Dear Friends,
A safe return to school
Attached above is a letter that I co-signed with Deborah Lyons, our Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. It was sent today and is addressed to all Canadian colleges and universities. It is the culmination of work that we have done for months, meeting with Jewish students and faculty across the country, dialoguing with University Presidents and administrators as well as Universities Canada and U15 and working with our mainstream Jewish community organizations across North America. It sets out our list of recommendations for a safe return to campus and I have every expectation based on the many conversations that I have had, that it will be positively received. I encourage everyone to read the letter carefully as every word is important. But the actions we are recommending are as follows:
- Clearly Communicate and Enforce Campus Rules, Standards, and Policies:Make clear to students what it means to be a member of the campus community, and ensure students, faculty, and staff are aware of school policies. This must include a clear understanding that encampments are not permitted and what the rules are for protests and demonstrations, including that hateful speech will not be tolerated.
- Support Jewish Students and Faculty:Prevent discrimination, unequivocally denounce antisemitism, ensure inclusivity, and provide antisemitism education and training from mainstream Jewish organizations to the administration, faculty, and students’ associations. Ensure the academic freedom of all faculty is upheld by opposing BDS and academic boycotts of Israel.
- Ensure Campus Safety: Enforce university codes of conduct, maintain clear reporting avenues for antisemitic incidents with commitment to response, ensure campus security and staff are trained to address violations of campus rules.
- Reaffirm Faculty Responsibilities: Students have a right to learn in a non-discriminatory learning environment. Communicate and enforce policies regarding “abuse of podium” actions and ensure that faculty members treat all students equally.
- Prepare for Oct. 7:Anticipate and mitigate disruptions on the one-year mark of the Hamas attack on Israel.
- EDI Programs: Ensure that all university EDI programs include the mainstream Jewish community and ensure that the university EDI officer is a champion of Jewish inclusion.
Resignation of Birju Dattani
When information came up that called into question the nomination of Birju Dattani as head of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, I asked the Justice Minister and his department to undertake an independent investigation to be completed before Dattani could start his mandate. I made clear that I believed that based on the allegations surrounding Dattani, I did not have confidence in him. The Justice Minister and his department agreed to undertake the independent investigation. This week the investigation concluded, and Mr. Dattani agreed to resign the position, thus leading to the conclusion that I and the mainstream Jewish community organizations asked for, which is that he will not assume the position. The investigation results are public, and I encourage everyone interested to read the entire report at: Table of Contents (justice.gc.ca)
Contrary to the misleading information coming from others, Mr. Dattani was not hand picked by the Prime Minister and could not be fired by the government. Once he received an order in council appointment the only way to terminate was by him resigning or the House and Senate each adopting a resolution to end his appointment. As such the independent investigation done by attorneys that came to clear conclusions about his failure to disclose material information was absolutely necessary to reach the desired outcome.
Best
Anthony