Say It By Its Proper Name: Genocide

Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by means such as "the disintegration of [its] political and social institutions, of [its] culture, language, national feelings, religion, and [its] economic existence".

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I wasn't planning to write a blog entry today, but I came across a story that so egregiously outrageous that for the sake of my own health, I had to put it down in words.

If you have read some of my recent posts, you will see I am always quick to hold to account the atmosphere of fear and censorship that is becoming increasingly common in the U.S., especially with regard to students demonstrating support for Palestinians. Today's post, however, hits closer to home. To understand the obscene nature of what has happened, here is a bit of context about Tareq Hadhad. a Syrian refugee who settled in Nova Scotia and became a Canadian success story as well as a Canadian citizen in 2020.

Hadhad’s family had made chocolates in Syria for more than 20 years, but their factory was destroyed in a bombing that forced them to leave the country in 2012.

Peace by Chocolate opened for business in 2016 and now ships its confections around the world. The company employs locals in Antigonish and newcomers to Canada.

Hadhad said Canadians are respected around the world for “values that stand for peace, for love, for kindness, for inclusion, for welcome, for friendliness, for social justice.

In addition to employing a significant number of people, Hadhad donates a percentage of the profits to peace initiatives.

Upon becoming a citizen, he said,

“I feel that I’m Canadian. I feel that I’m free. I feel that I belong. And I feel that I am so proud to be part of this big family of 37 million Canadians from coast to coast to coast.”

Hadhad may have to revisit that assessment, given the contempt a Canadian legal association has shown him.

The Advocates’ Society informed its members in an email last week that it would be uninviting Tareq Hadhad, a Syrian refugee turned Canadian entrepreneur, as the keynote speaker at the prominent legal group’s annual “End of Term Dinner,” at the Metro Convention Centre in June.

The decision comes after some members expressed concern about Hadhad’s public social media posts touching on the Middle East, the email explained. “While it was never our intention for Mr. Hadhad to speak about the conflict, with regret, we concluded that this is not the right time or event for Mr. Hadhad to address our members,” it read, adding: “We also recognize that many of our members will be harmed and feel unwelcome because of our decision not to proceed with Mr. Hadhad.”

Exactly what was the 'offence' that prompted this anti-Arab racism? Well, it seems that certain members of the society poured through Hadhad's social media posts, and, spoiler alert, Toronto lawyer Jonathan Lisus found nothing.

He said he saw an absence of commentary on the [October 7 2023] kidnappings, murder and other atrocities committed [against Israelis] by Hamas; nor, he said, could he find Hadhad calling on Hamas to release hostages or renounce its call for the destruction of Israel.

Also, Lisus found that Hadhad had used the G word: 

In May 2024, Hadhad wrote: “Just looking at this and thinking of all the children that we failed everywhere and continue to fail in Rafah and all of Gaza. This genocide must be stopped. Children should wake up to the sounds of birds not the sounds of bombs.”

“Sadly, Mr. Hadhad’s record of public statements makes a strong case that while expressing understandable concern for civilian deaths in Gaza he is unsympathetic, and certainly indifferent, to the harm and suffering of Jewish people and the Jewish state,” Lisus wrote in his email to the Advocates’ Society.

Compounding this cowardly injustice, Hadhad made it clear that his was to be a non-political address:

“My intended remarks focused solely on the values that unite,” the statement said. “There is a lot of division already in our world — I don’t want to contribute to it further. My role is to bring people together, not further divide them, and I remain proud of my story and the message I share across Canada and internationally.”

Night after night the news shows us the dire injury, death and devastation Israel is inflicting on Gaza. Yet somehow our sympathies are supposed to be reside solely with the Jewish state. Somewhere, George Orwell must be nodding ruefully and knowingly. 

 

Their Loss, Our Gain

 

Canada had a well-earned reputation as a safe haven for those fleeing the U.S. during the Vietnam War. It now appears that reputation is enjoying a resurgence, but for slightly different reasons.

I wrote previously about the chill that has descended over American universities for hosting protests that offend some. Expulsions, recindments of degrees and censorship of thought and speech are becoming commonplace at institutions that were formerly bastions of free thought and expression. That is more than some can take.

Three Yale professors – all of them vocal critics of President Donald Trump – have recently taken up roles at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

Earlier this week, philosophy professor Jason Stanley, who has written about fascism and propaganda, announced that he would leave Yale for U of T.

He joins professors Marci Shore and Timothy Snyder, who specialize in Eastern European history. The two academics are married and arrived in Canada last August, on a sabbatical from Yale. Mr. Trump’s re-election in November factored heavily into the decision to stay in Canada, according to Prof. Shore.

“There’s a state of dazed horror following the election. After we calmed down and started to think it through, I clearly didn’t want to go back,” said Prof. Shore, who expressed guilt about leaving the United States, but decided she didn’t want to take their children back there.

Prof. Snyder has written extensively on tyranny. In January, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance tweeted that he was an “embarrassment” to Yale after the professor criticized the nomination of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.

Professor Shore, Snyder's wife, knows of what she speaks.

 “As a historian of the 1930s, of totalitarianism … of this unhinging from empirical reality that happened in Russia, I was able to see certain things sooner in my own country than I would have otherwise been able to see,” she said.

“With Trump on the rise, you could feel the potential for civil war, for more mass scale violence, for the brutal deportations you’re seeing now, the idea that there’s an enemies list. I’m a historian of totalitarianism. I know where an enemies list could go.”

That increasingly oppressive, McCarthy-era-like atmosphere has also prompted a noted Canadian heart surgeon, who was planning to leave, to stay right here.

Renowned Ottawa heart surgeon Marc Ruel was planning a move to the United States last year, with the University of California, San Francisco "thrilled to announce" that he would be leading a heart division in their surgery department.

But Donald Trump's threats toward Canada were such that Ruel has now decided to remain in Canada. 

"Canada is under duress right now," he told CBC. "I felt my role and duty at this point was to directly serve my country from within."

Ruel says he considers his skills a product of Canada, abilities that he was ready to share globally when he accepted the position at UCSF last year. 

But Trump's imposition of tariffs and threats to annex the country that's historically been its closest ally has made geopolitics an unavoidable issue.

And those issues could, in fact, lead to a reverse brain drain.

Concerns over the political climate in the U.S. has opened a "floodgate" of inquiries about moving to Canada, according to recruiter Michelle Flynn. 

To deal with the influx of inquiries from American physicians wanting to come to Canada, Flynn said she is now conducting interviews five days a week, up from three days a week previously. 

"We're getting 60-plus physicians coming to and registering on our website a month," she said. 

Ontario's College of Physicians and Surgeons has also noted increases in American interest.

After introducing [a] new licensing pathway, the CPSO registered 351 U.S. physicians between 2023 and the end of 2024, a spokesperson said. 

So far this year, CPSO has received registration applications from 240 physicians who are U.S. educated. Most of them are currently practicing in the U.S., the spokesperson said. 

No one likes the economic uncertainty and fear that are consequences of crazed American policy. Nonetheless, if one is looking for bright spots in all of the gloom, this retention and acquisition of intellectual capital is surely one of them.