19 Oct 2011
Sheraton Hotel commended re. cancellation of iERA conference; campus hosting of similar events needs to be reviewed, says B’nai Brith Canada
TORONTO, 19 October 2011 – B’nai Brith Canada has alerted police enforcement and security agencies about upcoming events by Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA Canada) in Toronto and Montreal. The Jewish human rights organization has highlighted the concern that a number of speakers featured in these iERA events have been linked in media and other reports with antisemitic, anti-Christian and anti-homophobic statements, as well as with alleged threats of violence.
Frank Dimant, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, commented, “The iERA Canada’s blanket rejection of these concerns and attempts to distance itself from any such statements by its speakers, does not answer the allegations raised. The Sheraton Toronto Hotel is to be commended for its corporate citizenship in deciding not to host this conference. The fact that Concordia University and a student group at the University of Toronto are apparently willing to provide space for some of these speakers is, of course, of grave concern. Such arrangements should immediately be carefully reviewed by the university administration at these institutions to ensure that events that take place on campus premises are in strict accordance with the principles that should guide Canadian institutions of higher learning.”
For more information, please contact Anita Bromberg, National Director of Legal Affairs,
at (416) 315-9438.
B’nai Brith Canada has been active in Canada since 1875 as the Jewish community’s foremost human rights agency