Canadian Heritage committee  First, I want to thank you for your question, Mr. Champoux. I'm a staunch supporter of free speech. That's the starting point for my positions. One of the key building blocks of a healthy democracy is free speech. I believe that in the public and legal culture of Quebec and Canada, we have more or less come to a very reasonable position.

Canadian Heritage committee  Is it already covered? I believe so. Would it be useful to be more precise? I believe so.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Nater. The BDS movement has a very clear goal of delegitimizing and demonizing the only Jewish state on the planet. It is an attack not on Israeli policy but on the very right of the Jewish people to self-determination. That is why we believe it's anti-Semitic. I'll go further.

Canadian Heritage committee  —bullying and threatening Jewish people. On campus, as you mentioned, it's a very big deal. The goal here in Canada is to create unsafe spaces where Jews are not allowed to do things as Jews. You would have seen—and I'll close on that, Madam Chair—for example, mundane events like a Hanukkah party being targeted by BDS activists, whereas it was just a party.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for inviting me. I'm sure you already know that hate crimes, radicalization and extremism are on the rise in Canada. As Jews, we are particularly concerned about this phenomenon. We Jews are particularly vulnerable to this rise in hate. Statistics Canada's numbers from 2020 show that while Jews represent 1% of the Canadian population, we are the target of 62% of police-reported hate crimes targeting religious minorities—62%.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Could you add Mr. Farber's remaining minute to my time?

Canadian Heritage committee  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Justice committee  If I may add, Ms. Ramsey, in September 2018, a report on online hate was produced and given to the Prime Minister of France. They are due to present a bill in the next few weeks. When I was reading through the report, some of its elements were interesting and actually quite simple and helpful.

Canadian Heritage committee  Is the question for the professor or for us?

Canadian Heritage committee  The question was also directed to us. What you described to Chief Bellegarde earlier, about what's happening in your region, seems to be a very interesting microcosm of what can happen when people on the ground get different levels of government together and decide to make it a priority.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for your question, Mr. Nantel. Like Quebec, Israel is a very rich society in terms of culture. That may be due to the fact that those two societies are surrounded by different cultural and linguistic groups. There is also a will to affirm their difference. You are asking me what organizations should be selected.

Canadian Heritage committee  To build on the collaborative co-development process of the legislation, the bill recognizes that “Indigenous peoples are best placed to take the leading role in reclaiming, revitalizing, maintaining and strengthening Indigenous languages”. Indeed, they are the only ones who can do so.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Good evening. My colleague Allyson Grant and I are happy to have been invited to testify today on Bill C-91 for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, which is the advocacy agent of the Jewish Federations of Canada. We are a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization representing the perspectives of 150,000 Canadian Jews affiliated through local federations.

Canadian Heritage committee  Recently, the issue of indigenous language revitalization in the TRC report resonated with us. As Jews, we know the importance of language. A language is not only a means of communication. It carries with it history, culture and identity: past, present and future. Dr. Pamela Serota Cote, whose doctoral research at the University of San Francisco focused on Breton language and identity, once noted: Because language discloses cultural and historical meaning, the loss of language is a loss of that link to the past.