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Minister questions grant after B’nai Brith appeal |
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Written by the Jewish Tribune staff
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Tuesday, 09 June 2009 |
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TORONTO – Subsequent to an appeal by B’nai Brith Canada regarding sponsorship by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of a late June anti-Israel conference at York University, Gary Goodyear, minister of state for science and technology, released an official statement questioning the council’s continued support.
The York conference – titled Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace and held under the guise of academia – “is in fact a blatant exercise in anti-Zionist propaganda,” according to a B’nai Brith Canada community action alert.
“Its entire thrust calls into question the Jewish state’s very right to exist and promises to be a veritable ‘who’s who’ of anti-Israel propaganda,” the human rights organization stated. “We were disturbed to learn that SSHRC…was listed as a lead sponsor on the conference’s web site, contributing both moral and financial support.”
SSHRC – a federal agency that is answerable to Parliament and reports directly to the industry minister – indeed provided $19,750 in funding, under its Aid to Research Workshops and Conferences Program, to the conference, Goodyear discovered.
“Approval of the funding was based on an initial proposal that did not include detailed information on the speakers at the conference,” the minister stated. “Since funding was provided, the organizers of the conference have added a number of speakers to their agenda. Several individuals and organizations have expressed their grave concerns that some of the speakers have, in the past, made comments that have been seen to be anti-israeli and antisemitic. Some have also expressed concerns that the event is no longer an academic research-focused event.”
Goodyear met with the SSHRC president, requesting these concerns be given “full consideration.”
“In particular, I asked that the council, once they have seen this information, to consider conducting a second peer review of the application to determine whether or not the conference still meets SSHRC’s criteria for funding of an academic conference.”
The B’nai Brith alert urges the community to express appreciation to Minister Goodyear for his due diligence as well as to urge him to direct the council to immediately withdraw its funding from “this sham of a conference that seeks to delegitimize the Jewish state and its supporters here at home.”
The letters should be sent to:
Office of the Hon. Gary Goodyear, 117 Confederation Building, House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6 or call (613) 996-1307, fax (613) 996-8340 or E-mail:
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B’nai Brith Canada also requests that letter writers send a blind carbon copy to
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 17 June 2009 )
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