Canadian Jews Seek Advisory Role on Government’s Broadcast Body

The Canadian Jewish Congress today reiterated a request that a representative of the Jewish faith be named to membership on the National Religious Advisory Council of the Government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Such a request has been denied previously by the CBC on the grounds that the Council “must be kept to a manageable size.” In a letter to R.M. Fowler, head of the CBC, Michael Garber, president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, rejected that reasoning, declaring “the Jewish faith cannot possibly be put into the category of just another denomination of limited numbers.”

“It would appear rather incongruous,” stated the CJC letter, “at a time when Judaism is clearly recognized, certainly on this continent, as one of the three major and distinctive faiths, to refer to its numerical minority position in denying our request for one suitable representative on the National Religious Advisory Council.”

The CJC requested also that rules be laid down for the guidance of program producers who have recently broadcast programs on both radio and television, giving forums to acknowledged fascists and hatemongers. Such programs, stated the CJC, “gave national platforms and immense propaganda opportunities to known, vicious merchants of hate. This rush into sensationalism was, on balance, appraised as of dubious value to the Canadian body politic as a whole.”