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Montreal, Nov 05, 2024— The Anti-Racism Program of the CJPME Foundation (ARPCF) strongly criticizes Canadian Heritage’s release of the IHRA Handbook, published on October 31, 2024, which purports to provide guidance to Canadian institutions on how to “practically” use the  International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism. Unfortunately, according to many critics, the IHRA definition itself conflates legitimate criticism of Israeli policies with antisemitism, potentially stifling free speech and shielding Israel from accountability. By extension, the new handbook and its guidance will further chill the Canadian discourse on Israel, particularly regarding Palestinian rights.

The handbook claims to provide practical guidance for institutions in a number of sectors, including education, law enforcement, government, workplaces, and civil society.  But the handbook is particularly problematic because, although it claims not to prohibit criticism of Israel, it contains many examples that dramatically exclude any substantive critique of Israel. Some problematic examples include:

• Equating Jewish and Israeli/Zionist Identities: The IHRA handbook conflates Jewish religious identity with Israeli/Zionist ideology, seemingly to shield Israel and its army from criticism regarding human rights violations against Palestinians. The handbook claims, “Today, age-old antisemitic tropes are recycled to target Israel, Israelis, and Zionists. In many cases, this is as simple as applying the same forms of antisemitism… but merely replacing the term ‘Jews’ with ‘Israel,’ ‘Israelis,’ or ‘Zionists.’”
• Labeling BDS as Antisemitic: The handbook categorizes the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement as antisemitic, wrongly equating efforts to boycott Israel with antisemitism.
• Misleading Associations with Antisemitism: The handbook makes unreasonable connections between recent protests and critiques of Israel’s policies with Canada’s historical issues of antisemitism. For instance, it equates legitimate criticisms, such as calling Israel a “child murderer” (a reference to Palestinian child casualties) with genuinely antisemitic statements like “the Jews killed Jesus.” This conflation seems designed to blur lines between antisemitism and criticism of Israel’s actions.
• Promoting Religious Claims in a Secular Context: The Handbook ignores contemporary international scholarship on indigeneity, and instead presents religiously-based arguments for Jewish indigeneity to the land.
• Denial of Palestinian Existence and Indigeneity: The handbook dismisses the historical and continuous existence of Palestine and denies the indigeneity of the Palestinian people, and instead claims exclusive Jewish indigeneity in Palestine-Israel. Although the handbook states that "the recognition of Jewish indigeneity and the right of Jewish people to self-determination in the land of Israel does not negate the right of self-determination for the Palestinians or others on that land," this framing effectively prioritizes Israeli claims and sidesteps Palestinian rights and the call for self-determination in a free Palestine.

"The handbook’s one-sided defence of a flawed definition detracts from addressing real antisemitism in Canada and encourages the suppression of essential discourse on Israel’s human rights abuses," stated Jamila Ewais, Lead Researcher at APRPCF. Ewais pointed out that, by failing to distinguish between legitimate critiques of a state and antisemitism, the handbook legitimizes ongoing discrimination in Canada against Palestinians and their allies, denying Palestinian indigeneity and existence.

Despite more than 11,000 Canadians emailing the Prime Minister to urge shelving this handbook, Canadian Heritage has proceeded with its publication. Over 100 civil society organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups, have also raised concerns, cautioning the UN against adopting the IHRA definition. In Canada, notable groups opposing IHRA include Independent Jewish Voices Canada, the BC Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Association of University Teachers, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Confédération des syndicats nationaux, and over 40 faculty associations and academic unions.

The ARPCF urges Canadian Heritage to retract its IHRA Handbook. Canadian Heritage’s mandate states it aims to promote diversity globally. It also seeks to share Canada’s unique experience as a multicultural, bilingual, treaty nation committed to human rights. Canadian Heritage should uphold these goals by supporting policies that clearly distinguish between antisemitism and legitimate human rights discourse.