Answering charges of bias against Jews and other minorities in police recruiting policies, Toronto Police Chief James Mackey denied last night that the force prefers men of British origin. He said that the Toronto force had more than 85 non-Anglo-Saxon policemen, though he said he could not give exact figures. He added that the force had placed advertisements in the “ethnic press” to recruit “anyone who was interested and qualified.” Chief Mackey made the statement in reply to a charge made by an attorney, Arthur Maloney, at the Canadian Bar Association.
The police official said that, currently, there was one Jewish cadet on the force, and that there had been a few other Jewish policemen in the past but that they had quit. He asserted that strong Jewish family ties tended to make young Jews follow their father’s professions or take over the father’s business.
The attorney also had charged that “complete and utter ignorance” of a minority group’s customs had been shown in the arrest of Rabbi Norbert Leiner on a Jewish Sabbath in 1962, which led to a Royal Commission inquiry. Chief Mackey replied that, since that incident, the force had instituted courses familiarizing its men with the customs and practices of various faiths.
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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.
