Philip Givens. independent member of the Ontario Legislature. former Mayor of Toronto and former member of Parliament, was unanimously elected by the Canadian Zionist Federation at its weekend convention as president for the next two years. Givens, 50, long a prominent Zionist, has been a vigorous exponent of Canadian Jewry and for many years served as a member of the Canadian delegation to the United Nations. An exponent of the idea that there is no conflict between being a loyal Canadian and being a good Jew and Zionist, Givens told the 1000 delegates at the convention, “We need a Jewish identity as never before. To achieve It we shall work hand In hand with B’nai B’rith and the Canadian Jewish Congress and all the other Jewish and Zionist organizations.”
Givens called on Canadian politicians to emulate their American counterparts In vying with each other for Jewish support. He said he had yet to see in the position papers of Canadian parties anything dealing with Israel or with Jews in general. On another point, Givens said he would ask the government to make a strong plea to the Soviet Union to rescind its exit taxes, which he called “a shame of the 20th century.”
Prof. Irwin Cotler of Osgood Law School, Toronto, declared at the gala banquet that “We are faced in the years to come with a growing confrontation between the Jewish and the Canadian nationalisms.” He said “tension is developing,” with “the most symptomatic fact” being that “less than 8 percent of US and Canadian polled public opinion is ready to allow US or Canadian forces to militarily intervene should Israel be threatened with physical destruction.”
He asserted: “There is an energy crisis developing in the US which makes the government of the US and the public opinion dependent more and more on Arab oil. As for Canada, its interest in Israel is all right as long as it coincides with Canadian interests and no more.” Painting a grim picture of the Jewish situation in Canada as a result of a drying up of immigration and an increasing rate of intermarriage, Cotler said that “the time has come for every Jew to stand up and be counted as Jews, showing the Canadian government that we are proud of our Jewish heritage.”
Rabbi Dr. Moses Rosen, Chief Rabbi of Rumania since 1948, will speak in San Francisco next month on behalf of the local Hebrew Academy, He will address the Academy’s annual fall banquet Nov. 12. and consult with Jewish leaders and members. He was previously in San Francisco in 1961-62, for a lecture tour.
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.
