Canadian Navy Excludes Jews from Duties Involving Arabs

The case of a Jewish naval reservist who charged discrimination for being denied a posting to the Persian Gulf because of his religion has forced the Canadian navy to acknowledge that it excludes Jews from duties overseas that require contacts with Arabs.

Lt. Andrew Liebmann, who applied for the position of executive assistant to the commodore of Canadian naval forces in the Gulf, has filed a “redress of grievances,” the formal process of complaint within the Canadian Armed Forces.

“If that doesn’t work, I will go to court through the Charter of Rights,” said Liebmann, who lives in Vancouver.

He said he was told by Lt. Commander Dave Gardem at Navy Headquarters in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that his application for the post announced vacant had been accepted but that “I was not going because I am Jewish.”

Capt. John Blakeley of the Office of National Defense agreed that Liebmann’s application had been favorably processed.

“At first glance, his application seemed to satisfy all the necessary qualifications, so that Maritime Command forwarded it to National Defense headquarters in Ottawa.” Blakeley said.

“While the application was here in Ottawa, some concern was raised by authorities about whether the fact that Liebmann’s religious faith — Judaism — would create problems to his personal safety and impede his ability to fulfill the job, which called for meetings with Arab Moslem dignitaries from the host nations.

“This concern was based on the policy regarding peacekeeping operations.”

Blakeley acknowledged that Canadian forces participating in U.N. peacekeeping operations in the Middle East, such as on the Golan Heights, exclude soldiers who are Jewish.

“We are not looking at whether somebody is going to be discriminated against in our free country of Canada,” Blakeley said, “but whether in fact they will be put into more personal danger than they need be, or whether they might jeopardize the operation by being incapable of carrying out the peacekeeping mandate,” he explained.

In any event, the position was erroneously listed as vacant because of a misunderstanding, the Armed Forces Office said.

But Liebmann is not satisfied with the replies.

“I don’t suspect that it’s racism, but it is discrimination,” he said. “I think the person who made the decision doesn’t realize that you don’t have to be racist to be guilty of discrimination.”