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The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs argues that the Pride centre, which received $138,000 from the federal government in January, should have its funding revoked
Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 24 minutes ago • 7 minute read
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The Pride flag flies with the Canadian and Alberta flags after a flag raising to celebrate Pride Week outside the McDougall Centre in Calgary on Monday Aug. 27, 2013. Photo by Gavin Young /Postmedia
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Jewish organizations are calling for funding to be stripped from the Pride Centre of Edmonton, arguing that its “egregious” conduct since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel ought to disqualify it from government support.
The demand — and flurry of behind the scenes emails — hint at how tensions over Israel’s war on Hamas is affecting civil society relationships in Canada.
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Stacey Leavitt-Wright, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Edmonton, said in an interview that the Jewish community had attempted to schedule a meeting with the Pride centre to discuss the centre’s social media postings and the sense that it was no longer a safe space for the city’s Jews.
“Our biggest concern with this … is of course, seeing to the needs and the inclusion of the Jewish intersectional queer community in Edmonton,” said Leavitt-Wright.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs argues that the Pride centre, which received $138,000 from the federal government in January, should have its funding revoked. It argues that the non-profit has violated the federal anti-racism strategy, praised attacks by listed terrorist entities and “issued written support for the sexual violence waged against Jews.”
On Oct. 21, three weeks after 1,200 people were killed in a surprise raid carried out by Hamas and other terror organizations, the Edmonton Pride centre’s volunteer-run Instagram page posted, “We at PCE stand against apartheid, genocide, colonization and state violence.”
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Several days after the Oct. 21 social media post, the Jewish Federation of Edmonton told the Pride centre that it would not be participating in a casino fundraiser, arguing that its post about the fighting “was unbalanced and did not mention that the conflict started due to the genocidal terrorist attack against Jews.”
Ashley Kravetzky, the chair of the Edmonton Jewish Federation’s Pride committee, said she had been attending meetings hosted at the Pride centre for another non-profit she volunteered with. She stopped going.
“It was becoming very abundantly clear that they weren’t interested in being supportive of us, as a community, it made me not want to inhabit their space, to share their space,” Kravetsky said. “The biggest problem was Pride centre — just there was no space to have a conversation.”
Kravetsky found that her views on Israel had ruptured some of her relationships within the broader LGBTQ community.
“I was accused of hate speech, perpetuating hate speech, because I said, like, don’t use genocide as a word to describe what is happening because it’s harming people in our community,” Kravetsky said.
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Hamas, in its founding charter in 1988, calls for the destruction of Israel and is nakedly antisemitic.
In response to the concerns raised by the Jewish federation, Esjay Lafayette, the director of the Pride Centre of Edmonton, wrote an email on Nov. 4 offering condolences for the dead in the October 7 attack and acknowledging the rise of antisemitism in Canada.
“I can’t imagine how profoundly challenging that must be,” he wrote.
In the email, Lafayette said, “It’s unfortunate that speaking out against the oppression of the Palestinian people has become synonymous with antisemitism,” and that “supporting Palestinian rights and opposing antisemitism are interconnected.”
Lafayette also argued that Palestinians “did not initiate the current situation.”
“This is not a conventional war, as Gaza is a colonized territory without an army and has endured a prolonged siege by a nuclear power for decades,” Lafayette wrote. “Speaking this truth aloud is by no means antisemitic.”
There was no space to have a conversation.
The centre, along with dozens of researchers, academics and other organizations, was a signatory to the controversial Nov. 30 open letter that urged “Canadian political leaders to end their complicity in the ongoing massacres and genocide in Gaza.” The letter, which alluded to “the unverified accusation that Palestinians were guilty of sexual violence” during the October 7 attack created a firestorm of controversy in Edmonton and led to the firing of the University of Alberta’s Sexual Assault Centre director, who was a signatory to the letter.
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A United Nations report released last month found there was “reasonable grounds” to believe that sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, were committed during the October 7 attacks.
The Jewish federation wrote to the board of the Pride centre on Dec. 15, saying that Lafayette’s response was “defensive and hurtful.”
“You are failing to support Jewish Queer and Transgender people,” the letter said. “(We) have lost faith in your organization.
Four months later, the Pride centre and Jewish federation have not yet met.
Emails exchanged between the organizations show the Pride centre demurring about a meeting, citing a change in board membership, for example, and responding to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s late January announcement about restrictions on medical treatments for transgender youth.
Eventually, there was a response.
In an email dated March 8, Lafayette wrote that the Pride centre had consulted with Jewish LGBTQ people, asking whether they felt “hurt, marginalized, unsafe or unwelcome in PCE.”
“The people who we spoke with … expressed surprise to hear that the Jewish Federation of Edmonton is hearing the feedback you describe from its Jewish 2SLBTQIA+ members as it does not match their experience with PCE.”
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Lafayette said those people were willing to meet with the Jewish Federation of Edmonton’s Pride committee to “better understand your concerns about how Jews are treated at PCE.”
“Their sense is that this is a conversation that is most appropriate to happen between 2SLGBTQIA+ Jews, and we respect their request for this.”
In February — prior to the response from Lafayette about the meeting — the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, a Jewish advocacy organization headquartered in Toronto, initiated its campaign to have the PCE stripped of its funding.
MP Randy Boissonnault, left, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages of Canada speaks during a press conference in Windsor on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. Photo by Dan Janisse /Windsor Star
CIJA first wrote to Randy Boissonnault, a Liberal member of Parliament in Edmonton; Boissonnault is not responsible for the funding disbursed to the Pride Centre of Edmonton and noted that he forwarded the letter to Marci Ien, a Toronto Liberal and minister of women and gender equality and youth.
Richard Marceau, CIJA’s vice-president of external affairs and general counsel, along with Leavitt-Wright and Steve Shafir, a CIJA board member for Edmonton, also wrote to Ien.
They asked that the funding be reviewed and suspended “until the Edmonton Pride Centre demonstrates a concerted effort to combat antisemitism within their organization and in how they interact with the LGBTQ+ Jewish community.”
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“The Edmonton Pride Centre has disenfranchised queer and transgender members of the Edmonton community, making them feel excluded, unwelcome, and unsafe,” the letter said.
“It certainly does not warrant the financial support of our national government.”
The letter argues that the Pride centre is in breach of the federal anti-racism strategy. In his response to CIJA’s letter, Boissonnault noted that agreements for funding the Pride centre had been inked prior to October 7.
In her response, Ien did not commit to reviewing or suspending funding for the Pride centre, noting that its work is aligned with the government’s objectives of combating discrimination against LGBTQ Canadians. Ien also said that the government has spent $1.2 million to support the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism.
“We commend you for engaging and creating a dialogue with organizations that may not align with your beliefs,” Ien wrote.
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi speaks to the media from inside a city hall doorway about the recent shooting at City Hall, in Edmonton Tuesday Jan. 30, 2024. Photo by David /David Bloom/Postmedia
CIJA also wrote to Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi. The Pride centre received $174,000 from the city in 2021 and $103,000 in 2022. Sohi, in his emailed response said, “On behalf of colleagues on City Council, let me confirm that we are concerned about the information shared.” Sohi said he would speak with city staff to “determine appropriate next steps.”
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In response to National Post’s inquiries, Lafayette sent an emailed statement from the Pride Centre of Edmonton’s board of directors.
“We are deeply saddened and troubled to learn that some members of the Jewish 2SLGBTQIA+ community have expressed feeling unsafe at the Pride Centre of Edmonton,” it says. “We strive to prioritize the safety of the most marginalized an vulnerable communities who access our services.”
The statement says that the Pride centre works with “a significant number of displaced peoples, including refugees seeking asylum.”
“We feel it is vital to express solidarity with Palestinians experiencing ongoing displacement and genocide,” the statement says.
The statement also reiterated that some of the Pride centre’s Jewish members offered to meet with the Jewish Federation of Edmonton and CIJA on March 8.
“We have not yet received a response,” the statement says.
“We remain open to alternative methods of engaging with members of the Edmonton Jewish 2SLGBTQIA+ community who feel harmed or unwelcome at PCE.”
However, Leavitt-Wright said that’s not what the Jewish federation wanted.
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“If I wanted to engage with Jewish community members, I could speak to them myself,” Leavitt-Wright said. “Our request was to meet with leadership of the Pride centre based on the interaction we’d had with them earlier on.”
For Kravetsky, who says she’s Edmonton’s only Jewish drag performer, it’s tough to say if the relationships within the LGBTQ community can be healed.
“I removed myself from all of the drag community here in the city to protect myself…. I’m a social pariah at this point,” she said. “If there’s going to be reparation, I think it’s going to be a long process…. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to feel safe in a queer space again.”
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