Ottawa Citizen,
June 16, 1998 Make
Holocaust denial a crime: B'nai
Brith BY KARYN
STANDEN B'nai
Brith Canada
wants to make denying the Holocaust a
criminal offence in Canada. Last year, delegates
to the national Jewish organization's
annual meeting in Ottawa unanimously
passed a resolution calling for the
government to maize it illegal for
individuals to 'propagate denial that the
Holocaust ever took place." According to B'nai
Brith, the resolution deals only with the
Jewish Holocaust of the Second World War,
and doesn't apply to other instances of
mass extermination, such as the socalled
ethnic cleansing in the Baltic
states. Delegates to this
year's B'nai Brith national assembly, held
again in Ottawa, discussed yesterday how
to step up pressure on the federal and
provincial governments to have the
resolution incorporated into the Criminal
Code. "The only people who
can talk against (Holocaust denial) are
the Holocaust survivors, and they're dying
off," said Alfred Rosenberg, the
Montreal-based B'nai Brith member who
introduced the resolution last year.
"That's why I feel so strongly about
it." According to Mr.
Rosenberg, other nations have instituted
laws governing the discussion of the
slaughter of more than six million Jews
during the Second World War. He said
Germany considers Holocaust denial a
criminal offence, and
 Austria,
Lithuania and France have strict laws
about writing about the
Holocaust. | 2. He said it's time
Holocaust denial became illegal in Canada
because moral suasion is no longer
sufficient. "The moral pressure
becomes less and less. Things tend to be
forgotten," he said. "As years go by, if
it's not a crime to deny the Holocaust,
people question whether it ever took
place." B'nai Brith
president Lyle Smordin said he met
with federal Justice Minister Anne
McLellan late last year to discuss
incorporating the resolution into the
Criminal Code. "She's extremely
receptive," he said. I think her
intentions are very positive. The only
problem is a question of
priorities." He said the ministry
is preoccupied with such matters as calls
to reform the Young Offenders Act. He
added that no one in the ministry has
indicated when or whether the government
will act on the organization's
resolution. The resolution calls
for "fines and/or jail sentences" for
those found guilty. Mr. Smordin said B'nai
Brith has not yet defined the extent of
the proposed punishment. He dismissed the
concerns of some civil libertarian groups
that criminalizing Holocaust denial would
be too restrictive of free
speech. "Even our charter
(of rights) has limitations to free
speech. Free speech stops when it becomes
hurtful to someone else. And this is
really hurtful." Mr. Rosenberg said
B'nai Brith delegates will today discuss
increasing their lobbying efforts,
including initiating talks with members of
all five political parties and provincial
leaders.  |
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