United Against Hate

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

The nation-wide United Against Hate group founded by former Snowdon councillor and former B’nai Brith Canada League For Human Rights director Marvin Rotrand, active since January, has officially launched.

Rotrand, the Director General of the organization, told a Zoom press conference that the group is now registered as a non-profit and that June 19 the official launch date is also the birth anniversary of Dr. José Rizal, a national hero of the Philippines, “someone who stood for racial equality and brotherhood, and good relations between nations,” and fought against antisemitism.

Rotrand said United Against Hate will now accelerate its activities, and said the organization was created to “fill a void.

“We wanted to promote cross-cultural dialogue and highlight the contributions of Canada’s diverse population to the country’s success,” he said. “We felt that no other group was doing what we wished to do. We are non-governmental, non-partisan, multicultural, multi-racial and devoted to combating hate by building bridges. We leverage the strength of communities to aid each other.”

The group’s mission includes “promoting cross cultural communication with a focus on dialogue between different religious and racial minorities; combating the unprecedented upsurge in antisemitism witnessed in Canada over the past months; promoting dialogue between Jews and Muslims in Canada and highlighting the contributions of the many diverse communities to Canada’s well being and success including promoting the heritage months of racial and religious minorities.”

United Against Hate’s board members are: Perry Balendra – Former President, Tamil Association of Canada; Will Barclay – Academic, former Research and Data Analyst at B’nai Brith Canada; Frank Baylis – former Member of Parliament for Pierrefonds – Dollard; Alton Brooks – former Board member Jamaica Canadian Association of Ontario; Bashir Hussein – President, Council of South Asian Communities; Ellie Israel – School Commissioner at the English Montreal School Board; Dougald Lamont, former MLA and outgoing leader Manitoba Liberal Party, Norberto Mandin – Founder, CPRM Community Radio, Luzviminda Mazzone – President, Federation of Filipino Canadian Associations and Gemma Raeburn Baynes – President, Playmas Caribbean Cultural Association.

Rotrand said his group has already called for a second national summit to combat antisemitism, issued an open letter signed by 200 prominent Canadians “demanding that the Government of Canada act in light of an unprecedented wave of hate aimed at Jews seen over the last months,” has been “asked to speak at Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day by Tamil organizations, collaborated with Bangladeshi groups to urge Canada to continue to provide support for Rohingya refugees and is fostering links with the Cypriot community in advance of the 50th anniversary of the invasion and continued occupation of that country by the Republic of Türkiye,” and working with provinces to promote better Holocaust education, working with the Iranian diaspora to support a Canadian ban om the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” amongst other accomplishments.

(As the Zoom call was proceeding, news broke on CBC that Canada was about to proclaim the IRGC a terrorist organization according to the Criminal Code. Rotrand told The Suburban he was “thrilled. We support the same position as many other Jewish and Iranian groups do.)

Baylis told the Zoom call that the work of United Against Hate is extremely important.

He added that while Canadians generally live in peace, we now see “ugly signs of discrimination, of hate bubbling up, and unless we stand up and speak to it, it’s like we accept it. The rise in antisemitism is unacceptable.”

Mazzone said United Against Hate is a “much needed tool to build dialogue and collaboration amongst our country’s diverse communities.”