Montreal, June 1, 2023 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) continues to call for federal politicians to apologize for advertisements they placed on a Website called TheJ.ca, which regularly hosts racist content. In a report published in late April titled "Legitimizing Hate," CJPME documented advertisements running on TheJ.ca on behalf of Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, Conservative Party deputy leader Melissa Lantsman, Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Secretary Rob Oliphant, and Leah Taylor Roy, MP Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill.  In its report, CJPME recommended that politicians who had advertised on the Website issue formal statements distancing themselves from TheJ.ca and the racist positions advanced by its contributors. To date, none of the Federal politicians involved have done so.

CJPME’s report outlined how the Website regularly publishes racist content discrediting Black civil rights movements, disability activists, Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians, and Indigenous claims, including one article claiming that some ethnic groups “matter more” than others.  Since the report was published six weeks ago, the Website continues to host all the racist articles cited.  “While any such advertisements are offensive and hurtful to the groups targeted by such racism, ads from federal politicians are particularly odious,” says Thomas Woodley, President of CJPME.  

CJPME points out that three of the four federal politicians implicated hold leadership roles of national significance.  “What should Palestinian-Canadians think when the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs runs ads on a Website which calls Palestinians a ‘cancer,’” asks Woodley.  “And what should people of Black heritage in Canada think of party leaders who advertise on a Website which says that ‘Black Lives Matter is a far-left, anti-white, anti-capitalist, anti-family revolutionary movement with openly expressed aims of destroying Western culture and society,’” adds 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.”

About CJPME – Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is a non-profit and secular organization bringing together men and women of all backgrounds who labour to see justice and peace take root again in the Middle East. Its mission is to empower decision-makers to view all sides with fairness and to promote the equitable and sustainable development of the region.

For more information, please contact CJPME at: 438-380-5410 or [email protected].

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East www.cjpme.org

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