Collingwood Group Asks Owen Sound to Adopt IHRA Definition of Antisemitism
A deputation on the agenda inspired three community members to attend and express their concerns during Public Question Period.
Several people attended Owen Sound’s City Council meeting last night to speak and ask questions during Public Question Period. At issue was the definition of antisemitism, on the agenda as a result of a deputation.
Rashell Feldman, a resident of Collingwood and founder of a group called The Southern Georgian Bay Jewish Community, gave a deputation and asked the City of Owen Sound to “accept and adopt the IHRA's definition of antisemitism because this is a human rights issue.”
Members of the public who spoke after Feldman expressed that the Jewish community is not aligned on this definition. Here is Feldman’s ask.
What follows is a transcript from 03:30 to 13:17 in the April 15, 2024, City of Owen Sound Council meeting recording.
“Good evening, Mayor Boddy and Council. My name is Rashell Feldman, and this is my husband, Dr. Michael Feldman. We're here today to talk about antisemitism in general and specifically in the southern Georgian Bay Area, which has nothing to do with politics or the situation in the Middle East.
Last year, we founded The Southern Georgian Bay Jewish Community in hopes of bringing together our people for shared events and opportunities to connect and give back. To our amazement, we have well over 300 members, the majority of whom live up here full-time.
For Michael and I, October 23 was not only a wake-up call but a call to action. No longer would we be able to falsely assume that lessons of the past had been learned and that hate for people was mainly only read from accounts and books.
With the staggering statistics of an increase of over 95 to 200% – depending on the location in Canada – of antisemitism, it is clear that then is now, and now is here. Antisemitism is not just happening on university campuses, or streets of Toronto. It is and has always been like this here in our local communities.
Now to give you a little background, we're a Jewish family with five children living full-time in Collingwood since 2013.
Although originally born elsewhere, my family has a long history in the area. My great grandfather James Ross and his son Rod Ross both worked in a variety of capacities for the shipyards over the years. We often came up to visit my great-grandparents, who owned a large heritage home on Pine Street that also acted as a boarding home for out-of-town guests and business contacts for the shipyards.
I myself grew up in Collingwood from 2010 until I left for university at 19. I was born into a Christian family and had limited awareness or involvement with any other races or religions until I moved to the city to pursue my education. Although female, I have enjoyed the benefits of being part of the majority and grew up feeling very safe in a town where most everyone was like everyone else and certainly knew everyone else.
For all intents and purposes, I grew up in a bubble. It was only when I moved away from Collingwood did I have dim sum for the first time, or Indian food, or even making friends from different religions and cultural backgrounds. Despite growing up in a beautiful place with very nice parents in a safe friendly town, I had my own share of prejudices. I would never have considered myself or my family to be racist, and yet, the more I learned and immersed myself in the beliefs and cultural practices of others, the more I became able to appreciate the blind ignorance even I possessed.
This is only to acknowledge that not all misconceptions and/or racist or xenophobic beliefs are ill-intended.
A few years into university, I met and fell in love with a Jewish man, and so I began my conversion to Orthodox Judaism so we could marry. The experience has forever changed me on multiple levels. I, for the first time, became acutely aware of what it felt like to be part of a minority group; how people I would have normally never imagined having issues with all of a sudden saw me differently once I became a Jew. Some of the historical ignorances and hatred for a group of innocent people began to surface not only in my presence but at times was directed toward my family members for absolutely no reason.
As a mother of five Jewish children, I have a responsibility to keep them safe and as such have felt the need to speak with them whenever necessary. And so the time has come and this is what has brought me here today. Over the past few years, we've experienced antisemitism here in the southern Georgian Bay Area, a place that we love so much.
Our teenagers have attended Collingwood Collegiate Institute, my high school, and OLB, our Lady of the Bay. But because they're Jewish, they've had a completely different experience than what I had growing up. They've encountered antisemitic symbols painted on walls and hateful rhetoric in classrooms and halls. And just as recently as this past Rosh Hashanah that took place in September, did the kids discover a swastika spray-painted on our own sidewalk.
For the first time ever did it occur to me that my children do not feel like they belong in this area that I grew up in, or protected and therefore safe to be Jewish here.
Not only am I heartbroken by this, but I accept that and acknowledge that this is happening and want to be part of a solution for combating anti-Semitism and hate for my family and for all members of our community.
In November 2023, when I co-founded the Southern Georgian Bay Jewish Community, it was my intention not just to create social opportunities for engagement and connection, but to promote a sense of safety and belonging for a greater community in this area. This is a mission that I take very seriously, and so I've been working to reach all local towns, townships, cities ever since then, with the same ask.
After much research and meeting with various members of organizations, I've come to understand that the first step in creating safety for Jews in any community is adopting and implementing the IHRA’s definition of antisemitism at the town, townships, and city council levels. The IHRA is an international institution called the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, composed of 35 member countries, of which we as Canadians also belong to.
This definition I speak of is in fact already has already been adopted and recognized in Canada, as well as many other countries worldwide and even at the city and provincial levels across the country. In 2020, Rabbi Audrey Kaufman took this very step with the City of Barrie in conjunction with Dr. Marie Watson, a Christian scholar who now works with the Simcoe Muskoka District Catholic school board, and the definition was accepted and adopted in the City of Barrie.
This, of course, was already the case in larger cities such as Toronto. I'm happy to share that the town of Wasaga Beach immediately adopted the definition and the town of Collingwood did so very recently, and that the town of Blue Mountains and Clearview townships are well on their way as well.
The definition I'm asking to have adopted and implemented by you is as follows:
“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews which may be expressed as hatred towards Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed towards Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and or their property, towards Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
So why is this so important?
It’s essential that we ensure that our collective towns and the surrounding areas are safe places to live for everyone. That we promote as a community our acceptance and our intolerance for hate and all of its forms. That we take steps to define identifying condemned divisive actions that can lead others to feeling afraid, isolated, and not part of our united, inclusive community.
I was taught at CCI that in order to solve a problem, we must first identify it, which includes defining it, a valuable lesson I learned from the late Mr. Taylor, my grade 11 Algebra teacher. He often reminded us that once we can define the problem, we can begin to solve for it.
I wish to follow the same wise steps in order to begin to implement solutions with the goal of effectively solving a quantifiable problem that we face here in the Southern Georgian Bay area, otherwise known as antisemitism.
And so this brings me to my ask of you; we, as the Southern Georgian Bay Jewish Community, would like to ask for your support in agreeing to accept and adopt the IHRA's definition of antisemitism because this is a human rights issue.
And I believe that Owen Sound and the Georgian Bay Area that I grew up in is the type of place that is safe, where all those who desire to live in peace and harmony belong. Like other towns here, Owen Sound is willing to take a stand against hate and support its Jewish population, desiring the same high quality of life for their children and families that I was so lucky to have growing up here when I was a child. Thank you.
I just wanted to add that I do recognize that Owen Sound already has a synagogue, which of course we don't have in Collingwood. And that there's been a Jewish presence in Owen Sound for as long as there's been a town here.
And at the turn of the 20th century, Jewish merchants and tradespeople fled pogroms of Eastern Europe and found their way to Owen Sound. In 1893, the Owen Sound Times (sic) carried mention of a Hebrew birth, and by 1904, a Hebrew teacher was hired to instruct the Jewish community and its children.
And in 1947, Beth Ezekiel synagogue was started, so I guess in some ways you actually might have more of a Jewish population here in Owen Sound than we do necessarily in Collingwood or Wasaga Beach, although in general, our particular community encompasses the Southern Georgian Bay Area, which actually includes as far as Lion’s Head, we have a family up there.”
Mayor Ian Boddy responded:
Thank you very much, and yes, we have had a Jewish community here for a lot of years, although that doesn't mean that we're perfect.
Certainly for some of us that are post-war Baby Boomers, we are not happy with where we thought we were, that we have seen the backswing in the last couple of years.
We thank you very much for your presentation and will absolutely consider it as we move forward with policies and things. Thank you.
Editor’s note: The Owen Sound Current style guide is based on AP Styling and, as such, does not hyphenate the term antisemitism.
Having grown up in Germany I am well aware of the gruesome history of the holocaust: My home town ( Speyer )had 4 respected jewish citizens as concillors in 1928 . By 1938 their families have been driven out, their properties "sold " or rather confiscated. So I am not commenting with a light heart or without reflection; I agree with all the definitions of antisemitism listed in the IHRA and am saddened that incidences of antisemitism are increasing dramatically. However I do no consider the last definition valid. I consider it destructive in the pursuit of human rights : "that calls to boycott products made in Israel should be antisemitic. " What the Israeli government is doing in terms of Palestinians contravenes all measure of human rights. Many jews abhore these policies and the all out war, but are not allowed to speak up. We have to be able to call out human rights abuse everywhere.