Montreal, April 20, 2023 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is calling for immediate action after discovering that many prominent Canadian politicians have placed advertisements on a Website called TheJ.ca, which regularly hosts racist content. In a report published today titled "Legitimizing Hate," CJPME has uncovered advertisements running on TheJ.ca on behalf of Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and other politicians at the federal, provincial, and municipal level, as well as a variety of businesses and non-profits.

The report outlines how the Website regularly publishes racist content discrediting Black civil rights movements, disability activists, Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians, and Indigenous claims, including articles claiming that some ethnic groups “matter more” than others.

“Through their advertising dollars, these Canadian politicians and businesses are providing the funding which allows this website to propagate its dangerous, false, and racist content,” said Thomas Woodley, President of CJPME. “These politicians must immediately discontinue advertising on this racist website and issue formal statements distancing themselves from this website and its abhorrent views” added Woodley.

Some of the most vile content published on TheJ.ca, as outlined in CJPME’s report, includes:

• A column titled “Jewish Lives Matter MORE,” which counters the Black Lives Matter movement by asserting that “Jewish lives not only matter, but they matter more. Why? They matter more because their existence contributes more to the public good than the lives of other ethnic groups […] Maybe there is an element of survival of the fittest at work.”
• A column mocking Indigenous land acknowledgements and claiming that the idea that European colonialism stole land from Indigenous peoples is a “myth.”
• A column affirming a view that Arabs “must embrace modernity” or risk reverting to “tribal desert primitivism.”
• A letter stating that “Islamic immigration into the west” is bringing “poisonous attitudes” and for that reason the author “hesitate[s] to go even into a Falafel place.”
• Columnists which deny Palestinian indigeneity and culture, and describe Palestinians as the “enemy within” and as a “cancer” that must be “removed.”

CJPME’s report identifies 16 politicians at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels who are known to have advertised on the Website, including:

• Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, and Leader of the Official Opposition (Federal)
• Melissa Lantsman, Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition (Federal)
• Rob Oliphant, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Federal)
• Doug Ford, Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Premier of Ontario
• Michael S. Kerzner, Solicitor General (Ontario)
• Stephen Lecce , Minister of Education (Ontario)
• Michael Parsa, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services (Ontario)
• Stan Cho, Associate Minister of Transportation (Ontario)
• Robin Martin, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health (Ontario)
• Laura Smith, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport (Ontario)
• Daisy Wai, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility (Ontario)
• Obby Khan, Minister of Sport, Culture and Heritage (Manitoba)
• Leah Taylor Roy, MP Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill (Federal)
• James Pasternak, City Councillor (Toronto)
• Sherri Rollins, City Councillor (Winnipeg)
• Markus Chambers, Deputy Mayor (Winnipeg)