First, what happened in Ottawa? A solicitor for the City of Ottawa vandalized Canada’s National Holocaust Monument (https://shorturl.at/CeOmw) in June, 2025. His act of vandalism was supposedly in reference to Gaza because it included the words “FEED ME”, which were red painted, alongside huge paint splashes.
To begin with and to be clear, it is highly disturbing that a lawyer would resort to such unacceptable act of vandalism to a place of remembrance in Canada. The latter is highly significant, not just for the Jewish Canadian community, but for each one of us directly or indirectly for humanitarian reasons.
Regardless of the motivation, why would a lawyer resort to vandalism? Is is worth it to be “accused of mischief to a war memorial, mischief exceeding $5,000 and harassment by threatening conduct” (https://shorturl.at/WzpUU)? And, in the grand scheme of things, how does this act serve the cause of the Gazans or ease their suffering?
Thankfully, our country has very old human rights organizations like B’nai Brith Canada with “roots stretching back to 1875“. Indeed, the latter is “Canadian Jewry’s most senior charitable service organization and is the national independent voice speaking out on behalf of grassroots Jewish Canadians” (https://shorturl.at/cHriZ). Bambi likes its stated values of “non-religious organization governed by the traditional Jewish precepts of: Justice, Compassion, Benevolence” (https://shorturl.at/cHriZ).
Given the above, it is the least for B’nai Brith Canada to decry this unacceptable act of vandalism. Bravo and thanks for doing so. However, why is it also urging “lawmakers to mandate antisemitism training for civil servants at all levels” (https://shorturl.at/0rZOG)?
Mandatory antisemitism training, or any other training like the ones on diversity, equity, and inclusion, can contribute to create an increasingly authoritarian bureaucracy. Indeed, human beings, including government employees, tend to reluctantly attend mandatory sessions, especially when the sessions go into a space of infantilization or of guilt, as well argued by Dr. Joseph Facal in the Journal de Montréal two years ago (https://shorturl.at/3v00x).
As an alternative, wouldn’t it be more productive to hold optional roundtable discussions where participants can exchange ideas on the rising antisemitsm? And how about related topics like the promotion of a culture of peace? People usually like it when they feel engaged in a solution-finding process. They will be more empowered and perhaps more likely to embrace, instead of resist, change.
In addition to the above, those responsible for the hiring process must be strategic, and wise, when it comes to selecting, or later managing, public servants who may be too blinded by their own sense of righteousness. Nurturing a continuous sense of professionalism in the workplace may be a good place to focus on to try to counter any excesses of righteousness. Who knows? At least in the workplace, maybe this can contribute to prevent “antisemitism, racism, or any other hatred in all its forms“, to use the words in the mission of B’nai Brith Canada ( (https://shorturl.at/cHriZ).
