The League Responds to Anti-Semitism and Hate

In addition to responding on a case-by-case basis to reported incidents, it is by using the tools of education and research, legal/legislative interventions, and community action and coalition building that the League strives to fulfil its goals of combatting racism, bigotry and anti-Semitism, and to promote and achieve human rights for all Canadians.

Education and Research

Education is one of the major tools with which to counteract hate in high schools, colleges and universities. Through its Education and Training Centre, the League provides educational materials for students and teachers, conducts countless professional development workshops in school boards and on campuses, and provides training programs in the public and private sectors. In 1995, the Centre conducted anti-racist education workshops, courses on human rights and workplace harassment, programs on the criminal justice system, and public lectures and symposia on Holocaust education.

In 1995 the Human Rights Youth League continued it promotion of student-driven activism in the struggle against racism, anti-Semitism, and hate group activities. Conceived by the League in 1993 as a forum for young people to develop legal, productive and non-violent strategies to counter discrimination, this year the Youth League held a very successful Anti-Racist Benefit Rock Concert, and participated actively in school forums.

Towards the end of 1995, the League began a research study for the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto on the "Nature and Extent of Racism and Hate Activity in Metro Toronto". Building on the League's early study of "Victim Impact of Racially Motivated Crime", conducted for the Commission on Systemic Racism in the Justice System whose final report was released this year, the new study is correlating demographic data with incidents of hate and bias crime, utilizing a 1-800 number for direct reporting of incidents, and conducting extensive focus group discussions and interviews to determine a more effective model of coordinated action, data collection , service delivery and victim protection in this area.

The League's databases on hate crimes, hate mongers, hate groups and reported incidents were refined in 1995. A Task Force has also been convened to monitor hate mongering on the Internet and to propose educational curriculum and policy development and implementation to regulate in some way the transmission of hateful messages.

The League is working closely with the Nizkor Project, the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, the Anti-Racism Response Network, the Canadian Anti-racism Education and Research Society, among others, as information partners on the electronic highway to solve this challenging problem.

The League and Nizkor have prepared a document entitled "Hate and the Internet: Selected Readings" to assist in this work. The creation of a B'nai Brith web page (http://www.canada.ibm.net/bnaibrith/) facilitates the cause. By conducting and disseminating in-depth primary research, the League provides law enforcement officials, the media, and the public at large with up-to-date accurate information on hate groups and strategies to counteract their influence.

The original plaintext version of this file is available via ftp.

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