{"id":95497,"date":"2026-06-19T14:43:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T14:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/95497\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T14:43:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T14:43:06","slug":"theres-a-lot-not-to-like-about-the-new-anti-hate-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/95497\/","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a lot not to like about the new anti-hate council"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about antisemitism at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto on June 1.Chris Young\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

At the opening of a national summit on antisemitism five years ago, then-senator Marc Gold told those gathered<\/a>: \u201cAntisemitism in all its forms is not a job for one summit. It\u2019s not a job for one generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

But can it be the job of one council? <\/p>\n

When Prime Minister Mark Carney gave what was supposed to be a landmark speech about antisemitism this month (which has been derided as falling far short by many, including this newspaper\u2019s editorial board<\/a>), he revealed the members of the previously announced Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion, and tasked the council with dealing with antisemitism as its first priority.<\/p>\n

Mr. Gold, the council\u2019s sole Jewish member, made the above remarks in 2021 \u2013 before the Oct. 7 attacks of 2023 and resulting Gaza war that have led to a disturbing rise in the targeting of Jews in Canada. Tackling antisemitism is now a much larger and more complex challenge.<\/p>\n

Editorial: The missing words in Mark Carney\u2019s antisemitism speech<\/a><\/p>\n

And this council has a lot more on its plate than antisemitism. Its mandate is extremely broad \u2013 and vague, even if a government spokesperson described it in an e-mail as being \u201cclear.\u201d It is \u201cto bring Canadians together and help guide our government\u2019s efforts to combat racism and hate in all their forms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hate in all its forms includes of course not just antisemitism but Islamophobia \u2013 also a rising problem \u2013 as well as hatred targeting BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) Canadians, LGBTQ folks, women and members of other religious and marginalized groups.<\/p>\n

To state the obvious: That\u2019s a lot. And the council is being led by a busy person, Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller, who has many matters vying for his attention, including the proposed social-media ban for young Canadians and the Online Streaming Act debacle.<\/p>\n

The council includes a glaring omission: not a single Black person. \u201cWe\u2019re tired of being an afterthought,\u201d said former MP Jean Augustine<\/a>, the first Black woman elected to the House of Commons, at a news conference calling on the council\u2019s mandate to explicitly include anti-Black racism and hate. <\/p>\n

The government spokesperson told The Globe the council\u2019s membership may evolve over time. <\/p>\n

Synagogue shooters were hired by a foreign entity, Secretary of State for Combatting Crime says<\/a><\/p>\n

The announced members include Aftab Erfan, executive director of the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University, who was the City of Vancouver\u2019s inaugural chief equity officer; Gary LaPlante, a Cree-speaking Plains Cree-M\u00e9tis advocate; and Martine Roy, an LGBTQ activist who was dismissed from the Canadian Forces at 19 for her sexual orientation and helped spearhead the class action lawsuit<\/a> that led to an apology from Ottawa in 2017.<\/p>\n

Also on the council is Catriona Le May Doan, retired gold-medal Olympic speedskater who is now a leadership and performance coach and motivational speaker. <\/p>\n

Avnish Nanda is a Western Canada lawyer with an interest in social justice activism. And Omar Alghabra is a former Transport Minister of Canada who was previously president of the Canadian Arab Federation.<\/p>\n

The latter two have caused a stir for some in the Jewish community<\/a>. \u201cI remember Alghabra lobbying me, before he was in politics, to keep Hezbollah legal,\u201d Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told the Western Standard<\/a>. Hezbollah is listed as a terrorist organization in Canada. <\/p>\n

As for Mr. Nanda, he has raised some eyebrows because he represented two University of Alberta alumni and one professor in a Charter challenge against the university for removing a pro-Palestine encampment in 2024. <\/p>\n

This council, as qualified (or not, depending on your perspective) as its members are, is being set up to fail. Its mandate is too wide, its leader pulled in too many directions, and the group too thin and oddly constructed. You don\u2019t need much of an imagination to envision certain members being at cross-purposes with one another. <\/p>\n

The group replaces<\/a> Canada\u2019s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia and the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. That was the government\u2019s first mistake. Why not keep those positions (and perhaps set up others) and have the various representatives sit on a wider council? <\/p>\n

The problem is urgent, but beyond this announcement, it\u2019s unclear what is happening. In responding to an interview request, one council member indicated they had not yet been officially onboarded and was waiting to have a better sense of specifics. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Canadian youth are being hired by a foreign entity to shoot up synagogues<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Government bureaucracy is notoriously snail-paced. This is no time for dawdling or endless committee discussions, but for meaningful action. This week\u2019s passing of the anti-hate bill<\/a> will offer some protection. But hate must be targeted at its root, not just its activation. It\u2019s going to be a massive challenge. Let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about antisemitism at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[3118,135,13111,111,13110,3119],"class_list":["post-95497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-column","tag-dei","tag-lederman","tag-mark-carney","tag-marsha-lederman","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}