This Week in Canadian Jewish Advocacy, March 3, 2024

CIJA

|March 03, 2024

This week, we highlighted the government’s action to counter online hate, facilitated dialogue between our spiritual leaders and our elected officials, and experienced the new reality in Israel.

Read on to learn more.

CIJA

As Jews know all too well, what happens online does not stay online. It affects our community, our children, in real life.

Over the past several years, CIJA has worked intensively both domestically and internationally to ensure legislation addresses the hateful rhetoric, harassment, and intimidation Jewish and other vulnerable communities face online, as well as to target those who use the internet to prey on and radicalize individuals for terror.

On Monday, February 26, Minister of Justice Arif Virani tabled the long-awaited Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act - the Government of Canada’s plan to combat antisemitism, online hate, and online terrorist content – which has been allowed to fester on the internet for far too long. It protects vulnerable communities from the disproportionate amount of hate they receive online, while respecting freedom of speech.

While not perfect, and still requiring study at committee, with this Act, we have a chance to diminish Jew-hatred online. Tell your local Member of Parliament that you want them to support the Online Harms Act.

Tell Your MP to support the Online Harms Act!

This week, CIJA accompanied a delegation of Orthodox Rabbis from across Canada to Parliament Hill to meet with decision-makers and discuss the important matters affecting their congregations and Canada's Jewish community. They met with Members of Parliament from both the Liberal and Conservative Parties, Public Safety Canada, and dignitaries including Israeli Ambassador Iddo Moed, and Deborah Lyons, Canada's Special Envoy for Preserving Holocaust Remembrance & Combatting Antisemitism.

Discussion focused on rising antisemitism in their communities, how the new changes to the Security Infrastructure Program (SIP) have impacted their congregations, and on other issues directly affecting the Orthodox community, including kashrut regulations and cost.

CIJA’s Board of Directors were in Israel this week to experience firsthand the new reality that Israelis are living. Over three days, they met with elected officials, dignitaries, media, and academics for in-depth briefings on the changing landscape of Israeli society, regional security, and diplomatic relations. The group visited communities near Gaza that were attacked by Hamas terrorists, including the Bedouin village of Rahat to meet the family of a hostage, and visited Hostages Square in Tel Aviv where they spoke with Israeli families to hear their stories of heartache and survival.