the perpetrators were masked and yet, to date, have faced no consequences.

The administration has also not launched proceedings against the instigators of recent anti-Semitic demonstrations. We have, for example, indicated that a part-time student at Concordia since 2016 has broken our code of conduct. He is on campus and is a known agitator. The student has been caught on film threatening and attacking students and staff on campus, and has been arrested twice off campus since those incidents. His posts on social media also call for violence against Jews. He has said—

[The Chair, Liberal, Lena Metlege Diab]

I'll let you finish that sentence.

[Michael Eshayek]

—“Death to Israel. Kill them all. Allahu Akbar. Bomb them.” Despite this, the administration is turning a blind eye—

[The Chair, Liberal, Lena Metlege Diab]

I will interrupt you now.

[Michael Eshayek]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lena Metlege Diab]

Thank you very much.

We'll go to Nicole Nashen, please.

[Nicole Nashen, Student, As an Individual]

“Viva viva Intifada.” “Go back to Poland.” “Yemen, Yemen, make us proud, turn another ship around.” “Resistance is justified when people are occupied.”

These are just a few of the hateful chants heard blaring across campus that have caused me and thousands of other students great pain and immense fear over the past seven months.

My name is Nicole Nashen. I just finished my second year of law school at McGill University. I am the granddaughter of immigrants who came to Canada seeking a better life for their children. My grandparents were so proud when I was admitted to McGill for law school, but are now horrified by the rampant anti-Semitism that I and my Jewish peers are experiencing on campus. Jewish students in Montreal have been intimidated by hateful posters glorifying violence and terrorism, and by protesters chanting for the destruction of our ancestral homeland.

As Michael said, on October 8, clubs funded by McGill and Concordia universities posted on Instagram, “Last night, the resistance in Gaza led a heroic attack against the occupation and has taken over 30 hostages.”

These are the same groups that have been organizing the campus protests and the current encampment at McGill University. They have not tried to hide their hateful and anti-Semitic intent. Our universities have chosen to turn a blind eye, rather than stand up for their Jewish students.

A student at the Université de Montréal said that, before October 7, her Jewish identity always seemed natural and readily and wholeheartedly accepted. However, at this time, a cloud of doubt or unease looms over her sense of belonging among her peers at school as a Jewish person.

As Michael said, on November 8 at Concordia University, my alma mater, where I served on the Concordia Student Union and as the president of Hillel, Jewish students were violently attacked during a tabling event to raise awareness for the hostages. They were assaulted by an anti-Semitic mob, which was only brought to an end by police intervention. Adam Goren, VP of Israel Affairs for StartUp Nation Concordia, said that the events of November 8 had fundamentally changed the way he felt on campus, making him feel unsafe and nervous to attend classes, with his constantly looking over his shoulder. That feeling had persisted to this day.

The right to peaceful protest is a fundamental tenet of democracy, and criticizing the policies and actions of the Israeli government is not inherently anti-Semitic. Having said that, the sign on the McGill encampment facing Sherbrooke Street that reads, “Agitate, escalate, shut it down” is not criticism of the Israeli government, nor is it peaceful, and the sign on the McGill encampment that reads, “No Zionists Allowed” is overtly anti-Semitic.

Zionism should not be controversial. It is simply the belief in Jewish self-determination in our indigenous homeland, and it does not preclude the existence of a Palestinian state too.

While anti-Israel activists on campus tolerate the religious aspects of Judaism, they have created a litmus test by which Jewish students are told we must denounce our affiliation to our ancestral homeland in order to be accepted. They do this by distinguishing us as Zionists. However, Judaism is more than just a religion. We are also a nation, an ethnic group and a community. Our identity is a package deal that cannot be dismembered through western standards. Thus, Jews as a religious group have been deemed acceptable, while Zionists are demonized for refusing to conform and give up the package deal that is our identity—

[The Chair, Liberal, Lena Metlege Diab]

Nicole, slow down a bit. The interpreters are having a bit of a hard time. It's okay. I'll give you a few extra seconds to slow down a bit.

[Nicole Nashen]

Okay. Thank you.

Campus protesters have simply replaced the word “Jew” with “Zionist” in order to make our exclusion and intimidation more palatable. Would a sign on the McGill campus reading, “No Jews Allowed” ever be tolerated? It is therefore essential that the Government of Canada recognize that the intimidation of Zionists is, effectively, the intimidation of Jews.

Yes, there are some Jews who are not Zionists, and they are entitled to their own opinions. However, as Prime Minister Trudeau stated himself on Yom HaShoah, the vast majority of Jews are Zionists. It is an integral part of our identity, and it needs to be legally recognized as such so that our peers cannot continue to use this label to exclude us from the universities that we deserve to be full members of.

Unfortunately, our universities are currently failing to protect us. According to Elia Nissan and Julia Langleben, co-presidents of the StartUp Nation McGill, despite McGill's commitment to inclusion and zero tolerance for hate on campus, they have completely failed to uphold the promises they've made to the McGill community.

We did not get to this point overnight. The consistent failure of our universities to take action against the hate taking place on our campuses has emboldened anti-Israel activists to become more radical. Our universities must take a stand, and where they fail to adequately protect their Jewish students, they must be held accountable.

Despite the intimidation of Jewish students on campus, we have consistently embodied the resilient flame of our ancestors, who refused to give up their Judaism to be accepted in the diaspora. With us, we have the strength of every generation of Jews who chose to stand up against anti-Semitism and who persevered, and I'm confident that we will too.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lena Metlege Diab]

Fabulous. You're under five minutes. That's law students. I was there. I get it. Thank you very much.

Neil Oberman, please go ahead.

[Neil G. Oberman, Attorney, As an Individual]

Hello. My name is Neil Oberman. I'm an attorney at Spiegel Sohmer in Montreal.

I did prepare a speech, but after listening to these students, all of you should understand why this is so important. I, as a frontline attorney, have had the unfortunate pleasure—and I will tell you about this unpleasure—of having to go to court to take actions to protect these people who are here today. There is a message.

Canadian and Quebec values are under attack. This serious issue in Quebec and Canada should be addressed today, without restriction and without question. Our values as Canadians and Quebeckers are at stake.

Mr. Fortin, you can see that people are here to plead their case.

As a lawyer, I've had the ability to take these cases and to try to do something. You might have known that I took injunctions against McGill to try to get rid of the encampment. I'm not going to comment on the judgment. I'm not going to tell you whether it was right or wrong. The fact that it had to be taken in itself speaks loudly to what's going on. On March 4, 2024, I had to take an injunction in order to save our community.

Now, I am no hero. These are the heroes, these people who come before you and who put their names out there. These are the people whom we want to strive to protect. However, there is a fundamental issue, ladies and gentlemen and parliamentarians.

I'm speaking to all Quebeckers. We should make changes. The law matters, but more importantly, it must be respected and enforced.

You can create all the laws you want. I'm sure you want to talk about that, and we're going to get into that, but if people don't respect the laws on the books currently, there is no value. Anti-Semitism is a sickness, and it has to be eradicated. However, what's more important is ignorance and the inability to understand things, which is also a sickness. Legislators can't legislate love, and they can't tell you how to think, but they can legislate against hate.

It's your job here today to legislate against hate. I'm not going to give you a course in law—you're the legislature—but I can tell you that every student who has come to me has said to me, “Neil, why aren't people enforcing the law?” The law of Concordia, the law of Dawson, the law of Vanier, the law of Canada and the law of Quebec—we are a country of law. The rule of law is not to be trifled with. It is the core of our identity.

I want to point out the top 10 list of the worst things—besides the things these young people have dealt with—that I, Neil Oberman, have had to deal with.

A student goes to school in the morning and gets dropped off by his mom, and the first thing that happens is a group of kids come to him and say, “Do you believe in Palestine? Are you against Israel?” He says no, and they start beating him. What does the teacher supervising the children do? They say, “Keep beating him until he says Palestine.” This is not what Quebec and Canada are about. I am concerned, and you should be concerned.

The future is not Neil Oberman; the future is Nicole and Rachel and Nati and Michael. They're the future, but when you take their futures away, you take Canada's future away. That is why I'm urging each and every one of you, when you look at what's going on, to come down to the level of the students and see what they're doing.

One of the other issues that has unfortunately been raised during what I've been doing is that people don't want to stand up. They're scared of being heard.

Do you know what I say, Madam Chair? If you do nothing, you get nothing. I choose to do something. I am here. They are here. I applaud you. I'm not here for them; I'm here for you. I can tell you this: When you go back and you deliberate on what's next for you to do, take three things into account: What does the law say, what do the students say and what does your heart say? What does your heart tell you about what we as Canadians want to be doing? Do we want to have to do this?

Do people need to hire a lawyer to go to school? It's ridiculous and unacceptable.

Personally, I protest using the law that applies to everyone. I've requested injunctions, which were rejected. However, people listened to me because they listened to the students.

We're going to bring this change because this association of students and your committee have the power—but there is no power in being quiet.

I'm going to stay within my time. I'm going to show you what the future is, ladies and gentlemen. It's a blank page. You have the opportunity, along with these people, to create a future for all of us that will be written not in blood and not in hate but in love, which you can't legislate. However, with respect, you must understand that if we don't act now, we will not be able to stop the tide of anti-Semitism. It's an illness, and it's for this parliament and our government to stop talking and start doing.

Personally, I'll be there all the way for these students.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lena Metlege Diab]

Thank you.

We'll go to Nati Pressmann, please.

[Nati Pressmann, Founder, Canadian Union of Jewish Students]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to the committee for this critical study on anti-Semitism.

My name is Nati Pressmann. I'm a first-generation Canadian Jew in my third year at Queen's University. I'm the first person in my family to be born in a country where I'm given the same rights as other citizens, despite the fact that I am Jewish.

I've always been grateful for the opportunities and peace that Canada has given me and my family. However, that peace has been blemished by anti-Semitism. Although anti-Semitism has always been present in Canada, including at universities, and Jews have consistently represented the community most frequently victimized by hate crimes, I've seen the situation get exponentially worse since October 7.

As vice-president of the World Union of Jewish Students, I observed a void in Canada. There was an absence of a national democratic organization for Jewish students. The CUJS, or Canadian Union of Jewish Students, was established to fill this gap by creating a platform for Jewish students across Canada to elect representatives who can advocate for our interests and address our concerns with university administrators, governmental bodies and Jewish and non-Jewish organizations. This need has never been greater.

On October 7, our Instagram feeds exploded with videos of Hamas's murderous assault on Israeli civilians. Our Jewish peers were horrified. They shared videos of Naama Levy being forced into a jeep by a Hamas gunman, with blood staining the crotch of her sweat pants.

Many non-Jewish students instead shared posts that celebrated the killings and purported to justify Hamas's barbarity as resistance in decolonization. A student at Queen's University wrote in a blog that it was a glorious day. That same student was given an award for equity.

I remind the committee that these incidents of outright violence and hate speech were taking place before Israel even responded to Hamas's murderous assault.

Our universities should be places of learning, critical thinking and respectful dialogue. Instead, they have become home to unsanctioned protests featuring anti-Semitic rhetoric.

We frequently hear, “There is only one solution! Intifada revolution!” For Jews, the Intifada was a series of suicide bombings that claimed the lives of up to 1,400 Israelis. Israelis like me, and the children of Israelis, grew up learning how to stay away from unattended baggage in case it was a bomb.

Across the country, Jewish students who used to wear Jewish symbols, like the Magen David, now hide them as they walk past protests, including my friends who used to wear kippot, who now instead wear baseball caps going to class. This is not because we are any less proud to be Jewish, but because our universities have allowed an environment where being openly Jewish could be a threat to our safety.

We've had to have our Jewish pride be inside of us because we are scared of being physically harmed by other students on our campuses.

Some CUJS members have relatives among the hostages in Gaza. Nonetheless, they are exposed to abuse that treats those murdered and taken hostage as perpetrators, rather than the victims they are.

Student-led groups at Queen's, McMaster, the University of Alberta and others shared posts that accused Israel of fabricating reports of sexual assaults that the family members saw of female hostages. My own friends and CUJS members saw these posts while their own family members were still in Hamas captivity, and those family members who are hostages are young women.

First-year students living away from home for the first time feel unsafe in residence. At Dalhousie, a first year Jewish student wrote “Never again” in honour of Holocaust Remembrance Day on a personal whiteboard that every student is given outside of their dorm room. When they returned to their dorm, the word “Never” had been erased.

At Queen's, first-year students have had over five mezuzoth torn down in the Leggett residence building. This is just one singular building and repeated hate crimes that Jewish students have had to face.

We have also seen frequent acts of Holocaust distortion, which is also incredibly concerning, not just because of Holocaust memory, but because of the rise of Holocaust denial and distortion, and the fact that many Canadian Jews are the descendants of Holocaust survivors.

A nursing student at the University of Manitoba posted images equating the actions of Israel to those of the Nazis in the Holocaust. The Students for Justice in Palestine group at the University of Regina held posters saying that one Holocaust is not equal to another. Similar signage has been seen at many other rallies in Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Saskatoon and Halifax.

All of these incidents result from the normalization of anti-Semitic rhetoric through inaction by university administrators, who fail to use even their own policies and their own codes of conduct to act against anti-Semitism on their own campuses. Administrators are entitled to act when students and/or faculty create a poisonous campus environment, but we have seen little to no action taken.

The increase in anti-Semitism is deeply troubling. Jewish students experience fear and anxiety. We, as a society, need to support them. We, as Canadians, need to support them, as Canadian values demand no less.

With over 300 members from over 20 university campuses, CUJS will play its part in providing such support for Jewish students who face anti-Semitism on campus and beyond. Now it's your turn to lift up our voices so that all Jewish students in Canada will be able to feel safe in their places of learning.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lena Metlege Diab]

Thank you very much.

Now we'll go to Yos Tarshish.

[Yos Tarshish, Director, Hillel Queen's, Hillel Ontario]

Honourable chair and members of the committee, I appreciate your commitment to addressing the significant and growing challenge of hatred in our society, particularly the escalating rise in Jew hatred we're experiencing on campuses.

I'm here to speak up on behalf of thousands of Jewish students across this country. My name is Yos Tarshish. I'm the director of Hillel Queen's, and I'm here representing Hillels on campuses all over the country.

I've spent about 15 years deeply immersed in Jewish student communities in Canada and around the world, and this tenure's afforded me a broad insight into the patterns of anti-Semitism, particularly in a university setting. It's allowed me to observe its fluctuations and to see when it rises and when it falls.

Anti-Semitism is not a new or novel phenomenon here in Canada. From as early as the 1920s, Canadian Jews faced systematic barriers to entry into Canadian universities. Universities like McGill only rescinded their numerous classist quotas on Jewish students in the 1960s.

In 2009, Jewish York University students had to barricade themselves inside their Hillel building to keep themselves away from a violent mob.

In 2022, Dr. Ayelet Kuper's landmark report into anti-Semitism within the University of Toronto's Temerty school of medicine uncovered really deep-seated biases that show how prejudice infiltrates even the most prestigious of academic institutions.

Sadly, these are really just the tip of the iceberg, and Jewish students are facing really terrible things every single day. We're observing this anti-Semitism on campus taking three main forms. The first is both verbal and social harassment. The second is physical and symbolic acts. The third is disqualification and exclusion.

For the first form, harassment, in February, a Jewish student walking on campus at York University had his picture taken from behind. That picture was then uploaded onto TikTok, where thousands of comments mocked his choice of kippah, or head covering. There were thousands of comments.

A story I shared yesterday in the press conference we held follows on from the story Nati shared about five mezuzahs being removed from residence buildings. In January, at the Residence Society general assembly, which is the democratically elected student government for 6,000 students in Queen's residence, when the question was asked by a first-year Jewish student of how—

[The Chair, Liberal, Lena Metlege Diab]

Mr. Tarshish, go a bit slower.

[Yos Tarshish]

At the Residence Society general assembly, when candidates were asked by a first-year Jewish student what they were going to do to fight anti-Semitism in residences, given that, at this point, four mezuzahs had been removed, no one gave a good answer. The most disturbing thing was that an audible ripple of laughter went through the room the moment the question was asked.

Anti-Semitic rhetoric is not limited to students. We've already heard terrible things coming out of professors within their classrooms and outside of them. I think the one that really shocked me was when a Concordia professor showed up at McGill and screamed at Jewish students, “Go back to Poland, sharmuta,” which is an Arabic derogatory curse-word.

In terms of physical aggression, we've had lots of examples of that tonight. At Western University, a student who hosted a Jewish event had rocks thrown through the window of her student house that night. It's her private student home. Physical assaults and threats have become alarmingly common. I've seen several videos in the last weeks from university campuses that have disturbed me greatly.

The final bit is disqualification. This, to me, is really the most pernicious form of anti-Semitism that we're seeing on campuses. It's the core demand of this encampment movement right now. Removing all representations of Zionism from campus has become.... The mask has slipped. We have gone from, “We need a ceasefire” to, “Hillel must be removed from campus, because Hillel is a Zionist cultural institution.”

So says CUPE 3903, the union of TAs at York University. It provided TAs at York with a tool kit on how they could bring Palestine into the classroom. It included as a recommendation that Hillel should not be allowed on campus.

I remind you that we have been an organization serving Canadian Jewish students for more than 80 years.

I'm proud to live in Canada, and it pains me to witness this trend in a country that is known for its inclusivity and diversity. While anti-Semitism is indeed an ancient hatred, its current resurgence on Canadian campuses is not merely a recurrence, but an intensification. It's threatening the safety and well-being of Jewish students and, by extension, the integrity of our educational institutions.

If we stand by while history's shadows lengthen into our halls of learning, we fail not only those directly affected, but also the very ideals of diversity, inclusion and justice we aspire to uphold.

It is urgent that we act now. The cost of inaction is the well-being of our future generations here in this country. Let us not be the ones who look back and wish that we had done more when we had the chance. Let's ensure that all students, regardless of background or belief, can pursue their education in an environment free from intimidation, hate and fear.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lena Metlege Diab]

Thank you very much.

We will now open the floor to questions. The way it works is we will start with six-minute rounds for each of the four political parties.

I will begin with Mr. Morantz, please, for six minutes.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just have to say thank you to all of you for coming here and sharing your stories. I don't think anyone could hear them without really being horrified. I want to say how brave you all are for coming here and telling your stories. I know it will make a difference.

I can't help but feel that this is an historic meeting. We are finally trying to deal with the issue of anti-Semitism in this country.

Mr. Oberman, you talked about the blank page and moving forward and legislating, but I want to turn the clock back to October 7 and the period between then and now. The reality is that the actions of our government have not made things better. They've actually made things far worse. I'm going to take you through a number of situations.

For example, just after October 7, the Prime Minister publicly scolded Israel and the IDF for bombing a hospital in Gaza without having all of the necessary information. It came out after that the cause was actually misfired rockets from inside Gaza, and that the IDF had nothing to do with it.

Still, this was the Prime Minister of Canada.

He directed his ambassador to the UN to vote for a blatantly anti-Israel ceasefire motion at the UN, siding with the anti-Israel UN mob. He rewarded Hamas by blocking arms sales to Israel after Hamas brutally murdered 1,200 civilians and took 200 more hostage. Worse, he failed to remove the arms ban even after Iran launched a direct attack on Israel's territory with hundreds of missiles and drones.

He rewarded Hamas by reinstating funding to UNRWA, even though UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 attacks.

He failed to unequivocally condemn the frivolous genocide convention claim launched by South Africa at the ICJ.

I think the worst thing of all, which I was present in the House for, is that he voted with his caucus, present company excepted, for a motion in Parliament that actually punished our democratic ally, Israel, and rewarded the terrorists of Hamas. Worse than all of that, at the end of that vote, almost every Liberal, present company excepted, stood up and gave themselves a standing ovation, with the NDP, in the House of Commons because they were proud of the fact that they passed this motion.

Therefore, Mr. Oberman, would you agree that the actions, and not just the inaction, of this Liberal government since October 7 have fanned the flames of anti-Semitism in Canada and exacerbated the problem on university campuses?

[Neil G. Oberman]

That is a great question, but you forgot one important thing, Mr. Morantz. When our Prime Minister invites into the House of Commons, a place of democracy and justice, a former member of the Ukrainian Nazi Party, you might not want to send that type of message to the people of Canada.

I'm no politician, sir. I'm a simple lawyer trying to do a difficult job. I'm a collections lawyer by trade, but my community came to me on March 4 and asked me to collect back their dignity, so what I'm going to do is collect back the dignity of our people. What I can tell you is people take a cue from their leaders, as they should.

It's vital to determine who's in charge, what the message is, whether the message is clear and whether people are receiving unclear messages. When you send messages that aren't clear,

When you send messages that are not clear, that's what happens: It creates ambiguity, it fuels the fire, it stokes TikTok and it stokes online hate. Do you know what hate is? Hate is like a disease. When you feed it with the wrong words and the wrong impressions, you create the atmosphere, and then you say, “Oh, we need to correct it. It's broken.”

It's broken because you broke it. Do you now want to fix something that you broke? Great, but look at these poor students. Their entire university career is going to be marred by threats and violence. What does that leave us in the future? It leaves us with a blank page.

However, sir, I agree with you. Government must be more responsible, because responsibility starts in your House. Clean up your House, and people will follow suit.

Thank you.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Thank you.

It's the same question for Ms. Cook: Do you think, given what I've outlined, that government has made the problem worse?

[Rachel Cook]

I think the EDI system has made the problem worse. Like I stated, the "equity, diversity and inclusion" meeting did not include Jewish people when they were discussing what to do about a Jewish person complaining about anti-Semitism on campus.

I think it can start at the top, but it also starts in institutions and in massively funding EDI programming, such that, quite literally, when I asked who decides who is in these EDI meetings—is it a percentage of population?—their response was, well, it's the groups that deserve equity and deserve inclusion. Well, who decides that?