When Canadians took to the streets in the thousands to protest the education system’s desire to cut them out of their children’s lives, there was a vast chorus of boos.
All kinds of agencies, companies, and associations issued statements and transmitted them on social media to show their solidarity with members of the LGBTQS2 communities who may have felt unsafe after seeing folks demand to be informed if their child wish to be called Joan instead of John, or Fatima instead of Fazil.
The most powerful man in the country led the way.
“Transphobia, homophobia, and biphobia have no place in this country,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on X. “We strongly condemn this hate and its manifestations, and we stand united in support of 2SLGBTQI+ Canadians across the country - you are valid and you are valued.”
Utilities weighed in:
Telecom and TV giant Bell announced “healing sessions” for its employees and made it clear that “2SLGBTQIA+ team members and allies are encouraged to contact Pride at Bell and your leader if you need support.”
Big Labour stepped up and organized counter-demonstrations
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network warned of “an emerging pattern of far-right groups and figures framing issues in school communities as a matter of ‘parental rights.’”
But when people poured into the streets to show their support for Hamas, a designated terrorist organization dedicated to the killing of every Jew “from the river to the sea” and beyond … not so much.
Institutional leaders remained mute even when people attending an Ottawa antisemitism conference were forced to exit through back doors where police advised them to travel thereafter in groups, such was the apparent lust for their blood.
Labour unions were hesitant to get involved, even as CUPE local 3906 at McMaster University and CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn celebrated the Oct. 7 Hamas slaughter of 1,400 Israeli civilians, including infants, in their X posts.
Were it not for the prime minister, joined by Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, denouncing Hamas attacks and demonstrations of solidarity with them, the polity might have been mute.
“The glorification of violence is never acceptable in Canada – by any group or in any situation,” Trudeau stated in an X post. “I strongly condemn the demonstrations that have taken place, and are taking place, across the country in support of Hamas’ attacks on Israel. Let’s stand united against acts of terror.”
As the protests continued, however, the tone turned from condemnation to tolerance of the pro-Hamas demonstrators’ right to freedom of expression—a refreshing development given Trudeau’s plans to suppress speech through an Online Harms Act.
Forgive a brief digression but he is, after all, the same PM who famously said of the unvaccinated’s freedom to express themselves: “They don’t believe in science/progress and are very often misogynistic and racist. … This leads us, as a leader and as a country, to make a choice: Do we tolerate these people?”
Any hopes this renewed passion for defending free speech would reverse the government’s plans were dashed, however, when Justice Minister Arif Virani indicated that the legislation is still on its way.
But all that, for now, is as may be.
The chilling takeaway from recent events is that when it comes to rights and protecting people from hate in Canada, a clear 21st-century hierarchy has been embraced by corporate, academic, community, and public sector organizations.
At the top is sexual orientation and identity—the collection of groups now known as 2SLGBTQIA+ people. All sectors embrace Pride in all its manifestations.
Islamophobia, in the wake of years of Islamic extremism, has become an instinct of heightened concern as the nation’s Muslim communities continue to prosper and exert more political and cultural influence.
And, of course, racism remains an eternal scourge.
There is not a single leader of any political, corporate, labour, or academic institution in the country who would stand silent if people marched in the streets demanding harm be done—or expressing support for those who have and would do harm—to people in any of those groups.
But when it comes to those who would do harm to Jews, those who spit out scripted phrases riddled with dog whistles of hate that justify the slaughter of civilian women and children, far too many of these parsons of progress have nothing to say. The Canadian Anti-Hate Network posted nothing—nothing—from Oct. 5 to Oct. 14 and, when it did, it was regarding a parental rights protest.
The towers of academia and corporate Canada are filled with comfortable cowards who have been too afraid of misinterpretation, too wrapped in moral confusion, and too preoccupied with their status in the salons and faculty lounges they frequent, to speak.
It’s the same sickening silence that 90 years ago, set the stage for the Holocaust.
