{"id":82846,"date":"2026-06-10T20:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/82846\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T20:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:32:08","slug":"whos-on-carneys-new-rights-council-and-why-jewish-groups-doubt-its-credibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/82846\/","title":{"rendered":"Who’s on Carney’s new rights council\u2014and why Jewish groups doubt its credibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion announced back in February, after Prime Minister Mark Carney scrapped the special envoy roles<\/a> on antisemitism and Islamophobia, was re-announced in his June 1 address at Toronto\u2019s Holy Blossom Temple, quoting scripture, Elie Wiesel and Aristotle, and naming the one Jewish council member by name.<\/p>\n

Marc Gold<\/a> was appointed to the senate by Justin Trudeau in 2016, serving as government leader for five years before retiring at age 75 last year. The lawyer, legal scholar and businessman previously led Federation CJA and the Canada-Israel Committee.<\/p>\n

Gold declined an interview with The CJN on this subject, saying it was too early in the process and the council had not yet met.<\/p>\n

Following Carney\u2019s speech, Thornhill MP and deputy opposition leader Melissa Lantsman told reporters that the prime minster offered nothing concrete and slammed the council, \u201cheaded by the very same minister of heritage who presided over funding antisemitism in his own department<\/a> with people like Laith Marouf.\u201d It\u2019s cold comfort for Jews, she said, \u201cwithout enforcing the laws that we already have on the books to put these perpetrators in jail\u2026 I don\u2019t think there is a single Canadian or single Jewish Canadian who feels safer today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lantsman says Ottawa should ban \u201cmore than 700 IRGC terrorists that right now fundraise and intimidate\u201d communities at the core of this conflict in Canadian streets. She called for \u201cdefunding institutionalized antisemitism\u201d within government, and to \u201csee the laws that are on the books enforced.\u201d Carney, she says, should speak to all Canadians in the House of Commons, \u201cand not behind the closed-door rooms of a Liberal-friendly crowd in Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather disagrees, telling reporters, \u201cExplaining to Canadians that an attack on Jewish communities is an attack on all of us is incredibly important.\u201d That reminds Canadians, he said, that Jews have disproportionately contributed to Canada, \u201cand to exclude Jews from public spaces, from hospitals that have their names on it because they have built them, from schools that they have set up, is unconscionable. And I think it will help.\u201d The target audience wasn\u2019t Jews at Holy Blossom or even Canadian Jewry, said Housefather\u2014\u201calthough that was part of it. It was the Canadian population.\u201d<\/p>\n

While championing the Bill C-9 Combatting Hate Act, Housefather says \u201cantisemitism is not going to be conquered because we pass a law. We can make something criminal, we can regulate it,\u201d but unless Canadians of good faith call it out, \u201cthen nothing\u2019s going to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CJN asked Canadian Heritage for the council schedule, budget, members\u2019 mandate, duration and compensation. A department spokesman responded that \u201cinformation about the Council, including the terms of reference and member biographies, will be posted online in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n

ABOVE: Hear Carney\u2019s words about Canada\u2019s antisemitism crisis\u2014and the Jewish community\u2019s skepticism on a recent episode of North Star with Ellin Bessner.<\/a><\/p>\n

Carney\u2019s speech was also notable for its omissions, specifically other council members, like former Ontario Liberal MP and transport minister Omar Alghabra,<\/a> whose associations and views have stirred controversy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As Canadian Arab Federation president in 2004, Alghabra objected to reporters calling Al-Aqsa Martyrs\u2019 Brigade a terrorist group, despite Canada designating them as such in 2003. Still, Alghabra called the designation a \u201cbiased qualifier.\u201d In 2005, he criticized then-Toronto police chief Bill Blair for participating in a Walk With Israel event and for travelling to Israel.<\/p>\n

During a 2016 debate on the <\/a>Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement <\/a>in Parliament, Alghabra said it\u2019s \u201cimportant to respect the right of Israel to exist,\u201d that he did not favour boycotts, and noted \u201cmany BDS advocates are human rights champions,\u201d while adding, \u201cwe must recognize that some BDS advocates may have antisemitic motives.\u201d He also argued against double standards: \u201cFor example, criticizing the government of Israel for certain behaviour while excusing it when committed by others is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skepticism remains<\/p>\n

In a June 5 letter to Carney from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, all 10 Canadian Federations and 33 Jewish institutions questioned the suitability of some council members because of their \u201cpositions on terrorist organizations and their support for campaigns that have made public institutions and campuses hostile to Jews.\u201d That is diametrically opposed to principles articulated by Carney speech, they say, contradicting his message that antisemites \u201cdrove Jewish students from the common spaces on our university campuses.\u201d<\/p>\n

They fear this may obstruct urgent federal action, and \u201chas destroyed the credibility of the advisory council and undermined the force of your government\u2019s stated commitment to confront antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

York Centre MP Roman Baber<\/a> said Carney was \u201ctrolling\u201d Canadian Jews last week, calling the council \u201can insult. That is the prime minister\u2019s solution to synagogues being shot at and thugs harassing senior homes or marching in North York and chanting for intifada.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about national security, says Baber, who called for support of his Bill C-257<\/a> criminalizing wilful promotion of terrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Conservative leader and all of my Conservative colleagues will not tolerate this nonsense,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Other council members<\/p>\n

Also named was Alberta- and B.C.-based lawyer Avnish Nanda<\/a>, who launched a Charter challenge after the University of Alberta ordered police to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment in May 2024, arguing the rights of former students and a faculty member were violated. No ruling has been issued, but for many young Canadian Jews, encampments ushered in a hostile campus climate where students felt marginalized, harassed and coerced to justify their identities, while administrators dithered or struggled to respond, and in some cases, faculty facilitated disruptions.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite the appointment,\u201d responded University of Alberta law student Rachel Cook, who testified to Parliament<\/a> about her experiences, posting a May 2024 photo of a campus display<\/a> featuring a swastika, \u201cDeath to ZOGs\u201d (\u201cZionist Occupied Government\u201d, a longstanding neo-Nazi and KKK trope), and tribute to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist organization responsible for aircraft hijackings, massacres, assassination and bombings.<\/p>\n

Cook said speaking publicly about documented antisemitism \u201chas been seen as a greater risk than the behaviour I\u2019ve worked to draw attention to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other council members include retired Olympic speed skater Catriona Le May Doan<\/a>, who won gold at Nagano and Salt Lake City. Holder of multiple world records, and a three-time Female Athlete of the Year, she retired in 2003, and has worked as a broadcaster, motivational speaker, and community advocate. An Officer of the Order of Canada, and Canada\u2019s 2022 Beijing Chef de Mission, she has spoken openly about her Christian faith and supported various Christian charities.<\/p>\n

Martine Roy<\/a> is an LGBTQ+ rights advocate who was discharged from the Canadian Armed Forces in 1984 because of her sexual orientation during the \u201cLGBT Purge,\u201d when some 9,000 people were followed, interrogated, abused and traumatized in the military, RCMP and federal public service. A leading plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit against the federal government, her efforts helped win a historic settlement and formal apology from Ottawa in 2017. She was named Member of the Order of Canada in 2023.<\/p>\n

Dr. Aftab Erfan<\/a> is an Iranian-born urban planner, scholar and leader in public dialogue and conflict resolution with degrees from the University of British Columbia and McGill. She served as Vancouver\u2019s first chief equity officer, director of dialogue and conflict engagement at UBC, and executive director of the SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue. Erfan\u2019s work focuses on community engagement, conflict transformation and difficult conversations on public issues.<\/p>\n

Canadian Indigenous leader Gary LaPlante<\/a> of Moosomin First Nation is known for advancing Indigenous rights, intergovernmental relations and reconciliation. A key player in reconciliation efforts between Stoney Knoll First Nation descendants and Mennonite farmers in Saskatchewan, praised as a model of dialogue and relationship-building, in 2019, he was inducted as a Knight of the Order of Saint George.<\/p>\n

More community reactions<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, said Carney\u2019s speech was aimed at a Jewish community that feels abandoned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe share one thing for sure, that Israel must be part of this story. Attacks dehumanizing and delegitimizing Israel have an impact on how Jews are attacked and you see it more and more. You see more violence. I think there are more Jewish institutions attacked in Canada than anywhere else around the world. This is alarming.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Carney\u2019s speech, B\u2019nai Brith Canada CEO Simon Wolle told The CJN\u2019s Ellin Bessner<\/a> that the \u201cmassive elephant in the room\u201d was contemporary antisemitism \u201chidden in the language of anti-Zionist rhetoric.\u201d Carney never said \u201canti-Zionism,\u201d despite its centrality in the global hate movement driving the harassment of Canadian Jews, the vast majority of whom \u2014 by the most common definition \u2014 are Zionists. He said a council that took months to create is \u201cnot going to make a Jewish parent feel safer when their kid is walking to school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolle called for action on extremist influences in Canada, notably elements of the Muslim Brotherhood. \u201cWho is in this country, potentially with funding, that are bad actors and undermining the values that Canada stands for? Why are we not addressing these things?\u201d<\/p>\n

Appointed by former prime minister Brian Mulroney to chair Canada\u2019s Multiculturalism Advisory Council from 1990-1994, Karen Mock told The CJN the new council is a good idea but suffers from structural and communication problems.<\/p>\n

The former national director of the League for Human Rights said governance is an issue. \u201cIt\u2019s very confusing. When you drill down, it looks as if (Culture and Identity) Minister Marc Miller is chairing or leading this committee. I\u2019ve never heard of an advisory council or advisory committee chaired by a minister. The advice of the committee is supposed to be given to the minister. Structurally, there\u2019s a problem to start with.\u201d<\/p>\n

She notes criticisms over lack of specifics and timelines, calling the announcement premature. \u201cThe Prime Minister can easily say a mea culpa,\u201d she says, and acknowledge it\u2019s incomplete, \u201cthat there is room for improvement and that there can be more members appointed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first part of his speech, \u201cMark Carney said all the right things. Except for what was left out. If it was for a Jewish audience primarily, and allies, and not to the whole country, he should have talked a little bit more and been advised by good advisors on how to word and include some of the sources of what is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toronto-based advocacy group Tafsik said Jewish organizations \u201cembarrassed themselves\u201d by giving Carney a platform and a standing ovation. \u201cIt was pathetic,\u201d CEO Amir Epstein told The CJN. \u201cEither the prime minister is intentionally gaslighting the Jewish community and spitting in our face, or he is being led by a nefarious advisor serving their own agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone agrees.<\/p>\n

The Reform movement\u2019s Central Conference of American Rabbis lauded Carney\u2019s speech, but added that \u201charsh criticism of Israel from the Canadian government has too often created a permission structure for antisemitism across Canada\u2026. Critics rightly note that Prime Minister Carney failed to name anti-Israel, anti-Zionist activism as a proximate cause of growing antisemitism in Canada. The prime minister himself has been hypercritical of Israel in ways that are utilized to justify horrific antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maytal Kowalski, executive director of the progressive Zionist organization JSpaceCanada, said \u201cmembers of our community are rightfully scared, concerned, and in need of immediate safety and protection. If we want to address the cause rather than merely the symptom, we must confront the deeper resurgence of hate, conspiracism, and polarization in Canada.\u201d Kowalski appreciated Carney\u2019s address \u201cand willingness to engage these difficult realities. Much as we argue in our discussions about Israel, to love a country is to work toward its best self.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Joel<\/p>\n

Joel has spent his entire adult life scribbling. For two decades, he freelanced for more than a dozen North American and European trade publications, writing on home decor, HR, agriculture, defense technologies and more. Having lived at 14 addresses in and around Greater Montreal, for 17 years he worked as reporter for a local community newspaper, covering the education, political and municipal beats in seven cities and boroughs. He loves to bike, swim, watch NBA and kvetch about politics.<\/p>\n


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