MIILTICULTURALISM MAY BE ERODED IN UNITY DEBATE, CONGRESS WARNING
WINNIPEG (Staff] -
Canada's philosophy of multiculturaiism Tunis the risk of being eroded in the current debate surrounding French rights,, the . Canadian Jewish Congress argues in a brief to the Task Force on Canadian Unity.
In a submission prepared for delivery here today. Congress officials said "it is imperative that the total reality of Canada be considered in the unity debate and that honest efforts be made to protect the legal, linguistic and cultural rights of all Canadians within whatever kind of bi-lingual framework emerges."
(The brief was scheduled to be presented
by representatives of Congress* affiliate here, the Winnipeg Jewish Community Council,)
Acknowledging that French Canadians have a different status than other minorities, the brief rejected the use of the terminology "founding races", in favor of recognizing the contributions of air ethnic groups. ;
Drafted by the National Joint Community . Relations Committee of Congress and B'nai B'rifh. the submission listed several recommendations "corollary to the goals of French Canadians" that: — anv new ctinstitution should enshrine
the provisions oi the Bill of Rights and, while recognizing the official status of English and French, should, "specifically proclaim the multicultural nature of the Canadian body politic";
— federalassistance, through the co-operation of the provinces, should be made available for the teaching of traditional languages of other ethnic groups;
— CI^C and the CRTC should be required by law to recognize and support the pluralistic nature of Canadian society through radio and television programing and
— multiculturaiism must be enhanced and co-ordinated, perhaps with more emphasis
at the Privy Council level.iso efforts "will not. ill fact or inappearancerbecome mere tokenism,"
Lauding the federal government and the provinces for human rights legislation and their commitment to individual and group rights, the authors of the Jbrief remarked that ■■•jure spots remain".
The brief continued; "The native people of our country — the Indians and Eskimos — have seen their treaty rights, their guarantees of following their own way of life violated again and again, and here our concept of group rights-has sadly failed."
The CJC urged the task force to do more
than, define rights. "It ought to recognize not only the contribution of the English and French to our nation-building process but also ought to make recommendations that will assure a role for the one-third of our population whose ethnic background is neither English nor French, in maintaining a meaningful kind of national unity in the' future." /
While making little specific reference to the Jews of Quebec, the brief begins with the prefacing comment that Jews "can claim, to bear witness, better than most, to the tragedies that excessive nationalism and bigotry can visit upon countries and
their people. We also understand and identify with the sadness "and frustration that arises when one's opportunity to develop economically and cultiirally is unfairly limited."
Noting that early Canadian Jewish pioneer Ezekiel Hart was prevented from taking his. seat in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, Congress remarked on a "point of pride" — that French Canadian leader Louis Papineau moved to enact legislation wiping out religious discrimination in the assembly. ,
urges group
Ninety-two-year-old : Judah Barcessat receives congratulations from Judge Ruth Cruden upon receiving his Canadian citizenship in ceremony last week In a Toronto court. A niative of Portugal, he came to Gan-
(David Uroskind photo) ada five years ago with his wife, Ruth [at left]. Daughters live in Canada, Couple had lived in France and Morocco, where he was banker. The Barcessats received help here from Jewish rmmigrant .Aid Services.
By LEWIS LEVENDEL Associate Editor
TORONTO —
Against a background of rising domestic .needs,,, the United Israel Appeal of Canada will present a budget of its own to the National Budgeting Conference stressing the iniportance of Israel's requirements.
The UlA Canada budget will be on the table for the first time when the National Budgeting Conference meets here Jan. 17 to allocate funds for .1978 to community organizations.
UIA is budgeting for S32.^ million for 1978, up from S30.1 million ill 1977, said Jack Rose, the organization's national president.
"We feel our budget is just as important, if not more im-. portant. as any other budget ai the meeting," he told The Canadian Jewish News in an interview. "It's not fair to make us only the recipient of residual dollars from the Canadian community."
The UIA'is bringing its budget before NBC for consideration of the priorities involved m its programs, he explained, adding it was the , first lime that UIA Canada needs were separated from the total Jewish Agency budget . His organization is aware of fund-raising problems in the country, but wants its pro-
grams to be considered and weighted equitably along with all other demands which may be made on available campaign funds.
He admitted he has no idea how NBC members will react to the UIA budget being placed on the table for the firsttime. "Much depends on who is in attendance," he added.
Of the S32 million, UIA estimates 16% will go to maintenance of^hostels and absorption centres, 22% to the aged, '14% to vocational-schools and 9% to transporting immigrants and their belonging's.
The.total 1977-78 budget of the Jewish Agency is S457 million.
In another matter. Rose revealed he had received a communication from Allan Bronfman written on behalf of all Israeli institutions in Canada. The president of the Canadian Friends of Hebrew University informed Rose all institutions will be meeting shortly in Montreal to decide on how to communicate their financial information.
Rose, late last year, called on all Israeli-based institutions to submit financial statements so that it can be properly assessed whether the multiplicity of fund-raising drives in Canada is of benefit to Israel or a detriment.
The UIA president also informed The CJN he had accepted an invitation from the Allied Jewish Community Services in Montreal to come there to discuss their particular budgetary concerns.
The Montreal problems have a high priority among global Jewish problems, explained Rose. They need to expend more funds locally than previously.
Montreal, he was advised, is predicting expenditures in the 1978-79 fiscal 3eap.in ejt cess of SI million ovei^ihe' previous year. That does not take into account the SI.5 million the community requires for education plus additional funds needed for the •Y'.
AJCS officers told Rose that because of the crunch of education needs due to reduction in provincial funding, Israel's needs might have to be cut back. They told him education is a higher priority.
Rose replied that besides Israeli needs, education should be compared to other local needs such as the 'Y', old age facilities and hospitals on a scale of priorities. In addition, he pointed put they were not charging full education costs to parents who can afford to pay. The community, he was told, was looking into this along with charging higher fees to 'Y' patrons.
The UIA and the AJCS will continue to work out the funding problems between themselves, he said.
Hold conference on Middle East
Number of Soviets aided by soeiety increases by 16%
ByARNOLD AGES
MIAMI, Fla. —
Celebrated . essayist, author and lecturer ElicWjesel is considering the organization of a world conference of survivors to draw attention to attempts in certain circles to deny the Holocaust's devastation.
Elie Wlesel
In a recent interview here, thewriter pointed to developments since.World War H which deprecate the suffering of Jesys and assume that the-mass genocide, perpetrated bv the Nazis was merely an invention,
Noting that no more than 50.00Q Jews remain from the pitifully small nun.iber that, sur\-1 \'ed Hit 1 er's Eiirbpe, Wicsel believes there is sonie' urgency to the suggestion of an internaliprial meeting. The number of survivors diiiiinish. daily, he said; and the stories of these witnesses .must be told to give the lie to the new perversions.
Sixty-five books have, been published since the war which, deny the martyrdom of the Jewish people, he : explained. Even the respected French daily Le..Figaro has featuredbeadlines in which it is assumed that the.Holocaust was fictitious. . . "But what is even more
3,076,000 Je«js
live-in
JERUSALEM [JTA] — -
Israel's population was 3,650,000 at the end.of I977,~according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The Jewish popufation is 3,076.000. and the non-Jewish is 574,000, The rate of growth has decreased in both sectors. The statistics .showed that the number of Jews increased by 56;OO0 in .1977, an increase of 1.8% compared to 2.1% in .1976. The non-Jewish population increased by 19.000, a 3.5% hike compared to 3.9% in 1976.
Of the 56,000 Jey^sr5^;OD0-w^e born in Israel, the remainder were immigrants. Some 17,000 Israelis country permanently, )according to^the
left the bureau.
outrageous is the appearance of similar headlines in Eng-. .iish-Jewish journals.'' .Wicsel mentioned that the Boston ■ Jew ish Advocate had recently published an article on tlie Holocaust and had used, the ■wp.rd"fiction," with a question mark apposed to it: . Thediabolicattempt in .cer% tain circles to undermine the Holocaust is being carried oh
• with particular vilencss be-
• hind the; Iron Curtain.
Wiesci indicated that he. had becii studying important documents left behind by inmates of the concentration \camps,. including .Auschwitz
— testimonies in French, . Yiddish and other.languages to the last tragic hours of European Jewry. Yet the Communists have.even"per-yerted the documents". -
He explained, that the .Po; lish government had issued a document purporting to be the final moments of a group of PoHsh Chassidim who, ap-prpaching their deaths, break; out with ahearty rendition of .
— the Internationale, the Communist hymn par excellence. \ ■ ^
Wiesel also.revealed.that , he had been inyited to visit Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, as.-early as 1975, through the intervention of then U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Considering himself somewhat of a neophyte in political, matters and hesitant jo become involved in an event that rhight be used by the Arabs for propaganda purposes, he discussed the Invitation with top Israeli leaders. The advice turned out to be ppntradictory and Wiesel decided to refiise the offer; ■
When asked whether Kissinger, played any significant
rolciin the Begin-Sadat nieet-ings, Wiesel. said the' former civil servant's part was onjy peripheral.
"When he eiiters a.room; no matter .who else happens to be there, including presidents and prime ministers, Kissinger dominates; he is the centre of attention." Kissinger has direct access to President Carter and in some ways is more influential still, than the iiicumbent secretary of state, .Vance.
Wiesel believes that Kissinger's intellectual r acuity and persona have preserved for .him an utiofficial but nonetheless important role in the making of American' for-, eign policy.
.. Two new bopks written by Wiesel .will appear this spring. A Jc» Today will contain his views on the modern Jewish sitiKition. It contains an open Icder. to a young Palestinian.and Wiesel mentioned thai he had received a number of letters from Arabs in the u:;ikc of the publication of the French version of his work.
A second work,; in which
"Wiesel: pursues, some of the same thcnics as Souls on
, Fire, w ii| deal specifically with how'the Chassidic masters coiiqiiorcd depression.
. He is also w'orking ori ' a volume whii-'hw'ill study the lives of threat rabbinic figures from the. Talmud, ,
NEW YORK I JTA]-
The Hebrew Immigrant Aid SoL-iety (HIAS) assisted 6.358 Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union during the first nine months of 1977. a
'.16% increase over the corresponding period in 1976. according to Gaynor 1. Jacob-son, e.xecutive.vice-president of HI.AS; Soviet Jews accoun- . ted for 92% of the agety:y's overall case load, he said.
Of the 6.358 Soviet Jews assisted, 5;615 arrived in the United States; -315 settled in . .Australia and New. Zealand; 270 came to Canada, and.143
went to Western Europe and 15 to Latin America.. The 5.615 Soviet Jews helped to the U.S; were initially reset-, tied in 116 communities in 33
'StatesasAvell as tl_: District of Columbia. ■
AccordingKio Jacobson. of those w:h'oarrived in the U.S.; 2.714 .were males and 2,901 were females; 1.441 were age 20 and.- under, 2,705 were from 21 'to 50 years of age. and 1,469 were 51 and older.
Further-analysis, Jacobson ieported, indicated that 3.414 were in the labor force, equally divided between men and women. This labor force included 475 engineers, 252 technicians, and 818 other professionals.
Women Putnurribered rnen amorig . the . professionals .(31%-17%), white collar workers (28%-7%) and in . service dccupations (.19%-13%.). Tlie reverse w-as true in. engineering (19% men - 8% women) and in the blue collar field (31% men - 4% wor-men). '
By JANICE ARNOLD
MONTREAL —
More than 500 of Canadian Jewry's top leadership have been invited to a Conference on the Middle East sponsored by the Canadian Zionist Federation. Canadian Jewish Gongress-and B'nai B'rhh. It wiii lake place at ti^e Adath IsraelCdngregation in Toron to Jan. 28-29. .
The purpose of the conference, say organizers, is to inform leaders from across Canada of the latest developments in the Middle.East in order that they may be better prepared to guide those in their communities.
A number of Israeh speak- . ers have not been confirmed yet and the agenda re-' mains incomplete to date. The two-session conference, to be held Saturday evening and. Sunday' morning., will : concentrate on open discus-, sion periods following the speakers" addresses.
The Conference was called at the initiative of the CZF, Shragai SiKerman, CZF executive assistant, explained. ■ • We were concerned that the leadership did not'have all the facts."
Represeiitatives from all, Israiel-oriented organizations from every community in Canada have, been invited and the sessions.will be open to. the press and other interested parties/ : . A CZF executive meeting
Harvey Crestohl
will be held on Sunday afternoon, the 29th. and a Canada-Israel Committee national board meeting that evening. It is expected the Israel Action Committee, proposed by Congress, and the future role of the CIC willcome under examination: .
••'Nodoubt theCIC will be responsive to any desired, changes." said B'riai B'rith . Distrlet President' Harvey Crestohl. "Bat this will hot be the main focus of the.; conference."
He said, however, that the annual meeting of-the CiC, held in»,Ottawa in the spring,; will be shorter thanthe usual two days. '
Silverman arid Crestohl indicated that conferences pn. this scale could become regular events in the future.
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visitors I
111 smg
JERUSALEM (JCNS) - =
For tJi^^st time. Israel has wck-drnedmore :| than."one.• •millioai*«iiris.ts•■ iiV-tessJek-• year. t-he:. | '■magiclnumberwasr reached in- tlie last, day.s; of |
V977: ■ 1
'The woman chosen as the iiiillionili visitor was .1 ., ^lohireh Bassiro. Monfarad of Teheran;. on her 1 third visit to Israel to visit the .shrines of her .| - Bahai faith in Haifa. § ■ ■ ' When she went' to the Bahai temple in Haifa, | . she was given gi.fts and; was s\irrounded;by flash- -.| . ing cameras of press photographers and .was given 1 a -kiss on; the cheek .by the Israeli'Minister of .f Commerce, Industry aiid Tourism Vigael Hurwitz. . |
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(IPPA pnotol
No/thls Is not Hiddten Valley or the. Lanrentians, but the^ew Israel winter resort of Conly in the Golan Heights. And just a few miles south of this spot, reports axe thtU^.vacationers have been eqfoying summer-like weather.
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