Arab Group Arrives in Canada on Political Mission; Zionists Urged to Act

The disclosure that an Arab commission has arrived in Canada with the intention of carrying on political activity in government and other influential circles has resulted in an editorial in the local Jewish newspaper. The Daily Eagle, demanding that the Zionist organization of Canada not limit its activities to fund raising campaigns but launch a movement for the creation of pro-Palestine committees which will not only offset the Arab propaganda, but strengthen sentiment favoring Jewish aspirations in Palestine.

“Canadian Zionists must consider themselves the torch bearers of a great national ideal and not merely fund raisers,” adds the paper. Detailed information about the activities of the Arab delegation is still lacking.

The Montreal Gazette, influential morning paper, congratulates the Canadian government for the decision, announced by Hon. T.A. Crerar, to admit more refugees from Spain and Portugal into Canada.

The newspaper adds that the government decision comes just as the petition of the Canadian National Committee for Refugees, asking for such action, was getting under way. “This should be no reason for halting circulation of the petition,” writes the Gazette. “An assertion of the public’s opinion on this matter will strengthen the government’s hand, reinforce the intentions implicit in the Crerar statement, and encourage liberality in the interpretation of a very restrictive set of rules.” The Gazette advocates the liberalization of the Canadian immigration laws which, at the present time, bar the entry of non-British subjects.

In his statement authorizing a further movement of refugees from Spain and Portugal to Canada, Mr. Crerar reviewed the decisions adopted at a meeting of representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States on the refugee problem, held at Bermuda last Spring. The minister said it is hoped that proposals of the conference will be accepted by all governments concerned and that there will thus be established an effective method of obtaining continuous international cooperation and financial support for the maintenance and transportation of refugees who are already outside enemy territory or who may succeed in escaping to neutral or Allied countries.