Last Monday, the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, represented by CEO Adam Silver, Vice Chair Danya Vered, Advocacy Specialist David Sachs, VP of Communications Pauline Colwin, and Communications Specialist Ethan Rode, met with Green Party candidate Simon Beckett, who is running to represent Ottawa Centre. While Beckett was the sole representative from Ontario’s Green Party to attend, the discussion provided an opportunity for Federation to highlight the challenges and concerns facing Jewish Ottawans today.

A former dancer and choreographer who now runs a property management firm, Beckett has spent much of his career learning about the needs of the community in terms of affordable housing, healthcare, and education.

Coming from a younger age demographic, Beckett felt it was important to run in this election in hopes of representing the broader Millennial-Gen Z voting bloc that has yet to feel inspired to participate in the democratic process.

"I really want the Millennial voting bloc to step up to the plate," Beckett said. "When I was younger, there was a lot of talk about how we would someday be the biggest voting bloc and how we would begin to see changes as we aged and got more involved, but we haven't seen much of that yet."

The discussion with Beckett covered a wide variety of topics pertinent to the Jewish community, such as community safety, restoring public order, and strengthening hate crime laws.

One of the biggest concerns the Jewish community is facing pertains to Jewish students and faculty on college and university campuses. From illegal encampments to student and faculty unions passing BDS motions, Jews on campus are dealing with more stress due to their ethnic and religious identity now than ever before. 

"At no point should an individual be blamed for the actions of another state," said Beckett, speaking specifically to calls for BDS to be implemented by post-secondary institutions that would ban Israelis from academia. "We have researchers doing good work, and they should not be penalized. No one should be punished for working or researching because of their background." 

Beckett also answered a question about what should happen to make students feel more physically secure on campuses. The question of how to address antisemitic criminal acts was raised during the conversation.

"The Ontario Human Rights Commission needs to be better funded," Beckett argued. "When there is a two-year waiting period, the likelihood of complaints being thrown out is even greater. If you file a complaint about antisemitism … it may never actually be heard by the tribunal."

Another component of addressing this issue is figuring out how the police and other law enforcement gets involved.

"We need to increase funding targeted specifically at reducing hate crimes," said Beckett. "We need to see measured results, and we can't just throw money at a problem and make it go away."

Also discussed was the need to increase awareness of antisemitism and how it manifests. Federation pointed out to Beckett that many diversity, equity, and inclusion philosophies leave Jews out of their purviews, thus ignoring any racism or exclusions concerns Jews may be experiencing. 

Since the province of Ontario has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, the inconsistency in its application on college and university campuses has been disappointing to Jewish students and faculty. 

Whoever forms the next government will need to be sensitive to this and ensure that the province's working definition is applied and upheld when addressing antisemitism concerns, especially when it come s to teachers and professors using their positions of power to indoctrinate students.

"If professors on a campus are insinuating violence and promoting anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric, it should not be allowed and they should be removed," said Beckett. 

There have also been many instances of antisemitism within the public school system.  Beckett suggested addressing these concerns head-on in elementary schools, so by the time students get to high school, this rhetoric is recognized as harmful.

"Elementary school is the place to capture and change the narrative to educate these kids," said Beckett. "That is the point where we can start making the changes that we want to see take hold in the long run."

To learn more about Simon Beckett and his platform, click here.