Achievements of the Government of Quebec in the fight against racism and discrimination

Montreal – Yesterday, Ministers Charette and Lafrenière, accompanied by Christopher Skeete, MNA for Ste-Rose, presented the government’s record of achievements in response to the 25 actions recommended a year ago in the report Le racisme au Québec: tolérance zéro.

CIJA Quebec Vice President Eta Yudin said:

“We welcome the Quebec government’s determination to adopt concrete measures to fight antisemitism and its decision to go beyond the 25 recommended actions in the fight against discrimination and racism. Minister Benoît Charette reiterated the importance of the Government’s recent adoption of IHRA’s normative definition of antisemitism, as recommended by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) in our submission to the Groupe d’action contre le racisme. We would also like to highlight the government’s commitment to improve training for police officers to identify hate crimes – another recommendation CIJA had made.

“However, we must remember that these actions are only the first steps in the fight against hate and discrimination. Unfortunately, we have seen a troubling increase in antisemitic incidents in 2021. Disturbing data recently released show a significant number of antisemitic incidents and almost as many hate crimes reported in the first half of 2021 as in all of 2020. CIJA recommends that a study be conducted in connection with this rise in antisemitism, as has been done for other forms of hate. In addition, the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse has noted that the number of discrimination complaints is increasing, and we are pleased to see that the government is willing to invest resources to respond to this situation.

“We also encourage the government to support the efforts of the various police forces, and in particular those of the specialized hate crime units, and we stress the importance of continuing to provide them with the tools they need to carry out adequate follow-up when a hate incident is reported.”

For more information

Official Press release – Gouvernement du Québec: Premier anniversaire du rapport du Groupe d’action contre le racisme – Le gouvernement du Québec rend compte de ses réalisations en matière de lutte contre le racisme et la discrimination, https://www.newswire.ca/fr/news-releases/premier-anniversaire-du-rapport-du-groupe-d-action-contre-le-racisme-le-gouvernement-du-quebec-rend-compte-de-ses-realisations-en-matiere-de-lutte-contre-le-racisme-et-la-discrimination-862074392.html

Press Release: Federation CJA and CIJA Applaud the Government of Quebec’s Adoption of the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism: https://www.cija.ca/press-release-ihra-quebec/

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The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) is the advocacy agent of the Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA.