The Jewish Federation of Ottawa as represented by Vice Chair Danya Vered, Advocacy Specialist David Sachs, VP of Communications Pauline Colwin, and Communications Specialist Ethan Rode met with Chandra Pasma (Ottawa West-Nepean), the incumbent in her riding, and Dave Belcher (Kanata Carleton), to discuss issues, ranging from community safety to addressing antisemitism on college and university campuses, and at schools.

The candidates were presented statistics from the 2023 Ottawa Police Service’s Hate Crime Report and were asked how these numbers could be lowered across the board.

Pasma, who has worked closely with the Jewish community during her tenure, recognized the disproportionality of hate crimes faced by Jews when compared to other religions, pointing out what she and her party have done in the aftermath of October 7.

“I recognize that your community has seen these levels of hate rise to a degree that other have not,” she said. “After October 7, I made sure to reach out both to Jewish organizations in my riding and to the Solicitor-General. The NDP has tabled legislation that would tackle racism and hate, and it specifically named antisemitism.”

This legislation would also mandate a safety perimeter be placed around religious institutions, meaning that protestors would not be able demonstrate there, and require both the Solicitor-General and the Attorney General to reevaluate hate-motivated crimes. 

Speaking about the protest that occurred in September 2024 outside of the Bess and Moe Greenberg Hillel Lodge, questions were raised as to how far this legislation would cover Jewish community infrastructure beyond houses of worship.

“We certainly support the use of our existing hate laws when there are expressions of hateful and racist acts in the streets,” said Pasma. “And the religious institutions protected by that legislation would include houses of worship, but also institutions affiliated with different faith groups, such as schools and long-term care homes.”

Belcher, who worked previously as a history teacher in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and as a union representative, relayed his personal experience of hearing from students and school faculty when addressing antisemitism.

“My belief is that people should bring their whole selves wherever they go,” he said. “The notion of people feeling that they can’t is something that I have heard in my work, whether it’s students or other faculty members.”

Federation asked about the implementation by the province of Ontario of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which gives several examples of what antisemitism can look like,  ranging from common tropes to holding Israel to a standard that is different than other countries.

“The NDP supported the adoption of the IHRA definition in Ontario,” said Pasma. “However, I don’t know that we have anything specific in our platform to promote its use in academic institutions or public bodies. We do certainly have it, and it was part of legislation we pushed to have public sector workers undergo anti-racism training.”

Belcher also supports this definition being incorporated into equity training, drawing on his experience working as a teachers’ union representative.

“When you are talking about working with equity-deserving groups, any training that is done should be done in consultation with those groups,” he said. “When we have anti-Black racism training, for example, we make sure that is done in collaboration with faculty who identify as such. The same would be done if we were undertaking antisemitism training.”

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement has been identified as antisemitic by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as by numerous Jewish organizations. As calls to implement BDS increases across post-secondary campuses and unions, there is growing concern as to how the Ontario government might address this. 

“The Ontario NDP does not support the BDS movement,” Pasma said. “But when we talk about funding for colleges and universities, this is a problem because we already have a massively underfunded post-secondary education system. I think rather than cutting funding, our approach would be more on the side of anti-discrimination training to help people on campus understand the implications of what they’re calling for.”

Since antisemitism on post-secondary campuses and in public schools is such an important issue, the candidates were also asked about how their government would address growing hate speech and violence concerns. 

“This further underscores the funding issues,” Pasma said. “We need to make sure that there are resources for training, there are reporting mechanisms, and that when something is reported, there is follow up.”

Both candidates agreed that hate speech needs to be prosecuted as such, even in academia and on campus, and that the definitions and legislation currently in place should be further implemented to counteract antisemitism.

“I have always felt that the way forward is more communication, more dialogue, more engagement,” said Belcher. “To solve a conflict, we need to start by listening to each other. By doing so, we can begin to chart a path forward.”

To find out more about the Ontario NDP’s platform, click here.