Pierre Brisson, a Canadian government official stationed in Cairo who wrote an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish letter to the Montreal daily Le Devoir last November, has been dismissed from the Canadian Civil Service. According to an official in the office of the Deputy Minister of Immigration and Manpower, Brisson was dismissed from his post recently because of his “unauthorized comment. His comment, said the official, “contravenes public service regulations concerning the release of information by the public service as regards government communications.”
Questioned on Brisson’s dismissal, Canadian Jewish Congress executive vice-president Saul Hayes, said he had not asked for more than an apology. Now that Brisson is dismissed, commented Hayes, “he certainly cannot make an apology.” Shortly after the Yom Kippur War, Brisson wrote a letter to Le Devoir from his post in Cairo in which he attacked Canadian foreign policy in the Middle East saying: “It is biased in favor of the Israeli cause” and “that Jewish capital controls the foreign policy of Canada.”
A press report followed shortly after to the effect that Brisson was being recalled for “further training.” Hayes then wrote to Robert Andras, Minister of Manpower and Immigration complaining about Brisson’s letter and asking for the meaning of the report about “further training,” suggesting it was “so mild a reproof as itself to add injury to a formidable insult.” Andras replied, expressing his profound regret at the reflection on the Jewish community and disavowing any identification with Brisson’s views.
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