Former Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker today castigated the present Government, led by Premier Lester B. Pearson, for what he called “pussyfooting” on the issue of enacting federal legislation to outlaw the dissemination of anti-Semitic and other hate propaganda. If the Government took the initiative toward outlawing such “massacres of the soul,” he said, the opposition would support such a move. He made the statements in an address at Congregation Bet Emeth-Beis Yehuda here.
At the same time, Dr. Daniel G. Hill, director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, appeared before the House of Commons External Affairs Committee, and urged the federal government to convene a Dominion-wide conference to discuss means for combating hate propaganda directed against Jews and Negroes in this country.
Hate propaganda is being distributed on city property by a city employee, Lyman Gifford, the mayor of Oshawa, said today at a press conference. Oshawa is a small industrial city 30 miles from Toronto. The mayor said he has written Canada’s Justice Minister Guy Favreau naming the person he believes responsible for distributing an anti-Semitic pamphlet. “Iam quite sure that he is an employee of this city,” the mayor told reporters. The leaflets bore an imprint originating in Birmingham, Alabama.
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