Members' Blog
Antisemitism has reared its ugly head in Canada.
A message from Richard Kizell, CIJA board member representing the small Jewish communities of Canada
I have been receiving feedback and ideas from many in the community. I believe that there are established organizations doing a great job, but need more participants signing petitions; they need more donations; and they need more of our supporters contacting our member of Parliament and our Prime Minister.
On Friday August 1st, CIJA sent out an action alert asking supporters to sign a petition and to contact their member of parliament. 9,000 Canadians signed emails that were sent to the Prime Minister, and 800 constituents called their MP's. This is a good start, but with close to 400,000 Jews in Canada, we need to be louder and more involved.
For our non-Jewish supporters, Allies for a Strong Canada, is a non-denominational organization headed by General Rick Hillier to fight antisemitism. www.theallies.ca Ask your friends who want to support us to sign up with this organization to receive relevant information.
CIJA is the leading organization to advocate for Jews and for Israel as a democratic county. CIJA also has a legal task force with over 300 Jewish lawyers volunteering their time to use existing Canadian laws to fight discrimination and antisemitism. Melissa Greenberg has volunteered her time on this task force, and I am proud to say that our younger daughter, Erin, has also volunteered in British Columbia. Sign up for CIJA's action alerts at www.ActionHub.ca You can also sign up at www.CIJA.ca for emails and information on Jewish advocacy.
As I mentioned in previous emails, I am also a big fan of what B'nai Brith is doing. www.bnaibrith.ca
B'nai Brith is also using the legal system to fight against antisemitism in Canada.
The Abraham Global Peace Initiative is headquartered in Toronto. www.agpiworld.com
If you want to do a deeper dive in the inaccuracies in the news media, especially the Toronto Star, CBC and La Presse, sign up for Honest Reporting Canada. The media is continually "caught" reporting false news, and then admitting their errors. www.honestreporting.ca
As many of you know, our very own, Yos Tarshish, is joining CJPAC this month which is led by Mark Waldman. It is confusing, but CJPAC can do things that CIJA can't do. CIJA is able to issue tax receipts for advocacy work that is non-political. CJPAC can do political lobbying and relies on donations where no tax receipts can be issued. www.CJPAC.ca
Get involved. Sign up to receive emails from the organization that fits your philosophy. Sign the petitions.
Ask your non-Jewish friends who support us to sign up for Monday morning alerts from Allies for a Strong Canada.
... and teach your children about advocacy by showing up for one of the "Run for your Lives" rallies on a Sunday morning. Hopefully the hostages come back very soon, and we can stop the rallies.
The good news is the executive directors of all the above organizations are working together to avoid overlap, and to co-ordinate their messaging. The organizations are trying not to compete with each other, but to compliment each other.
Richard Kizell
CIJA board member representing the small Jewish communities of Canada.
