[Jews in political life
of Canada]
On broad political issues the Jewish community in the main
reflects the general trends within Canada. It has
supported separation of church and state, although in
certain provinces some Jews favor government aid to Jewish
day schools and in Quebec there was general approval of
such aid when it was given.
Canadian Jewry has been concerned at all times with the
preservation of Jewish religious rights; as early as 1906
the as yet unorganized Jewish community opposed the
enactment of national Sunday observance laws. Jews played
a crucial part in Ontario's initial enactment of
anti-discrimination laws in 1944 and 1951;
[[The anti-discrimination laws did not count for the
natives: The natives were sterilized on and on and there
was mining and destruction of their soil on and on...]]
These laws set an example for the rest of the country.
They have also advocated Canadian action against
anti-Semitism abroad, both in Germany in the 1930s and in
the U.S.S.R. and Arab countries in the 1960s. They have
been unanimous in urging the Canadian government to adopt
a policy that would promote a viable Israel at peace with
her neighbors.
[["Peace with her neighbors" is a big lie: Herzl Free
Mason Israel was founded
without
definition
of any borderline with the prescription in the Herzl
book "The Jewish State" with the
plan
to
drive the Arabs away as the natives have been driven
away in the "USA" and with the aim of a borderline
on the Euphrates river according to the First Mose chapter
15 phrase 18 (look in the Bible!). Herzl Israel is not
such a peaceful country as it is presented in the text.
The Herzl book and the Bible are not corrected until now.
Human rights would be good for Israel (2008)]].
Following the election of Henry Nathan in 1871 there was
no Jewish member of Parliament until 1917, when (col. 111)
Samuel W. *Jacobs, a Liberal, was elected member for
Montreal-Cartier. From that time until the elections of
1968, when the riding (electoral district) vanished
through redistribution, Montreal-Cartier always had a
Jewish representative. In Winnipeg A.A. Heaps was elected
on the Independent Labor ticket in 1925 and held office
for 15 years; later he was elected on the Co-operative
Commonwealth Federation ticket. In 1930 Sam Factor, a
Liberal, was elected for Toronto West-Center (later called
Spadina) and was followed in 1945 by David A. *Croll.
Jewish representation increased in recent years, the peak
being reached in 1968, when eight Jewish members of
Parliament were elected, six of them in Ontario. It is
significant that of these eight Jewish members only one,
David *Orlikow of Winnipeg, represented a riding with a
significant Jewish population. All the others, from
Windsor, Galt, suburban Toronto, and Newfoundland,
represented areas with either relatively or absolutely few
Jewish voters. The predominantly "Jewish" areas within
Montreal and Toronto sent on-Jewish members to Ottawa.
Until the late 1960s there were only Liberal and New
Democrat (formerly CCF) Jewish members of Parliament on
the federal level. Jack Marshall of Newfoundland, elected
in 1968, was the first Jewish federal member of the
(Progressive) Conservative party.
Manitoba is the province with the highest number of Jewish
cabinet members, three in 1969: Saul Cherniack, deputy
premier and minister of finance, Sydney Green, minister of
social services and health, and Saul Miller, minister of
youth and education. Jewish mayors have served in major
cities and in numerous smaller towns since William Hyman,
a native of Russia, was elected mayor of Cape Rosier in
the Gaspé area of Quebec in 1858, serving 24 years, and
since David Oppenheimer became Vancouver's second mayor in
1888, serving until 1891.
Most notable terms were those of Aaron Horovitz, a
Rumanian-born [[Romanian-born]] immigrant, who was mayor
of Cornwall, Ontario, for 16 years intermittently between
1937 and 1950; Nathan Phillips, who was mayor of Toronto
1955-63; and David A. Croll, who was elected mayor of
Windsor in 1930 at the age of 30.
Jews have served in the legislatures of most provinces.
In 1969 there were two Jewish senators, David A. Croll,
named in 1955, and Lazarus *Phillips, named in 1968.
Jews have been in the judiciary in Canada since 1873, when
Moses Judah Hays and Benjamin *Hart were named
magistrates. It was not until 1950, when Harry *Batshaw of
Montreal was named to the Quebec Superior Court, that Jews
were appointed to the high court; since then there have
been Jewish judges of the high court in most provinces.
In 1970 Bora *Laskin was named to the Supreme Court of
Canada - its first Jewish member. In 1961 Louis *Rasminsky
was appointed governor of the Bank of Canada, Canada's
central bank.
In recent years numerous Canadian Jews have attained
important positions in the federal civil service. To
mention a few names they include: Simon Reisman, David
*Golden, Sylvia and Bernard Ostry, Sylvia Gelber, Jacob
*Finkelman, Allan Gottlieb, Naim *Kattan.> (col. 112)
