Dear Friends,
Prime Minister’s Special Advisor on Jewish Community Relations and Antisemitism
Last Friday, I was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Advisor on Jewish Community Relations and Antisemitism. As the PM’s press release states:
Mr. Housefather’s role will be to advise the Prime Minister and ministers on the development and co-ordination of the Government of Canada’s work to combat antisemitism and ensure Jewish Canadians are able to live with vibrancy, security, and dignity. This will include working with Jewish Canadians from across the country. Mr. Housefather will help advance actions throughout the federal government to combat antisemitism, enhance the protection of Jewish Canadian communities, and address the unacceptable discrimination against them – both historical and current. In this role, Mr. Housefather will work closely with Jewish communities and relevant stakeholders across the country and Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, Deborah Lyons.
You can read the press release in full here:
Jewish Canadians need to feel safe in our communities, on campus and in Canadian life. I am so grateful to have received this promotion & I look forward to working with the PM, Deborah Lyons, community organizations, Jewish caucus, all levels of government & civil society to make a real difference. I will continue in my role as Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board as well.
It was particularly meaningful to be named to this role immediately after being the target of antisemitic hate so publicly. My office staff and I get this and worse every day by email and phone and social media. But it is a different question to have the public see the threat. As I stated in response I will never allow myself to be intimidated. Nor will I stoop to the level of those on the other side who are now personally attacking me for partisan purposes.
Montreal police looking into posters targeting MP Anthony Housefather | Montreal Gazette
Two Good News Items
Since being appointed we have had two good news items on issues I have been working on.
- The encampments at McGill and University of Ottawa were removed on Wednesday
The McGill encampment violated university policy and I called for it to be dismantled from day 1. I have been speaking on a regular basis with McGill officials including President Saini who have wanted to remove the encampment for two months. I have also been working with Jewish community organizations and our Special Envoy on a very big priority for me which is A Safe Return to School for Jewish students in September. The removal of both the McGill encampment and the University of Ottawa ones were an essential prerequisite to making Jewish students, faculty and staff feel safer on campus and we should celebrate this. There remains much work to be done.
- On Tuesday Meta announced that it has classified the term “Zionist” as a proxy for antisemitic hate and the incitement against violence against Jews on their platforms when used in certain contexts.
The International Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism which I co-chair with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, has advocated for this to happen since 2020 and we have worked tirelessly on this with Meta and other platforms. Please see the joint statement that Debbie and I put out below:
As co-chairs of the Interparliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism, we commend Meta’s recent decision to accurately classify the abuse of the term ‘Zionist’ as a proxy for antisemitic hate and incitement of violence against Jews on their platforms. We are proud to have advocated for this hard-fought victory since the founding of the Task Force in 2020 through letters, hearings, roundtables, and meetings with Meta executive leadership.
Tracing back to the Durban Conference, the term ‘Zionist’ has been exploited by antisemites from the Soviet Union to the Arab League to shield their true intentions and claim they are targeting a political movement rather than a protected class. These tactics have been eagerly adopted by online extremists, from pro-Hamas agitators to far-right white supremacists, who have flooded our feeds with lazily-disguised phrases (‘kill all Zionists’, ‘crush Zionism’, ‘Zionists control the media’, ‘Zionists are disloyal’ etc.) with impunity. The result has been a wave of antisemitic conspiracies that has bred surging hate crimes and harassment against Jewish communities around the world.
It does not matter to Jewish users whether they are threatened online as a Zionist or as a Jew. It matters that social platforms and community leaders work together to reverse the spread of targeted, hateful, violent content online. We look forward to advising Meta on the implementation of this policy, urging other digital media companies to follow Meta’s lead, and continuing to advocate for a whole-of-society approach to end the scourge of online antisemitism.
TRAVEL TO THE NATO SUMMIT
As an executive member of the Canada/US Friendship Group on Monday morning, I accompanied the Prime Minister and our Canadian delegation to the NATO Summit in Washington DC. When we arrived on the Monday, we met with NATO parliamentarians from around the world and held a reception at our embassy that included multiple members of Congress and business leaders.
On Tuesday we joined the Prime Minister for an important meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell & a bipartisan group of 10 Senators to discuss our NATO partnership, the defense of our North, our common fight against autocracies, our trade relationship and so much more.
We later hosted an event at the embassy focused on how climate change is impacting NATO including the increased threat to our North. This threat will be addressed from the new NATO centre of excellence in Montreal which will be fully staffed and operational by the end of the year:
NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence (international.gc.ca)
I also was able to work on my new role by meeting with multiple Jewish members of Congress including Senators Schumer and Ben Cardin and Representatives Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Kathy Manning and Brad Schneider and the President of the American Jewish Committee (former Congressman Ted Deutch). Many of these discussions involved how we can work together to tackle antisemitism on campus and elsewhere.
Canada Day and Events in the Riding
On Canada Day I attended citizenship ceremonies in both Town of Mount Royal and Cote Saint-Luc and want to thank Mayor Peter Malouf and Mayor Mitchell Brownstein and their councils for setting up these wonderful events. I also attended the evening celebrations in Cote Saint-Luc and the annual celebration at Saint Patrick Square and my staff represented me at the festivities at Mackenzie King Park. I was also thrilled to join President Nida Qarapas and Minister Pablo Rodriguez at the FAMAS anniversary gala and the opening of the incredible Zara Café satellite at Hampstead Park. Congratulations to Alissa Anzarut and her whole team.
What aid has been sent to the Caribbean after Hurricane Beryl?
Canada is providing over $1 million in humanitarian assistance funding in response to the devastation caused by the hurricane. This funding will allow Canada’s humanitarian partners to provide life-saving assistance, such as emergency food and nutrition services, protection and logistics services, and to ensure that humanitarian goods are dispatched and that humanitarian workers continue to be able to respond to the crisis in the face of daunting challenges.
Of this amount, $500,000 will be allocated to the World Food Programme (WFP) for emergency food assistance and logistics services. As part of a Government of Canada project with the Canadian Red Cross Society’s Emergency Disaster Assistance Fund, $160,000 will be allocated to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies relief operations in response to its appeal for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Jamaica. In addition, Canada is also deploying essential relief items to the Jamaica Red Cross valued at up to $350,000.
Canada is allocating $200,000 to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) for the mobilization of regional deployment teams and provision of direct support of countries requiring immediate response. Through the Build Back Equal project, Canada is contributing to UN Women and UN Population Fund efforts to distribute hygiene and dignity product kits in Grenada and in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
In addition, Canada is supporting emergency humanitarian personnel deployment on the ground in the Caribbean, including through funding provided to United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination and the Canadian Red Cross. Canada is also supporting the region’s preparations for major disasters before they happen through the WFP’s Resilience and Enhanced Adaptability to Disasters in the Caribbean project. The WFP, in collaboration with response organizations including the CDEMA, is actively involved in preparedness actions to ensure that the international community is ready and able to support impacted people and the governments that support them.
To read the release, please click here: Canada provides over $1.2 million in response to Hurricane Beryl in Caribbean – Canada.ca
How is the Canada Dental Plan being implemented?
Since the launch of the CDCP, more than 2 million seniors have been approved to receive coverage under the Plan and since May 1, more than 200,000 have already gotten care for services like cleaning, fillings, dentures.
On June 27th, eligible children under the age of 18 and adults with a valid Disability Tax Credit certificate can now apply for the Canadian Dental Care Plan. This means approximately 1.2 million more people will soon have access to improved oral health and approximately 938,000 children and close to 183,000 adults with a valid Disability Tax Credit certificate will have more affordable access to the oral health care that they need.
For any questions about your eligibility, please visit: Canada.ca/dental
DEADLINE: Nominate a deserving person to receive the King Charles Coronation Medal!
To honour King Charles III’s Coronation, Members of Parliament across the country are allowed to nominate 20 constituents to receive a medal. This prestigious award celebrates outstanding contributions made by individuals who have left an indelible mark on their communities. To nominate a worthy person in the Mount Royal riding please email Chelsea Craig in my office: Chelsea.Craig.352@parl.gc.ca. She will send you the form you need to fill out so we can consider your nominee.
DEADLINE to submit is July 15, 2024
Best,
Anthony