June 13, 2011: CJC leader runs for the Liberals in the Ontario election

By Michael Regenstreif

I saw Shimon Fogel recently and he told me the details of the long-anticipated merger of Canada’s major Jewish advocacy organizations – including the Canada-Israel Committee, of which he’s been the long-time CEO, and the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) – would be announced sometime this month. (It’s even possible the announcement was made sometime in between my writing this column and your reading it.)

Fogel is to be CEO of the new organization – temporarily being called Newco – created by the merger.

One person who won’t be on Fogel’s senior staff, at least for the first four or five months, is Ottawa native Bernie Farber, who has worked at the CJC for 27 years and has been the CEO since 2005.

Late in May, Farber announced he’s taking a leave-of-absence to run on Premier Dalton McGuinty’s team as the Liberal candidate in the suburban Toronto riding of Thornhill, the Ontario riding with the highest proportion of Jewish residents. He’ll be looking to unseat Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman – who is also Jewish – in the October 6 provincial election.

Shurman was elected to the Ontario Legislature in the 2007 election, when a cornerstone of the Progressive Conservative platform was extending public funding to faith-based day schools. Until then, and now, the only faith-based schools that receive public funding in Ontario are Roman Catholic. Most other provinces, including Quebec, have long had formulas for funding all faith-based day schools that meet provincial curriculum standards. The funding proposal was not popular with voters in 2007, and John Tory’s Tories were soundly defeated by McGuinty’s Liberals. Thornhill was probably one of the few Ontario ridings in which the issue actually helped elect a Tory.

Funding for day schools has been a major concern of the Jewish community in Ontario for decades.

At the Federation AGM, in her final address as Jewish Federation of Ottawa chair, Donna Dolansky noted that one of the major challenges for the Federation is establishing a firm financial footing for the Ottawa Jewish Community School. That the school – and virtually all Jewish day schools in Ontario – faces financial difficulties is largely attributable to the lack of public funding provided in most other provinces.

The Canadian Jewish Congress has always been a leader in the struggle for Jewish day school funding. In fact, Farber’s first CJC job in 1984 was lobbying the Ontario government on the school funding issue – and it’s been an issue of concern to him ever since.

And, Farber says, it’s not an issue he’ll give up on should he win the Thornhill seat. Whether as a government or opposition MPP, he plans to continue working on the issue, despite McGuinty’s unequivocal stance against non-Catholic faith-based day school funding.

“While the premier and I may disagree on this subject, I’ll have the opportunity to speak inside the tent and try to effect change,” he told the Canadian Jewish News.

Farber – who says he’ll return to a senior position in the reorganized Jewish advocacy organization, should he not win in Thornhill – might also have his work cut out for him on the school funding issue even if the Tories win the election.

Although funding for faith-based day schools was a major plank in the Progressive Conservative platform in 2007, there’s not a word about it in the 2011 election platform recently released by party leader Tim Hudak.

March 8, 2010: All Ontario MPPs come together in a rare show of unanimity

By Michael Regenstreif

You’re reading this column about a week or 10 days after I sat down to write it on Friday morning, February 26.

As I write, we’re three days away from the start of Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) events aimed at delegitimizing the State of Israel on campuses – including Carleton and the University of Ottawa – in about 40 cities in Canada, the United States and western Europe. Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal campuses are among those in which IAW events have the highest profile.

The events will take place just as this issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin is being printed, mailed and delivered. So, I’m writing without knowing how IAW unfolded. Or, for that matter, how Size Doesn’t Matter turned out. Size Doesn’t Matter was a concurrent campaign carried out by pro-Israel student groups aimed at countering the demonization of the Jewish state, at showing the totality of what Israel is all about: from its roles as a cultural, scientific and high-tech giant despite the tiny size of its territory and population, to its being a centre of human rights and liberal democracy in the Middle East.

I wrote about IAW last issue in this space and don’t need to devote much space to reiterating what I said then about the motives of IAW organizers and supporters and about why the word ‘apartheid’ is false, offensive and counterproductive to efforts aimed at achieving a just peace and a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians. I would, though, like to call your attention to a couple of things.

On February 25, the Ontario Legislature unanimously passed a resolution condemning IAW, which was introduced by Peter Shurman, the Progressive Conservative MPP for Thornhill, the Toronto-area riding with Ontario’s largest Jewish population.

In the debate, Liberal and NDP MPPs rose to support the resolution, which stated that, “in the opinion of this House, the term ‘Israeli Apartheid Week’ is condemned as it serves to incite hatred against Israel, a democratic state that respects the rule of law and human rights, and the use of the word ‘apartheid’ in this context diminishes the suffering of those who were victims of a true apartheid regime in South Africa.”

Although the resolution was introduced by the MPP of a riding with a huge Jewish population, there is only a small handful of ridings in the province with substantial Jewish populations. So, with MPPs from all of the parties coming together in a rare showing of unanimity, it means a lot.

Let’s be clear.

The resolution is not, as some IAW supporters have claimed, an attempt to stifle either free speech or debate about Israel and the Palestinians. It simply recognizes and condemns the use of terminology meant solely to demonize Israel, to incite hatred against the country and to intimidate Israel’s supporters.

Ontario’s MPPs – from across the political spectrum and from all parties in the legislature – are to be congratulated for their leadership on this issue and for taking an unequivocal stand in support of democracy and human rights and against the incitement to hatred that is IAW.

Also, on February 25, Leonard Stern, the editorial pages editor of the Ottawa Citizen, published an excellent column he wrote about IAW. It was well worth reading.

My office is on the Jewish Community Campus and many of my daily interactions are with other Jewish community professionals, lay leaders and, of course, Bulletin readers.

I also pay close attention to the mainstream, alternative and specialized media and their coverage of issues of concern to our community.

IAW has been a major topic of concern for many people I’ve talked with over the past few weeks. But, a couple of conversations with (non-Jewish) Ottawa community leaders about IAW that I’ve been part of the past couple of days are making me wonder if the general population is paying any attention to IAW.

The conversations I’m talking about were with well-established, well-informed people who are highly active in public affairs in Ottawa and both were almost completely unaware of IAW.

Maybe, IAW is just about people on a certain fringe talking to other like-minded folks on the same fringe.

Maybe, IAW is justly falling on the deaf ears it deserves.

People who truly care about peace and justice for both Israelis and Palestinians recognize IAW for what it is.