January 15, 2025
OTTAWA – B’nai Brith has written to two federal ministers as part of its campaign to ban the public display of Nazi iconography in Canada.
“It is our belief that the public display of this hateful symbol — a symbol of genocide, oppression, and unparalleled evil — is contrary to Canadian values,” B’nai Brith wrote in a letter Wednesday to the Hon. Arif Virani and the Hon. Kamal Khera, the Minister of Justice and the minister responsible for implementing Canada’s anti-racism strategy, respectively. “Yet, despite its horrific history, the public display of the Nazi Swastika remains legal in Canada.”
Last week, B’nai Brith launched a petition calling on the Government to pass legislation to bring Canada in line with allies such as Germany and Australia, which have banned the public display of Nazi icons and the Nazi Swastika with reasonable exceptions for historical education or artistic expression. As of Wednesday, the petition attracted more than 7,600 signatures.
B’nai Brith’s advocacy on this matter stems largely from an issue in Saint-Barnabe-Sud, in southwestern Quebec, where the Canadian Press reported that a family is displaying Nazi Swastikas on its property to make a political statement. In late August, 2024, a Quebec court ordered the property owners to remove the signs, although further legal proceedings are scheduled for Friday.
In its letter to federal ministers, B’nai Brith cited the Saint-Barnabe-Sud case as one recent example of a troubling trend. Various protests across Canada in recent years, such as during an Israel-Canada softball game, have included displays of the Nazi Swastika and other symbols associated with the Third Reich.
“These hate symbols are not just an affront to Jewish Canadians,” said Henry Topas, Quebec and Atlantic Canada Regional Director for B’nai Brith, who visited Saint-Barnabe-Sud Wednesday and met with local officials near the home bearing the Nazi Swastikas. “Thousands of Canadians, including many Quebecois, fought and died to bring down Hitler’s regime. As Canadians, we must unite to reject the perverse use of the Nazi Swastika and other Nazi imagery.”
