Copyright Southam Publications Inc. Sep 5, 2008
Ste. Agathe is no longer the place of barriers and discrimination that some of us remember from our youth. It is a town of tolerance and mutual respect, and any incidents of religious or racial aggression or discrimination, are quickly denounced by municipal authorities and the police.
Yes, there have been some problems in recent times, relating in particular to the presence of an ultra-orthodox Jewish community. Yes, last month there was an episode of physical aggression. The indications are, however, that the perpetrators were a bunch of adolescents who have no support in the community.
Mayor Laurent Paquette and the municipal council have been solidly supportive of the local Jewish community. Captain Gilbert Lafreniere of the Surete du Quebec has been assiduous in pursuing the investigation and taking preventive measures against other incidents. Rabbis Chalom Chriqui and Emanuel Carlebach have been unstinting in their praise of the police and the municipal council, and have expressed regret that some people have sensationalized the episode.
The Canadian Jewish Congress, Quebec Region, has been in steady communication, since the beginning, with the community, the municipal authorities and the Surete du Quebec.
When an incident of this kind occurs, it is important to analyze its causality and develop a preventive program for the future. We have therefore undertaken to meet the school authorities of Ste. Agathe, notably at the polyvalente, to encourage the intensified teaching of knowledge of the other and respect for differences. Anti-Semitism today is no longer the mainstream phenomenon that it was 70 years ago, but it has not disappeared and it must not be allowed to flourish.
Another recent episode was, in fact, much more troubling because of the conspicuousness of the people who perpetrated it. In protesting against the federal government's withdrawal of funding to certain cultural programs, many actors, artists and musicians marched in downtown Montreal, some carrying placards with swastikas and showing authority figures with Nazi armbands.
No matter how angry we might be at a government decision, it is inappropriate to compare Canada to Hitler's Germany. To shout "Heil Harper!", as musician Walter Boudreau is reported to have done, is an awful hyperbole that injures thousands of Holocaust survivors, millions of people subjugated by the Wehrmacht, and thousands of Canadian and Allied troops who put their lives on the line to protect our liberties. Let us keep our rhetoric proportionate and let us not make the irresponsible actions of a few young hoodlums into a social problem of fundamental significance. Quebec is a good place to live, and the vast majority of us have every intention of keeping it that way.
Victor C. Goldbloom
President, Quebec Region
Canadian Jewish Congress
Credit: The Gazette
