Eight major Canadian firms were identified today as among a larger number of Canadian businesses that comply with the Arab boycott of Israel. The Commission on Economic Coercion and Discrimination, headed by Prof. Irwin Cotler of McGill University, reported here that it found “a pattern of compliance and complicity with the Arab boycott in both the public and private sectors.”
It also identified seven types of boycott clauses found in boycott-related documents including some reflecting religious discrimination. Among the findings were that Canadian chartered banks process letters of credit with boycott-related provisions; Canadian firms comply with boycott clauses of a secondary and tertiary character which the Canadian government has called repugnant and unacceptable; Canadian boards of trade certify as to compliance with the boycott; and the Canadian government, through its agencies and officials, has acquiesced and facilitated the application of the Arab boycott in Canada.
The Commission said, however, that it was “heartened and encouraged by the government’s statement of policy on Oct, 21, 1976 as an important first step” against boycott compliance. But, the report added, “unless this policy is buttressed by legislation prohibiting compliance and by administrative directives of a specific character, the policy itself stands to be undermined,” Cotler said that without legislation “we are in danger of creating two kinds of corporate citizens in Canada: those that slowed government policy and are rewarded for it and those that respect government policy and are penalized for it.”
The eight corporations identified are: CAE Electronics, Ltd.; Cansult, Ltd.; Great West Steel Industries; The Canadian Mideast Consulting Group; Industrial Sustainers; International Harvesters; ATCO Industries, Ltd.; and Peter Sheffield, Inc.
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