Canadian Jewish Congress is proud to have had Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Phil Fontaine as the keynote speaker at our June 2008 Annual General Meeting in Ottawa.  It was a propitious time for such an address coming so soon after Prime Minister Stephen Harper's historic apology on the treatment of First Nations children in residential schools.
 
At the AGM, National Chief Fontaine spoke of the close relationship forged between the Canadian Jewish community and First Nations as a result of ongoing work between CJC and the AFN.  He acknowledged that CJC's strong support helped lead to the apology. He also spoke about the bond between our two peoples, and how he discovered over the past few years how much we have in common.
 
"We have suffered from the same experiences in terms of discrimination and racism. It's in the best interests of both communities to work together," said Fontaine.
 
As a direct result of the relationship that CJC and the AFN have forged, Fontaine and CJC Co-Presidents Rabbi Reuven Bulka and Sylvain Abitbol co-wrote the following op-ed, which was published in The Globe and Mail on July 31, 2008.  Please click on the link below or visit our website at www.cjc.ca.

 

One of the great hallmarks of democracy is debate, give and take, on matters of concern. Each person is unique, not only in appearance, but also in thought. Scratch down to the bare bone, and it will be almost impossible to find two people who agree on each and every matter. Even political parties, ostensibly formed because of a level of agreement on certain core issues, have strong disagreements within the party itself. We agree that we disagree. The question remains - what should be the parameters within which we voice our disagreements?
 
One easy way to explicate this is to waive all protocol, and let the sparks fly in any and all directions, with no rules, no holds barred. To a certain extent, this is the way debate unfolds. Short of libel and slander, almost anything goes. But there is a love-hate relationship with harsh, insulting rhetoric. We love it when it is hurled at the other side, but hate it when directed to ourselves or the side we endorse. Such love-hate is understandable, but it is simultaneously quite hypocritical.
 
The issue here is not a matter of rights. We all have the right to more or less say whatever we please, in however way we choose. My concern is not with rights, but with right. What is the right, the correct, the appropriate manner to engage in debate?
 
The Bible, the Torah, has more rules governing speech than almost any other regulation, including the Sabbath and the dietary laws. Speech laws are important because we value human dignity, and almost every law is rooted in the underlining obligation to preserve and protect human dignity. Human dignity is itself rooted in the firm belief that we are all God's children, and therefore deserving of the respect that should accrue to God's creations. Thus, in Jewish law, speech which vilifies, which insults, which embarrasses, which causes emotional pain and harm, is considered wrong. Yes, one has the right to such speech, but it is a right wrongly expressed, even distorted.
 
In essence, these laws are self-governing. They are most often beyond the courts to administer. We are entrusted with these laws, and with the responsibility to adhere to them. If there is a speech police, it is each and every one of us policing our own selves. 
 
We can and should be passionate about issues, but at the same time we need to be passionate about human dignity. No argument about any issue is enhanced when accompanied with disparaging remarks about those holding contrary views. Quite the opposite, arguments accompanied by personal attacks, and certainly arguments that are purely personal attacks, become severely compromised. After all, how can we respect the views of those who argue disrespectfully? Respect generates respect, disrespect generates disrespect.
 
Consider the Torah, again. It is full of arguments, between people and with God. Without exception, the pattern is clear. Whenever the argument is a respectful one, even with God, that respect is returned in kind. The argument between Abraham and God, many of the arguments between Moses and God, and on occasion the argument of the people with their leader, are all dealt with respectfully because the initial argument was advanced with respect. It is a simple formula. And it works.
 
Assuming that those in the heat of the debate are genuinely interested in the issues, they will gain the attention of the other side by removing personal attack from the issue, and just sticking to the issues. It is a strategy that works, because it is a strategy anchored in what is right, rather than in the exercise of one's rights.
 
We at CJC are not advocating that Canada implement Biblical law. What we are advocating is that we, who affirm Biblical law by our very identity, adhere to the noble speech principles enunciated in the Torah when debating the issues.  
 
We, as Jews and as Canadians, cherish our country and its values. We cherish our democracy and are willing to fight to uphold it. Democracy means that everyone is precious, that everyone is valued, that all viewpoints are worthy of consideration. This translates into cherishing all other individuals. To cherish means to respect. No court can legislate this. But it behooves us to abide by these principles, because a democracy not firmly rooted in universal respect is on shaky ground. Indeed, with every right comes a commensurate responsibility, the responsibility to do right by that right. 

A commitment to remembering the Holocaust is becoming more of a concern to some governments and political leaders who realize the moral imperative of ensuring that the Holocaust is never forgotten.
 
On July 14, 2008, Canadian Jewish Congress Pacific Region (CJCPR) hosted a meeting with the Mayor of Lodz, Mr. Jerzy Kropiwnicki, and the leadership of the CJCPR and the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. The mayor came to Vancouver to share what his city is doing to commemorate the tragedy that the Holocaust brought to the city's 231,000 Jewish inhabitants.
 
Lodz was once home to a strong and vibrant Jewish population. Before World War ll, it had the second largest Jewish community in Europe. Over 90 percent of them perished in the Holocaust.
 
Sixty years later, Kropiwnicki is leading some important initiatives to ensure that the history of the Jews in Lodz is not forgotten. In 2004, in collaboration with the Jewish community, city officials organized the Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Liquidation of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. This event consisted of educational projects, documentary reviews, gatherings of Polish, Jewish and German youth, academic conferences, and other official activities. CJC CEO Bernie M. Farber represented Canadian Jewry at that event and spoke passionately at the commemoration services as both a Canadian Jewish leader and a son of a Holocaust survivor from Poland.  An integral part of the government's commitment to Holocaust remembrance was the creation of material markers such as archives, monuments, and memorials throughout the city. Among these important sites is the Radegast Station Memorial, located in the railway station where more than 150,000 Jews were transported to Auschwitz.  A memorial stone has also been erected in the former grounds of the first Jewish cemetery.
 
While the need to remember the Holocaust goes relatively unchallenged, the role played by the Polish people during the Holocaust is still a provocative issue. Some think of the Poles solely as victims of the Nazis, others challenge this image and question how much the Polish population collaborated with the Nazis by being "hostile witness" or bystanders. The important thing, however, is that the silence around these issues has been broken. The Holocaust has become a major part of the historical consciousness of many Polish people. It is through the initiatives like the ones taken by Mayor Kropiwnicki, that true dialogue between Poles and Jews has been initiated. It is by creating an historical awareness of the past that expectations of a better future can begin. 

 

 

This summer Philip Riteman received an honourary doctorate from St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Riteman, who has already received an honourary doctorate from Memorial University of Newfoundland, was recognized for his willingness to share his painful memories of the Holocaust in a way that promotes human rights and justice.
 
Riteman speaks on behalf of the millions of a perished community that can no longer speak.   Born in Shereshevo, located in the Bialystok district of Poland, Riteman and his family were sent to the Pruzhany ghetto near his hometown in 1941. The following year, they were part of a group of thousands, deported and packed into boxcars for a week's journey to the Auschwitz Birkeneau extermination camp. Tatooed and branded as prisoner 98706, he would be the sole survivor of an extended family of 30 - plus members.  After his imprisonment in the Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, Oranienburg and Landsburg concentration camps, he was among the thousands forced to march as human shields to protect the retreating German army.  Finally he was freed from the death march by the American VII Army in May 1945.
 
Following the war, Riteman was sponsored by an aunt and moved to Newfoundland.   He later established a successful import trading company in St. John's which later relocated to Halifax.  In 1989, after forty years of silent mourning, Riteman first spoke of his experience as a Holocaust survivor at St. Stephen High School.   He decided to speak about his experiences in order to give a voice to the millions who died and to silence those deniers of the Holocaust.   Since then, Riteman has spoken at schools, churches and universities in dozens of communities throughout North America.   As he continues to bear witness, Riteman hopes to touch many lives and inspire young people with the message that "it is better to love, than to hate."

 

 

Canadian Jewish Congress CEO Bernie M. Farber attending the American Jewish Labor Committee's annual Human Rights Awards dinner on Wednesday July 9, 2008 in New York. 
 

 

From left to right: Stuart Appelbaum, President Jewish Labor committee and President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union; Bernie M. Farber, CEO CJC and Bill (William) Lucy, International Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and Founder and President of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.