The CEO of B’nai Brith Canada has called for a debate on amending Canada’s criminal code in order to have specific hate crime laws.
Michael Mostyn argued that “the time has come in our country to implement and enforce its hate-crimes laws.”
Writing in a new book titled, “Inspiring Canadians – 40 Brilliant Canadians and Their Visions for the Nation,” Mostyn said that the country needs specific hate crime laws in order to better deal with the ongoing problem of hate crime.
Mostyn, who was one of 40 Canadians who wrote chapters in the book, lamented in his chapter – “Standing Up Against Intolerance” – about the lack of specific hate crime training and units for police across Canada.
“We’ve started pushing for. . .special training in law enforcement to handle hate crimes,” Mostyn divulges. “There should be a police hate-crimes unit in every city in Canada with over 200,000 people. Many cities already have those units, but is everybody on the force aware of their responsibilities? Do we have crown attorneys looking to deal with these issues? Hate-crimes cases can be complicated.”
He noted that often charges only happened because B’nai Brith brought forward an antisemitic article written in a foreign language to the police.
“We’ve often brought forward cases based on newspaper articles that attack Jews, written in a foreign language,” he said. “Was the judicial system going to pick that up on its own? Very unlikely. It’s human nature not to want to deal with things that are complicated and time-consuming.”
Writing in the book, Mostyn said that B’nai Brith has interacted with many excellent police officers who are devoted to seeing perpetrators of hate crimes face justice.
“On the other hand,” he added, “there are a lot of examples of the police just wanting complainants to go away.”
Mostyn wrote descriptions of the types of hate and antisemitic incidents that have been occurring in Canada.
“Vandalism takes place with too much frequency,” he said. “We see the swastika painted. Cemeteries are often targeted, gravestones toppled and destroyed. We see derogatory terms about Jews written. People’s homes are defaced. Mezuzah scrolls, which are on the door frame of almost every Jewish home even when the occupants aren’t particularly religious, have been desecrated.”
Regular vandalism to driveways and garage doors of Jewish homes “is traumatic,” he said.
“You think you’re the same as everybody else. All of a sudden, somebody reminds you that you aren’t, and it’s sickening.”
Mostyn said in the book that it is important for Jews to look to the future with hope.
“We don’t view ourselves, by and large, as victims,” he said. “We try not to dwell on the past but would rather move forward. Canada is a great country with a diverse population that can do wonderful things. Yet antisemitism is real. It’s happening. And no one should be satisfied with the status quo.”