Members Blog

I want to give you some background on the organization.  CIJA was previously the Canada/Israel committee and is fundedby the Jewish federations of Canada.  Kingston is part of the small communities grouping.    Toronto is the largest federation in Canada and contributes over 40% of the funding of CIJA.  Montreal federation is the second largest contributor followed by Vancouver. 

Six years ago the CIJA budget was about $11 million dollars.  The federations decided that they wanted more control over how their dollars were spent, and slashed the CIJA budget to about $6.5 million.  

The organized Canadian Jewish world thought we were in a great position prior to October 7th,  and that national strategies against antisemitism were not as important as in the past. Then October 7th took place.  We were caught unprepared and did not really understand the underlying antisemitism in Canada, especially on university campuses.  Toronto has been particularly affected, with a Mayor and police force that have not been strong enough on shutting down illegal protests.  Much of the antisemitism in Kingston is emanating from the Queen's campus,  particularly the medical and law schools. We are very fortunate in Kingston that we have a supportive Mayor.

In 2025 the CIJA budget was boosted to $8 million dollars. In 2026 the CIJA budget will be about $12 million dollars. At the very least the budget needs to be $16 million to meet the current vision of CIJA to have more staff members across the country fighting antisemitism battles at the federal government level,  provincial legislatures, City Halls, university campuses, boards of education and wherever else antisemitism pops up. 

In the current plan, Ontario is going to get a full-time coordinator for the small communities with part-time staff in at least 5 different communities including Kingston.  This is going to be run out of the Toronto UIA/UJA office.  Currently our fundraising efforts in Kingston for UIA/UJA are not raising enough to pay our local share of national collective responsibility.  Our UIA/UJA campaign in Kingston used to raise about $75,000 a year.  Now we are raising about $20,000.

My goal as the small communities board member on CIJA is to raise the profile of CIJA and give the Kingston Jewish Community a reason to contribute more funds. 

Kingston does take advantage of CIJA resources.  We have had help from CIJA with staff time and resources for programming.  and assistance trying to get the IHRA definition of antisemitism passed at City Hall; bringing in speakers; doing antisemitism training at the board of education; and asking the CIJA legal task force for legal advice.  Melissa Greenberg volunteers on the legal task force,  and she is not shy on calling on CIJA for help in Kingston.  

CIJA has been mostly in reactive mode since October 7th.  It has been an uphill battle in Canada.  Some of the battles CIJA is fighting:

1) Canadian/Israeli government relations are at an all time low.  Currently Canada has an arms embargo on Israel which was put in place when Hamas invaded Israel.   Neither our current foreign minister Anita Anaud, or our former foreign minister, Melanie Joly are fans of Israel.  They continually call out Israel in a disproportionate way, compared to calling out Hamas, Hezzbollah, the Housti’s, ISIS, and the Moslem Brotherhood who all have attacked Israel.  Prime Minister Mark Carney has publicly stated that if Prime Minister Netanyahu visits Canada, he will be arrested to face charges of war crimes put forward by the International Court of Justice. 

For those who attended the Natasha Hausdorff presentation at Queen’s University organized by Melissa Greenberg and her committee through the law school, you would have heard how those claims of war crimes were debunked by Natasha based on the ICJ definition of Genocide. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney also publicly recognized a Palestinian State at the United Nations last September after promising the Jewish community that he would not recognize a Palestinian state until the PLO removed the "pay for slay" program in their constitution; held fair and open elections; and agreed to cease terrorist activities against Israel.  (Currently the PLO is updating their constitution and the "Pay for Slay" program is still in the constitution and there is no mention of a two state solution by the PLO)

CIJA has made it a priority to work with Jewish allies of Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Israeli Ambassador to Canada to find a way to “warm up” relations between the government of Israel and the government of Canada.  Removing the arms embargo on Israel by Canada would go a long way to breaking the logjam. 

2) Canadian Jews make up 1% of the Canadian population but have suffered 70% of hate crimes since October 7th.  Jewish institutions are spending tens of millions of dollars to upgrade their security.  It is estimated that the Jewish community will invest $100 million into security in 2026.  No other minority group in Canada is facing a security issue of this magnitude.  Prime Minister Carney promised us increased government funding, but keeps delaying making a decision.  Our own Beth Israel synagogue has received  grants from the government to upgrade our security systems.   CIJA continues to lobby the federal government for more funding.  

3) CIJA has been involved in lobbying efforts at the Toronto International Film Festival, JNF losing its charitable tax status; illegal and hateful demonstrations against the Jewish community and Israel across Canada; threats against Jewish summer camps; prosecuting hate crimes against our community; a one-sided exhibition at the Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg;   trying to get Bill C-9 passed to tighten the hate laws against antisemitism; ensuring that kosher meat slaughter continues to be allowed in Canada plus many more issues at the federal, provincial and local level.  The latest news is the Canadian Zionist Cultural Organization lost their charitable tax status last week, and CRA has identified 30 other  Jewish charities that they are investigating to cancel their charitable tax status. 

On a provincial level the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario has hired IJF  (Independent Jewish Voices) to deliver Holocaust education for their members.  IJV is a fringe organization that does not recognize the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and does not support the State of Israel.  IJF should not be the organization providing training to our public school teachers. 

CIJA continues to hire outstanding staffers who have experience in government relations and extensive lobbying backgrounds to protect our Jewish community in Canada. CIJA also has over 300 lawyers who are donating their time to the CIJA legal task force, including Melissa and my daughter Erin. 

Finally, we are in a struggle as a Jewish community in Canada.  Our new CIJA executive director, Noah Shack, has reached out to other Jewish organizations to help coordinate our messaging. CIJA is working with B’nai Brith Canada, Honest Reporting, Allies for a Strong Canada, and other organizations.  

I will continue to keep you updated. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions or concerns. I look forward to having more resources in Kingston to keep our community safe. 

As you see the benefits of national lobbying efforts on your behalf, I hope you will financially support the campaign this fall. 


Thank you.

Richard Kizell