Click to expand Image Relatives and community members hold candles at a vigil for Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, January 26, 2023. © 2023 AP Photo/Gerald Herbert The United States is bracing for further details in yet another horrific police killing of a Black man, this time Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee. The fatal beating reminds us of the fundamental changes to policing that are still needed and what is required to foster safety in the US, particularly in Black communities, whose members are three times more likely to be killed by police than white people. Tyre Nichols, 29, was… (Full Story)

A recurrent theme in the testimonies of Residential School survivors is how their cultural and linguistic identities were adversely affected. (Full Story)

Opening reception with artists: December 3rd, 2pm-6pm.
BBAM! Gallery is presenting Courtney Clinton’s first solo exhibition,  Post-Monumental, an interactive art project led by Clinton, inviting various artists and voices from around Tiohti:áke/Montreal to "write" on the landscape of our city.
Over 12 weeks, 24 participating artists received one postcard per week illustrated with a Tiohti:áke monument. On the back of the postcards, artists responded to the image with their own creative production. The 288 cards will all come together as an installation piece in an exhibition at BBAM Gallery (808 Atwater Ave) from December 3rd to January 13th. (Full Story)

Every year for several weeks before November 11, a field of scarlet poppies appears on coat lapels across Canada. This wearing of the poppy has a complex history ... (Full Story)

The Scottish National Party leads a majority government in Scotland supported by the Green Party under a confidence and supply agreement. Both parties want to reverse the U.K. decision to leave the European Union by promoting the separation of Scotland from the U.K. Still, 62% of the Scottish people wanted to remain in the European Union. In 2014, the SNP promised a ¨once in a generation¨ referendum which meant there could not be any other independence referendum before 40 years; however, the SNP broke this promise by planning a second referendum in October 2023. Consequently, the British government refused to allow a second referendum and the Scottish First Minister, Nicola Surgeon, asked the U.K. Supreme Court to overrule the refusal of holding a second referendum by the Truss government. The Truss government does not intend to break down the 300-year-old union between Scotland and the rest of the U.K. British Prime Minister Liz Truss would not push back the nation into a divisible over the national unity. The matter has been referred to the Supreme Court, the highest court can either allow or reject a second referendum and a decision is expected to be made in autumn 2022 or in early 2023. Nevertheless, most constitutional experts argue that Scotland cannot legally hold a referendum without the legislative approval of the Westminster Parliament; thus, any refusal from the Supreme Court to grant Scotland a referendum might only help the separatist flame to keep burning within the separatist movement. However, the British unionists should try to transform the U.K. into a federation which will give regions more powers while Westminster keeps powers relating to national and international matters. A federation could get some separatists back into the union movement which promotes national unity. (Full Story)

London, U.K.  Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning British monarch whose rule spanned seven decades, died on Thursday, September 8, 2022, at the age of 96, Buckingham Palace has announced. (Full Story)

By Eunice G. Pollack

On May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, when a police officer asphyxiated George Floyd, an unarmed African American, by kneeling on his neck, the claim that he or his department had been taught the maneuver in Israel went viral. Although no link ever emerged, the libel endured. The handwriting was clearly on the wall. Yet many national Jewish organizations chose to ignore the signs. (Full Story)

Since 1945, nuclear weapons have been used as a strategy of nuclear deterrence which has meant nuclear powers have not waged war against each other for fear of mutual assured destruction. Thus, modern peace and stability can be maintained through this concept of MAD. However, MAD is a Cold War concept of deterrence that only applies to nuclear powers, not to the non-nuclear power of Ukraine. Nowadays, the Ukrainian War challenges humankind as a whole for fear that several nuclear powers could participate in this war which could degenerate into nuclear warfare. NATO has three nuclear powers among its members and Russia is the supreme nuclear state with the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. Vladimir Putin threatens to use nuclear weapons if NATO nations dare to intervene in the Ukrainian War. This military situation is a source of concern because Russia could escalate the conflict to a nuclear war that could threaten humankind. Still, the U.S. and NATO nations can stop some of the Russian ICBM missiles, but the true effectiveness of these ICBM defence systems still remains unclear. (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)

MORNINGS IN JENIN  by Susan ABULHAWA is a novel  reflecting the reality of the  Palestinian plight and suffering. Its original title in 2002 was THE SCAR OF DAVID   in 2002 which  becomes  relevant in the story. The SCAR of David is probably a metaphor for the Star of David. The book is well researched and  is also a personal account . (Full Story)

Web magazine Tolerance.ca, founded by writer Victor Teboul, marks its 20th Anniversary in 2022. Visit the event marking its 10th anniversary at la Librairie Zone Libre, on Thursday, November 29, 2012. (Full Story)

The United Nation’s General Assembly adopted on Thursday January 20, 2022, by consensus, a resolution that condemns denial and distortion of the Holocaust.  (Full Story)

By Yohanan Tzoreff

The PLO as an organization and its leader Abu Mazen essentially lost their status as the sole representatives of the Palestinian people once Abu Mazen decided to cancel the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council. The Palestinian Authority suffers from a loss of relevance, and Abu Mazen personally is the target of harsh criticism from many members of Fatah, who are eager for his departure. (Full Story)

A lifelong resident of Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, Ekua Holmes (b. 1955) is an artist and community activist whose body of work explores themes of childhood, family bonds, memory, and resilience. This exhibition focuses on her award-winning children’s book illustrations—vibrant collages revealing stories of self-determination, love, and community that reflect the artist’s distinctive vision and commitment to Black imagery and representation. (Full Story)

Many countries are looking to the COVID-19 vaccines with the hope of overcoming the pandemic and beginning economic recovery. While the drug companies in the West operate as independent for-profit businesses, in China the government directs the research and development efforts of both state and privately owned companies, and uses them as a tool in its policy through official visits in the international theater, cooperation agreements, commitments to supply vaccines, and the provision of loans and other financial assistance. (Full Story)

By Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE)

Dr. Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), underscores the role of antisemitic concepts and rhetoric in the ideology and activities of major far-right groups in the United States, just after extreme right-wing groups, stormed Capitol Hill the day Congress certified Joe Biden as President-Elect. Dr. Beirich outlines the theoretical and organizational evolution of antisemitism amid the ranks of America's right-wing extremists. (Full Story)

While the world is at war with a deadly, infectious strain of SARS-CoV-2, a more overt, insidious virus has gone largely unaddressed by the world community. That virus is anti-Semitism.  

Two days have passed since the vandalization and attempted arson of the Shaa’r Shamayim Congregation in Montreal, yet not a word of reassurance, comfort or sympathy was said to the Jewish community. 

 It is with great dismay and utter horror as I,  a Jewish woman in a so-called progressive, multicultural Canada, witnesses as our non-Jewish government leaders, NGOs, and citizens fail once again to acknowledge the violent re-emergence of the old, but omnipresent virus of anti-Semitism.  (Full Story)

As part of a series of articles on major personalities who have furthered the cause of tolerance in Canada, Tolerance.ca® presents the world-renowned Montreal philosopher Charles Taylor, 2007 winner of the prestigious Templeton Prize. Mr Taylor co-chairs the Québec Commission on reasonable accommodations created by the Charest government in February 2007. (Full Story)

By Udi Dekel and Noa Shusterman

The Abraham Accords will ostensibly serve to inspire peace and normalization agreements between Israel and additional Arab states. Indeed? Which issues are included in the agreement, and why? Why did the UAE and Bahrain decide to establish official relations at this time? What are the implications for the Palestinian arena? And what new challenges are likely to emerge? Insights from a discussion of experts held following the festive signing ceremony at the White House (Full Story)

On the morning of September 4, 2020, Ms. Surnaa, a Mongolian employee of the Alshaa Left Banner Chinese Communist Party Committee in western Southern Mongolia, jumped from her residential building to her death in protest of the Chinese authorities’ new language policy called the “second generation bilingual education”. (Full Story)

Is Diversity about empowering people who have been victims of exclusion or an expression of resentment? Resentment, argues McGill University professor Marc Angenot in his  most recent Senior College Lecture, inspires defeatist behavior by pretending  to march towards the future, to avenge the real or mythical wrongs undergone in the past. (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)