The Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) appeared before a special public meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners called to consider material in “News and Views,” a publication of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Association, disparaging a wide range of minorities, including Jews.
Articles written by a retired police staff sergeant Ken Peglar, have contained disparaging comments about Italians, Pakistanis, Blacks, Poles, Catholics and Jews. Though the police commissioner has no direct responsibility for the publication, a product of the policemen’s union, the public session was convened because the “image” of the police force was involved. Judge Philip Givens, commission chairman, presided.
It was learned that after an apology was given previously by the Police Association president, Peglar’s articles had continued to appear through 1978, focusing further public attention on the issue.
A brief prepared by the joint committee on community relations of the CJC and B’nai B’rith paid tribute to the “excellent relations” of recent years in the joint committee’s contact with the police force. The brief said it was all the more upsetting to find such material in an official police association publication.
The brief said the CJC made no complaint when the first disclosures of the objectionable material was made, on the assumption that Peglar was representing, as a retired policeman, the thinking of 40 years ago, but when it became known that the bigoted material had been assured, isolated instances, the joint committee decided to take a public stand.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
