A strong campaign against admitting European refugees to Canada is now developing in the country, while Jewish organizations are appealing to the government to permit the entrance of a larger number of displaced Jews from Europe.
The anti-immigration campaign is led chiefly by newspapers published in the province of Quebec. The influential Montreal Star charges that “pressure groups have sought a reckless flinging wide of our doors to all and sundry,” and demands a strictly selective policy of immigration. Notre Temps of this city declares that humanitarian arguments for admitting the refugees is hypocritical, while the Quebec newspaper Action Catholique says the government is wise in not starting a full-scale immigration program. Other newspapers play up the fact that several Jews were included among the defendants in the recent Soviet spy trials, and use it as an argument against the admission of refugees.
A strong appeal to the Canadian Government to admit a larger number of European Jewish refugees was issued recently by representatives of 150 local Jewish organizations after hearing Saul Hayes, executive-director of the Canadian Jewish Congress, following his return from Europe. Emphasizing the appalling conditions of the surviving Jews in Europe, the conference appeal asked that the government of Canada take the lead in the rehabilitation of these Jews.
“We call upon it to take immediate steps for the admission of a number of these Jews who so urgently seek new homes, a number which will be commensurate with the dignity of the Dominion of Canada,” the appeal says. “We also urge our government to use the good offices of its representatives in the United Nations and in other international institutions to enlist the active support of other peace-seeking nations in an international program to resolve the problem of the so-called displaced persons and to provide international security for the Jewish people against the menace of race hatred and anti-Semitism.”
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.
