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B’nai Brith Canada urged federal Justice Minister David Lametti and his provincial counterparts to ensure Canadian judges are educated in the details of the Holocaust.

The call by the advocacy organization came after the Montreal trial of Gabriel Sohier Chaput for willful promotion of hate ended on Friday.

B’nai Brith pointed out that crown prosecutor Patrick Lafrenière argued in his closing statements that the court could take for granted that, when Chaput referred to “non-stop Nazism” in his writings, he was referring to persecution and violence against Jews.

But Judge Manlio Del Negro said that the prosecution failed to establish that the murder of Jews in the Holocaust was a consequence of Nazi ideology.

“Every Canadian should be appalled,” said Sam Goldstein, B’nai Brith’s director of legal services. “We don’t expect Holocaust denial and distortion from our courts. The prosecutor does not need to establish that the Holocaust happened. No expert witness is needed. The Jewish community is outraged.”

B’nai Brith called for the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which the Canadian government had adopted and which recognizes that denial and distortion of the Holocaust are forms of hate that target Jews, to “form an inherent part of judges’ training.”

“B’nai Brith notes that Canada has worked to ensure that those named to the bench are more sensitive to domestic violence and hatred aimed at different groups,” B’nai Brith said in a statement. “The Chaput case points to a need for judges to understand antisemitism and the context of the Holocaust.”

B’nai Brith CEO Michael Mostyn called Del Negro remarks “unacceptable.”

“The murders of six million Jews is a historical fact. It does not have to be proven again and again in a courtroom. The accused, Chaput, allegedly invoked the Holocaust while writing on a hateful pro-Nazi website, amounting to a clear-cut incitement to hate and violence.”