Karen R. Mock, Ph.D., C. Psych.

• Anti-Semitism in Canada: Realities, Remedies, and Implications for Anti-Racism
• Countering Anti-Semitism and Hate in Canada Today

Dr. Karen Mock was born and raised in Toronto. She was educated at the University of Toronto, earning her Ph.D. in Applied Psychology in 1975. Dr. Mock is a certified teacher and educational psychologist, specializing in human rights, hate crime and diversity issues, widely acknowledged as one of the foremost Canadian authorities on multicultural/anti-racist education, and well known as a dynamic lecturer and workshop coordinator.

In 2001 Karen Mock was appointed Executive Director and CEO of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, a federal crown corporation. Prior to her 4 years with the CRRF, she served 12 years as National Director of the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada and also as Executive Director of the League’s Human Rights Education and Training Centre. Dr. Mock had also worked for over twenty years in psychology and teacher education at the University of Toronto, Ryerson Polytechnical University and York University, teaching courses in multiculturalism and race relations, developmental and educational psychology, and psychological testing and assessment. Considered a pioneer in the field, she was responsible for the first course in multicultural teacher education in Canada.

Dr. Mock has conducted research and published widely on multicultural anti-racist resources for students, the effective accessing of the education system and government services by ethnocultural and racial groups, and on countering racism, antisemitism and hate in Canada. She has written courses and manuals for intercultural and race relations training and taking action against hate, and was the principal advisor to the Western Judicial Education Centre, continuing to works with policing services and members of the judiciary on programs relevant to racism in the criminal justice system and on hate/bias crime. She has been qualified by the Canadian courts and Human Rights Tribunals as an expert on hate groups, hate on the internet, racism, discrimination and antisemitism.

Karen Mock assists organizations and agencies in the public and private sector with management and staff development programs, and the development of equitable recruitment and employment policies. Dr. Mock has directed a project for the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship on “Combatting Hate”, a series of publications on hate groups, hate propaganda and guidelines for community action against racism and antisemitism. She directed a project entitled “Victim Impact of Racially Motivated Crime” for the Commission on Systemic Racism in the Justice System, and projects on “Public Education Campaigns” and “Race Relations Training” for the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. She spearheaded the development of the National Youth Antiracism Network and several youth leadership training programs.

In 1999, Dr. Mock received the International Women’s Day Award from the Women’s Intercultural Network. She was named to the Who’s Who of Canadian Women in 1995, was awarded an Honourable Mention as a YWCA Woman of Distinction in 1993, and designated a Woman of Influence by the University of Saskatchewan in 2005. In 2002, she received the Excellence in Race Relations Award from the Human Rights Council of the Ahmadiyya Movement of Islam in Canada, was the 2004 recipient of the Sikh Centennial Foundation Award for Civil Liberties Advocacy, and was named an Eminent Woman of Peace in 2008 by the Department of Peace Initiative and Voices of Women in Ottawa. Dr. Mock is included as one of the 100 worldwide “Everyday Freedom Heroes” for her human rights and antiracism work, in a permanent display at the Freedom Center in Cincinnati, the U.S. National Museum to the Underground Railroad.

Among her many community, board and advisory positions, Karen Mock is a past President of the Ontario Multicultural Association (OMAMO), a former board member of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, and is an active founding member of the Anti-Racist Multicultural Educators’ Network of Ontario (AMENO), the Women’s Interfaith Dialogue, Black/Jewish Dialogue, and the Canadian Association of Jews and Muslims (CAJM). She recently co-founded the Arab/Jewish Leadership Dialogue Group, and is National President of Canadian Friends of Haifa University. Karen is the past Chair of the Canadian Multiculturalism Advisory Committee (CMAC), the national advisory body to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism. She chaired the National Advisory Committee to the Secretary of State and Canadian Secretariat for the UN World Conference Against Racism, and was a delegate at the conference in Durban South Africa. She was appointed by the Attorney General, Hon. Michael Bryant, and the Minister of Community Safety and Corrections, Hon. Monte Kwinter, to chair the Hate Crimes Community Working Group, reporting to the Government of Ontario in December 2006, and served as Senior Policy Advisor on Diversity and Equity to the Minister of Education, Hon. Kathleen Wynne, for the development and delivery of Ontario’s Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy, that was released in April 2009.

Karen has been happily married for 41 years to Dr. David Mock, Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto. They have two sons - Daniel, a musician, married to Ashley Miller; and Steven, a post-doctoral fellow and lecturer at the University of Waterloo.

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