Thanks for the kind words

Letters

This letter was originally sent to Chief Dora Wilson of the Hagwilget Village Council and is reprinted with permission.

Dear Chief Wilson:
I received a copy of your letter written to Chief Coon Come regarding Mr. Ahenakew. Currently, I am a national vice- president of Canadian Jewish Congress, being the representative from the Pacific Region (British Columbia/Yukon/Northwest Territories and Nunavut) to our national board.

I was involved in the deliberations of our regional board to craft an open letter to Premier Gordon Campbell condemning the recently held referendum and I had the pleasure of meeting with Chief Stewart Phillip at the union's open house, at which time we had an excellent exchange and reaffirmed our collective commitment to ensuring that the Ahenakew incident would in fact be used to strengthen relations between our communities. As such, I am somewhat aware of relations between our communities' leadership. Your letter is most appreciated and is representative of the overwhelming views of aboriginal leaders. Please be assured that our community knows this well.

Your letter truly speaks to the shock that Mr. Ahenakew's statements caused. Your understanding of the hurt and concern to our community was powerfully expressed. Indeed, the reaction we have received from many aboriginal leaders and individuals has been overwhelming and our national office will be making a public statement to this effect soon.

One of the unfortunate consequences of Mr. Ahenakew's statements is that they had the potential to give those in the larger community a purported justification for saying that racism exists everywhere and not just in the white community. The achievement of aboriginal goals is in fact an important goal to us as a community and therefore we were troubled not only by the expression of anti-Semitism but also by the potential setback to the aboriginal community.

Without minimizing in any way the Ahenakew affair, we will not let our focus be shifted from the main centres of anti-Semitism and attacks on Jews today. As I write this letter, our community is in mourning by reason of another attack on the Jewish nation, which just occurred last weekend, resulting in 22 deaths and more than 100 injured. Your letter of understanding, referring to the fact that Jews are in "constant alert for acts of terror," is comfort at a time when there are some who would attempt to justify these murderous acts as legitimate expressions of political aspirations.

While there is still much work to be done in both of our respective communities to advance greater understanding, it can be said with certainty that the bonds that we have created through working together in the past are strong enough to endure this incident and indeed have been strengthened through your expressions of denunciation and shock and reaffirmations of hope.

Many in the aboriginal community suffer each day from policies rooted in institutional racism and colonialism. The deaths arising from poverty and poor health care, which occur every day in Canada, ought to be ever-present in our consciousness. We are also aware that this current travesty of policy is only part of the contemporary reality – the indigenous peoples' survival in the face of over 500 years of attempted physical and cultural genocide is testament to the strength of your history, your traditions and the universal human spirit. In this way both of our people's have much in common.

Mark Weintraub
National Vice-President
Canadian Jewish Congress

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