Grazie Mille, Amici Miei! (english version)
The October 7th attack, the Israeli response, and the rise in antisemitic incidents continue to be a subject of debate. Below, we publish a letter on this topic addressed to the *Corriere Canadese* by Martin Goldfarb, a veteran pollster from Almada.
TORONTO – Like many Canadians Jews, the October 7th attacks left me shaken. Shaken that it happened. Shaken that is led to a rise in antisemitism and antisemitic attacks here in Canada. And shaken by the silence of too many non-Jewish friends.
For those who did not grow up Jewish, the angst of Jewish Canadians, like me, may be difficult to comprehend.
My mom and dad were lucky enough to come to Canada as Jewish orphan immigrants to be trained as farmers. In 1946, after the extent of the Holocaust was exposed, my dad and others travelled to Ottawa in the hope that they could sponsor Jews to come to Canada from displaced persons camps in Europe. My dad came home feeling defeated and with the impression that antisemitism was still government policy.
The neighbourhood where I grew up – Grace and Dundas in downtown Toronto – was Italian and Jewish. It was a community where we helped each other. The priest from St. Agnes’s Church was a customer and he was my dad’s friend. While I was born a few years after the 1933 Christie Pits riot, I grew up hearing about how Italians stood together with Jews and fought Canadian Nazis.
I played hockey for a Catholic team – the Columbus Boys Club. I was good enough that the coach wanted me to go to St. Mike’s for high school, but I went to my local public one instead. To the coach, it didn’t matter that I was Jewish. What mattered to him was outstanding performance.
When I was growing up, there were quotas on Jews in professions like law, medicine, and accounting. Jews formed their own law accounting firms and hospitals. Their outstanding performance was eventually recognized by the broader community, and historic systemic barriers came down.
Antisemitism became much more latent the professions and in business. Yet, there were still incidents of antisemitism in Canada. In 2005, in response to a rise of incidents in Montreal and Toronto, BMO Financial Group CEO Tony Comper and his late wife Elizabeth founded Fighting Antisemitism Together, a coalition of pointedly non-Jewish community and business leaders, who took a public stand against antisemitism.
Since October 7th, I have been very concerned by the rise of antisemitism in Canada that I have known and loved for nearly 90 years. It hit very close to home when the quiet suburban synagogue my family has belonged to for more than 50 years was attacked by gunfire.
What has struck me most perhaps has been the silence of the broader community. There have been very few voices from the political class who have spoken up. The major exception to that was the late Brian Mulroney, who gave an exceptional speech to the World Jewish Congress a month after the attacks. He reflected, “How could it be, I often wondered, that the progenitors of people demonstrably making such a powerful contribution to the economic, cultural and political life of Montreal and Canada were reviled over centuries and decimated in a six-year period, beginning in the year of my birth?” At the time, I sent the speech to each one of our 11 grandchildren because I wanted them to know that they were not alone. Indeed, Mulroney actually picked up the phone called my grandson after he read a column Jacob wrote about that speech for The Hill Times. That’s allyship.
In June, Prime Minister Carney addressed congregants at Holy Blossom Temple and all Canadians, “Canadians must stand up for each other. This means all Canadians must speak out when we see antisemitism creep into our social media feeds, our classrooms, and our workplaces. Because history teaches us that hatred metastasises when a society grows indifferent to it, when intimidation becomes routine, when conspiracy becomes discourse, and when citizens choose to look away.”
This summer, the Canadian business community did something similar to what Tony and Elizabeth Comper did more than 20 years ago. CEOs signed their names to full page ads that ran in major Canadian newspapers. That is a powerful signal.
One of the things that struck me about the ad but did not surprise me was how many prominent Italian Canadians were on the list of signatories, including Hon. Joe Volpe, Donato Ardellini, Dominic D’Alessandro, Pino Di Ioia, John Ruffolo, and Jim Vena to name just a few.
Last week, I was thrilled but, again, not surprised to see full page ads entitled, Italians Standing Against Antisemitism and Hate. It was great to see the names of so many clients, people I have done business with over the years, volunteered with at UHN, York University, and the McMichael, and, above all, dear friends. Over decades, Italians and Jews worked hand-in-hand to build Toronto. Both communities have enriched the city’s culture, and our philanthropy has benefitted the city’s leading education, healthcare, and arts institutions.
While we go to different houses of worship, our two communities came to this country in search of a better life. We share so much more in common than that: love of family, reverence of mother and father, and respect for democratic institutions and our fellow citizens. We prioritize and value education and hard work. We are wonderfully lively, expressive and animated, and our celebrations are large and centred around great food (where our mothers sneak in a little extra sugar and lots of love into their cooking!).
There is great power in many leading voices coming together as one in allyship. Antisemitism is a collective problem that requires an urgent public call and a collective commitment to action. Amplification matters. To the Italian Canadian community, I simply want to say grazie mille, amici miei!
Martin Goldfarb, O.C. is Co-Founder & Chairman of Almada, and he was official pollster of the Liberal Party of Canada
In the pic above, Joan and Martin Goldfarb
