Thank you. Cambodians are facing a human rights crisis, with all the hard-fought freedoms gained in the past decades rapidly disappearing. Human Rights Watch agrees with the UN Special Rapporteur’s analysis that, within her one-year reporting period, the Cambodian government has failed to take effective actions to reverse its repressive crackdown on critical and independent voices in Cambodia, which has significantly restricted Cambodians’ civil and political rights. Following the sham elections in July 2018 in which the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Committee (CNRP) was dissolved by… (Full Story)

Expand Demonstrators march outside the US Capitol during the Poor People's Campaign rally in Washington, DC, June 23, 2018.  © 2018 AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana (New York) – Governments should heed the call of the United Nations’ leading expert on poverty to fully integrate human rights protections into their efforts to digitize and automate welfare benefits and services, seven human rights groups said today. In a report released this week, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, warns that the rapid digitization and automation of welfare systems is hurting… (Full Story)

New York - Southern (Inner) Mongolian poet Mr. Zhao Baahuu, who goes by the pennames Soliyoot Shulegchin (“Crazy Poet” in Mongolian) and Cao Yuan Nu Huo ( “Fury of Grassland” in Chinese), was detained and placed under house arrest after publishing poems online criticizing China’s ethnic policies toward Southern Mongolians, Tibetans and Uyghurs over the past 70 years.  (Full Story)

The history of Canada has always been inspired by great visionaries. Some of these Canadian visionaries were prime ministers of different political convictions. Each of these leaders promoted their ideals and visions of Canada. Justin Trudeau`s leadership has been inspired by his father`s premiership who defended rights and freedoms, multiculturalism, and who made some significant legal reforms. In the same way, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vigorously defends liberal values in terms of individual rights, equality of opportunities, and the right for Canadians to live as they choose. Under Justin Trudeau`s leadership, Canada is the second country to legalize cannabis. Moreover, Justin Trudeau is in favour of immigration because he thinks that people from different cultures and backgrounds are assets for the Canadian nation. Prime Minister Trudeau defends Canada`s economic interests by investing in the economy and by protecting the North American free trade Area. Also, He made a revolution by decriminalizing and legalizing cannabis. (Full Story)

As Egypt formulates and implements its economic reform program, “the Chinese development model” is mentioned with increasing frequency in official Egyptian discourse as a supreme positive example. The Chinese model is identified in Egypt with modernization, scientific advances, foreign investments, integration into the global economy, and mega-projects that stand to yield high economic growth rates and enable a response to the challenges of a rapidly growing population and dire poverty. (Full Story)

There are nominated candidates of all races and religions in our Party. the PPC. With names like Salim Mansour, Rocky Dong, Jigna Jani, Tahir Gora, Jude Guerrier, Jing Lan Yang, Salomon Rayek, and many, many others. (Full Story)

The second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un aimed to achieve the dismantlement of North Korea’s military nuclear infrastructure in return for sanctions relief, but ended abruptly, with no joint document or statement of the two leaders. Most likely the Hanoi experience does not portend derailment of the US-North Korea process, at least for now, and both sides apparently still have an interest to continue cooperation. At the same time, the US and North Korea will find it extremely difficult to resolve a basic contradiction regarding denuclearization.  (Full Story)

Valentine’s Day rituals often begin in the classroom, where the holiday serves both as an enjoyable arts and crafts activity and as a pedagogical tool, teaching children about structuring love and friendship into a concrete, prescribed form. The ritualization of love continues throughout our lives, not only on Valentine’s Day, but through weddings, anniversaries, and Mother’s and Father’s Day. (Full Story)

Montreal Jews rely on non-Jewish academics, writers and filmmakers to present and even explain, in French, Jewish realities to the Quebecois public and within Francophone academia. The considerable number of publications on Jewish themes, both in fiction and non-fiction, written in French by non-Jews is certainly unequaled in the Francophone world and most likely in the West, contends writer Victor Teboul. But do these works encourage or dissuade critical assessment of Quebec and of Quebec–Jewish relations, asks Tolerance.ca’s editor, whose most recent book also questions Quebecois identity. (Full Story)

Despite his dedicated work on behalf of Jewish refugees in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s, James G. McDonald (1886-1964) is little known today. Come discover this highly unusual and outspoken maverick through Shuli Eshel’s inspiring documentary, “A Voice among the Silent,” followed by comments and discussion led by Neil Caplan. (Full Story)

The Canadian government's recent announcement that it will be providing more than CDN $600 million (USD $455 million) over the next five years to bail out the country's financially strapped media outlets -- as part of the fall fiscal update about the federal budget ahead of the 2019 federal election -- is not as innocent as it may seem. (Full Story)

By David Barzilay

The intriguing tale of the location and fate of a Jewish baby placed in the Municipal Foundling Home of Thessaloniki during WWII.

It is March 4th 2016 an email pops onto my screen from some unknown group of researchers based in Thessaloniki, Greece. They introduce themselves: “ We are a group of researchers in Thessaloniki working on a common academic project related to the Shoah. Aliki Arouh, genealogist and researcher archivist of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, , Aigli Brouskou, an anthropologist, researcher of the Municipal Foundling Home of Thessaloniki ‘Agios Stylianos’ and Areti Makri, archivist at the State Archives in Thessaloniki and a researcher”. (Full Story)

To many observers, the Jewish community in Quebec is highly integrated into Quebec society, yet to others it appears insular. How can this apparent contradiction be explained? How do religious groups, including Jews, deal with the trend towards secularization in Quebec? We raised these questions and others with Dr. Morton Weinfeld. Professor of Sociology at McGill University in Montréal, Dr Weinfeld holds the Chair in Canadian Ethnic Studies. He is the author of Like Everyone Else, but Different: The Paradoxical Success of Canadian Jews (McClelland & Stewart, 2001), a study of the Jewish community in Canada. Dr. Weinfeld is also a recognized authority on Quebec’s Jewish community. (Full Story)

On Thursday, April 19, 2018 at 7:00 pm at the Gelber Centre, veteran British journalist Ian Black will be speaking on “Israelis and Palestinians: Contested Past, Uncertain Future.” (Full Story)

During the last fifteen years, Tolerance.ca organized several panel discussions.  To mark International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Tolerance.ca® organized two panel discussions on religious diversity featuring several distinguished panellists. The first meeting was held at Vanier College. The second, on which a report follows, was held at the Maison des écrivains under the theme “Education, Religion and Diversity: Enrichment or Source of Conflict?” (Full Story)

According to what criteria and in whose eyes do we achieve success? Lévriers is a theatrical investigation led by director Sophie Gee and five others who, like her, have remade their lives in Montreal: a Dutch actress, a Québécois dancer, a Rwandan rugby player, an Antillian rapper, and a retired Jewish businessman. Over the course of a creative laboratory, they all look back on their journey and their culture for ways to define success.  (Full Story)