A big win for our community

If you are on our list for community updates, you will have received the email we sent on Wednesday with the news that Vancouver City Council adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. If you aren’t signed up to receive community announcements like that, click here to stay in the know. 

Why is the IHRA definition important?

Irwin Cotler, Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, describes it as "the most authoritative, comprehensive, and international-consensus definition that exists today." 

In order to stop antisemitism, individuals, organizations, and governments need to be able to identify it clearly and consistently. That starts with defining it in a way that provides robust examples that are easy to understand and follow. The IHRA working definition of antisemitism is a non-legally binding tool city leaders and policy makers need to keep our families, our friends, and our neighbours safe. With the rise of antisemitic hate crimes across the country, fighting antisemitism must be a priority for everyone, not just members of the Jewish community. 

Your voice was heard, loud and clear. 

In 2019, when the IHRA working definition of antisemitism was first brought before council, thousands of you wrote letters and signed up to speak in favour of the motion. From community members and leaders to elected officials, clergy, partners agencies, and more, your words were powerful and you were heard by this council—even if your letter was from 2019. Together with our advocacy agent, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), we made sure your letters were provided to the current councillors, so they would know how important this is to you. Many of you also showed up on site to give support and to speak to council directly. It was crucial for council to hear from you and they did. Thank you! 

Getting to yes took leadership and partnership. 

We also want to acknowledge the role that community organizations, our colleagues, volunteer leaders, and individual community members played in making this a success. 

Our Federation is very proud to have taken a leadership role in this alongside CIJA. I would like to give a special thank you to the countless staff and volunteers who contributed to this success, including the following people: 

• Nico Slobinsky, senior director of CIJA-Pacific Region; 
• Geoffrey Druker, chair of CIJA’s Local Partnership Council; 
• Candace Kwinter, board chair of our Federation; 
• Lana Marks Pulver, chair of the Federation Annual Campaign; 
• Nina Krieger, executive director of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC); and 
• Corrine Zimmerman, president of VHEC. 

I also want to acknowledge that Nina has been a member of the Canadian delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance since 2012, and so she and the VHEC have been deeply involved in this for many years. 

Join us in saying thank you to council. 

We want to thank Councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung, who brought the motion forward for the second time (the first was in 2019), Mayor Sim for his steadfast support, and the councillors who voted yes: Councillor Kirby-Yung, Councillor Meiszner, Councillor Dominato, Councillor Montague, Councillor Klassen, and Councillor Zhou. Click here to send a thank-you to them. It only takes a minute to fill in your information and hit send. 

When asked whether the definition curtails freedom of expression, Councillor Kirby-Yung said this: “Sometimes there are differences in perspective and opinion. But I think that geopolitical concerns are being conflated with what is an intent to guard against anti-Semitism here in Vancouver — and that's what I'm concerned with is keeping Vancouver residents who are of Jewish heritage safe here in our city.”

It was my privilege to speak about the motion on the Jas Johal Show on CKNW and you can listen to that interview here.  

I also had the privilege of attending the swearing-in ceremony of our new premier, The Honourable David Eby.  

For the first time, the ceremony took place on Musqueam territory, instead of the traditional location of Government House in Victoria. As our advocacy agent, CIJA builds relationships with elected officials from all parties at all levels of government, and we look forward to working with Premier Eby on issues of importance to our community. 

Before we sign off for Shabbat, I want to circle back to where we left off last week, which was our visit to our partnership region.  

One of the highlights of our time there was our time at Tel Hai College—a key economic generator in the region.  

Among those who joined us there were Arnold and Anita Silber, who have long supported our work in the Galilee Panhandle. Among their longstanding support of the region, they established the Friends of Beit Vancouver at the youth centre we support in Kiryat Shmona. In 2019 they made a major investment in the future of the region when they established the Arnold and Anita Silber Theatre at Tel Hai College. 

You are more familiar with this 1,200- seat outdoor theatre than you may realize, as each week you see a photo of it in the header of this very message.  

The theatre, which is in the heart of this growing campus, has become a thriving centre of activity not only for the university but the entire area. As a cornerstone of their long-term development plan, the theatre plays a strategic role in the college's future and therefore in the region’s. 

That future is ultimately in the hands of the students, who will sharpen their skills at Tel Hai and become the region’s next generation of leaders. The students were at the heart of what inspired the Silbers when they lent their names to this legacy project. We want to thank them for their ongoing support of our work and their investment in the Galilee Panhandle. I hope that each time you see the header of this message you will be reminded of the bright future of our partnership region!

Shabbat shalom.