B'nai Brith Canada
Formation	1875
Type	Organizations based in Canada
Legal status	Active
Purpose/focus	Advocacy, Education, Network, Social Work
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Region served	Canada
Membership	4000 members[1]
Official languages	English, French
President	Joe Bogoroch
Parent organization	B'nai B'rith International
Website	www.bnaibrith.ca

B'nai Brith Canada (BBC) is the Canadian section of B'nai Brith (the Canadian organization uses no apostrophe in "Brith"). It was founded in 1875 and is the country's oldest Jewish service organization.

Contents 1 Members 2 Publications 3 Controversies 3.1 Aptowitzer resignation 3.2 Internal dispute 3.3 Hassan Diab 3.4 "Unholy alliance" ad 4 Awards 5 Investigation by MHRC 5.1 Investigation 5.2 Criticism of MHRC 6 Agencies and Programs of B'nai Brith[13] 7 External links 8 See also 9 References

[edit] Members

According to an article in The Forward, B'nai Brith Canada had 4,000 full-dues paying members in 2007.^[1] At the time the organization was struggling financially and mortgaged its head office in order to raise $850,000 to meet expenses.^[1]

[edit] Publications

B'nai Brith Canada owns and operates the weekly Jewish Tribune as a subsidiary publication.^[2] The newspaper claims a circulation of over 62,000 copies a week which would make it the largest Jewish publication in Canada.^[3]

[edit] Controversies

On November 29, 2002, B'nai Brith Canada sued the Canadian government for "failing to crack down on the fundraising efforts of [the Lebanese Islamic militant group] Hezbollah."^[4] About a week later, Canada made the decision to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

[edit] Aptowitzer resignation

In 2004, Adam Aptowitzer resigned from his position as the Ontario chairman of B’nai Brith Canada’s Institute for International Affairs after making statements on The Michael Coren Show defending the use of "terror" tactics by Israel against Palestinians. B'nai Brith Canada disavowed his opinions.^[5]

[edit] Internal dispute

In 2007, a group calling itself Concerned Members of B’nai Brith Canada charged that a new constitution had been passed despite a majority of members having voted against it at a general meeting. Henry Gimpel, a former Toronto lodge president, told The Forward that "[t]here’s too much of [B’nai Brith Canada] being run by one person.”^[1] Frank Dimant, CEO of BBC, responded to the criticism over the constitution by saying that BBC followed proper governance procedures and that B'nai Brith International's Court of Appeal determined that the constitution was properly enacted. Gimpel and seven other BBC members were expelled in June 2008 for what a disciplinary committee determined to be "conduct unbecoming a member." Gimpel referred to the committee as a kangaroo court.^[6]

[edit] Hassan Diab

In July 2009, B'nai Brith Canada issued a press release^[7] denouncing Carleton University for hiring Hassan Diab, who was alleged by French authorities to have been responsible for the 1980 Paris synagogue bombing. Diab was living under virtual house arrest at the time (he had been granted bail but under very strict conditions) due to an extradition request from France. Diab, who has denied any involvement with the synagogue bombing, has not been convicted of any crime. Within a few hours of the B'nai Brith Canada complaint, Carleton University announced that it would “immediately replace the current instructor, Hassan Diab" in order to provide students “with a stable, productive academic environment that is conducive to learning.” B’nai Brith executive vice-president Frank Dimant later stated that "the university did the right thing.”^[8]

[edit] "Unholy alliance" ad

On November 9, 2009, B'nai Brith Canada ran a full page ad in the National Post equating radical Islam with Nazism. The ad drew the ire of the group Canadian Jewish Holocaust Survivors" with organization co-president Sidney Zoltak telling the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "We survivors have fought everybody that tries to trivialize the Shoah. We get very, very angry when it is done by Jewish leaders. I think that they should know better." Zlotak added that it is "horrible for a survivor to hear that anybody is compared to the evil of the leaders of Nazism," and "to compare the situation between now and then is not healthy. I'm upset about it." Barbara Landau, co-chair of the Canadian Association of Jews and Muslims, called the ad "distressing."^[9]

[edit] Awards

It was on B'nai Brith Canada's recommendation that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was awarded B'nai B'rith International's Presidential Gold Medal to honor what it described as his commitment to the Jewish people and the State of Israel.^[10]

Award-winning film producer Robert Lantos has been a long-time supporter of B'nai Brith Canada and in 2008 was awarded the organization's Award of Merit.^[11] Among the other Canadian notables to have received the Award of Merit of B'nai Brith Canada are Frank Stronach, Tony Comper, Al Waxman, Wallace McCain, Lloyd Axworthy, Mayor Jean Drapeau, George Cohon, Leo Kolber, former Liberal Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin, hockey legend Jean Béliveau, Paul Tellier, former Ontario Premier Bill Davis, Ambassador Allan Gotlieb, Monty Hall, Izzy Asper, Guy Charbonneau, former Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon, former Liberal Deputy Prime Minister of Canada Herb Gray, former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed, Edward Samuel Rogers, and former Alberta Premier Ernest Manning.

[edit] Investigation by MHRC

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[edit] Investigation

In January 2004, Shahina Siddiqui, executive director of the Islamic Social Services Association, filed a formal complaint against B'nai Brith Canada under the "discriminatory signs and statements" section of the Manitoba Human Rights Code. After speaking with several people who attended a Winnipeg conference on terrorism hosted by B'nai Brith Canada in October 2003, she wrote that the event was biased against Muslims and would encourage the response teams in attendance to engage in racial profiling. The Manitoba Human Rights Commission (MHRC) accepted the complaint and began an investigation that would last five years. In 2009, the MHRC issued a report that dismissed the complaint due to a lack of evidence.^[12] MHRC vice-chairwoman Yvonne Peters subsequently wrote that "the full investigation of the complaint that took place was warranted" and that "the decision was based solely on the insufficiency of the evidence with respect to this particular section of the Human Rights Code."^[12]

[edit] Criticism of MHRC

An editorial in the National Post made several criticisms of the investigation:

• B'nai Brith Canada was never told of the identity of the people Shahina Siddiqui based her complaint on.
• It has never been revealed what exactly is alleged to have been said at the conference.
• MHRC investigator, Tracy Lloyd, spoke with seven anonymous witnesses, including one as late as November 2006. However, only one, a city of Winnipeg employee, shared Siddiqui's criticism that the conference was "one-sided." One of the witnesses, a diversity relations officer, stated that it was "pretty professional," and said police in general are capable of putting almost anything they hear into proper context.
• The MHRC commissioned a "secret expert report" but refused B'nai Brith's request to know the expert's identity, mandate or material provided. The secret report has still not been made public.^[12]

David Matas, B'nai Brith's senior counsel, accused MHRC vice-chairwoman Yvonne Peters of taking a contradictory position, stating that:

"So what they're saying is that a full investigation is warranted even when there's no evidence, as long as the accusation is within the jurisdiction of the board. There's a lot of problems with this. What basically happened is that Siddiqui heard a rumour. She makes a complaint, as a result of which the commission goes on a five-year fishing expedition. They don't find anything. We're co-operating with them. And then they dismiss the complaint. That's not a proper procedure, in my view."^[12]

[edit] Agencies and Programs of B'nai Brith^[13]

Centre for Community Action
Affordable Housing
Community Volunteer Service Programs
League for Human Rights
24-hour, 7-day-a-week Anti-Hate Hotline
Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents
Institute for International Affairs
Canadian Israel Public Affairs Committee (CIPAC)
Government Relations Office
National Task Force on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research
Operation Thank You: Educational Initiative Honouring Canadian Troops in Afghanistan
Communications Department
Legal Desk
Campus Outreach Program
Young Leadership Development Groups
Network of B'nai Brith Lodges
Sports Leagues
Jewish Canada Information Service

[edit] External links

• Bnai Brith Canada

[edit] See also

• Canadian Jewish Congress
• Canada-Israel Committee
• Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee
• Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy
• Independent Jewish Voices (Canada)

[edit] References

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