An awards ceremony for Toronto Residents in Partnership’s Morley S. Wolfe Youth Book Competition: Challenging Racism and Celebrating Differences is being held on March 5, at 7 p.m. at the North York Central Library auditorium. The annual contest is open to high school students who create children’s books that address issues that are incompatible with the values of equity and inclusion. Arielle Maze, a student at the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, is among the five finalists.
Ahenakew Acquitted In Hate Case
SASKATOON — A Saskatchewan judge has acquitted a former aboriginal leader David Ahenakew of wilfully promoting hatred against Jews.
It was the second trial for Ahenakew, who was found guilty in 2005 of promoting hatred against Jews and fined $1,000. The conviction was overturned on appeal and a new trial was ordered.
Ahenakew, the former head of the Assembly of First Nations, was charged after a controversial speech and subsequent interview with a reporter in 2002 in which he called Jews a “disease…. that’s going to take over.”
He went on to say: “The Jews damn near owned all of Germany prior to the war. That’s how Hitler came in. He was going to make damn sure that the Jews didn’t take over Germany or Europe. That’s why he fried six million of those guys, you know. Jews would have owned the God-damned world.”
On Feb. 23, Judge Wilfred Tucker said the comments were “disgusting,” but he acquitted Ahenakew, saying he didn’t believe the accused intended to promote hatred.
Ahenakew, 75, testified at his second trial that he doesn’t hate Jews, but “I hate what they do to people.” He said he still believes Jews caused World War II.
Canadian Jewish Congress and Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center both said they respect the verdict, but B’nai Brith “expressed disappointment” and said it may urge the federal government to review hate laws.
Dialogue Ends
HAMILTON — UJA Federation of Hamilton withdrew from a local Muslim-Jewish dialogue group after a Muslim member published an article about Israel’s Gaza operation that many considered “inflammatory and demonizing” of Israel, the federation said. Dialogue member Ali Cheaib, president of the Hamilton chapter of the Canadian Council of Arabs, wrote an opinion piece in the Hamilton Spectator on Jan. 14. Dialogue founder Lorne Finkelstein, who resigned in protest of the article, said Cheaib “violated… fundamental precepts” by “publicly writing about his personal views regarding the Middle East, and especially by the nature of the language used in that article.” Cheaib called Hamas “the rape child of a brutal occupier” and Israel “the assassin, the thief, the terrorist.” The last dialogue meeting was Jan. 28.
Chabad Pioneer Dies
TORONTO — Rabbi Shlomo Hochler, a founder of Chabad in Ontario and a longtime teacher at Toronto’s Eitz Chaim Schools died Feb. 14 at age 88. A graduate of the Lubavitch Yeshiva in Otvosk, Poland, and a Holocaust survivor, Rabbi Hochler was predeceased by his wife Edith in 2006.
Page Leaves Ladies
TORONTO — The Jewish lead singer and co-founder of the Toronto rock band the Barenaked Ladies has left the group “by mutual agreement” to pursue solo projects, the group said last week. Steven Page was charged last July in New York state with drug possession. In October, a court ordered the charges dropped if he stays clean for six months. The band will record a new album next month.
Propaganda Found
TORONTO — Bookmarks advertising Israeli Apartheid Week, a series of anti-Israel lectures and events on campuses worldwide, were found on empty seats of a Toronto Transit Commission subway car last week. The bookmark includes a quote by Ronnie Kasrils, an ex-member of the African National Congress, that “Israeli measures, the brutality, make apartheid look like a picnic.” A TTC spokesperson said the bookmarks were placed without permission or knowledge of the TTC. He said such actions should be reported to transit staff.