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Or sign-in if you have an account.Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at Holy Blossom Temple synagogue in Toronto on Monday June 1, 2026. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk/PostmediaOn June 6, I stood before Toronto’s Jewish community on the treaty lands of my ancestors. Days earlier, Prime Minister Mark Carney had stood at Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple and acknowledged a painful truth: Canada is failing its Jewish citizens. He recognized that antisemitism has reached levels unseen in generations. He acknowledged that Jewish Canadians are disproportionately targeted by hate. He acknowledged the fear felt by families whose schools, synagogues, businesses and communities have become targets. He named the statistics. He named the suffering. But he did not name the ideology driving it.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorSo, I will. I stand before you on the land of my ancestors to say what the prime minister should have said: “Anti-Zionism is a libel-driven hate movement that incites violence and the targeting, exclusion, and marginalization of Jews in the diaspora and has as its ultimate goal wiping Israel off the face of Mother Earth and the death of all beings within it.”This newsletter from NP Comment tackles the topics you care about. (Subscriber-exclusive edition on Fridays)By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againThere. That is what should have been said, and now it has.For Indigenous peoples, this moment feels painfully familiar. We know what happens when governments speak of reconciliation while avoiding uncomfortable truths. We know what happens when institutions choose carefully crafted language instead of moral courage.Canada’s Jewish community does not need another expression of concern. It needs honesty. And honesty begins by confronting the lie at the centre of this moment: the claim that Israel is a colonial project and Zionism is a movement of oppression.As an Anishinaabe man, a member of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and someone who spent almost 25 years as a judge interpreting the laws of this country, let me be clear — Canada is a colonial country. Israel is not.Indigenous peoples know colonialism because we lived it. Colonialism means language suppression. It means forced religious conversion. It means population displacement, foreign governance, economic exploitation, imposed legal hierarchies and cultural erasure. Canada’s Indigenous peoples experienced these things. The Jewish people experienced these things. They do not describe Israel.For thousands of years, Jewish identity has been tied to the land of Israel through language, culture, law, religion, traditions and collective memory. The Jewish connection to Jerusalem did not begin in 1948. It survived despite conquest, exile, persecution and genocide.Indigeneity is demonstrated through historical continuity: a distinct people with a connection to ancestral land, identity, language, culture, rituals, legal traditions and spiritual life. By that measure, Jews are Indigenous to Israel.Zionism is not colonialism. Zionism is self-determination. The Indigenous people of Israel achieved what Indigenous peoples around the world have sought: self-governance in their ancestral homeland.That does not mean Israel, like any country, is beyond criticism. But criticism of a government is not what’s happening here. We are witnessing something much darker.Across Canada and around the world, chants of “Globalize the intifada,” “By any means necessary,” and “All forms of resistance are justified” are dismissed as activism. They are not.Recent attacks targeting Jewish communities have exposed the falsity of claims that these are simply peaceful calls for change. Calls for the death or destruction of Jewish people are incompatible with Indigenous teachings, including the seven grandfather teachings of love, truth, wisdom, humility, respect, courage, and honesty. They are incompatible with the Great Law of Peace.What makes this moment particularly painful is that extremists have learned to weaponize the language of Indigenous justice against the Jewish people. The architects of this movement correctly understood something about Canada. They knew a country still confronting its own colonial history would be uniquely vulnerable to narratives framed in the language of “decolonization” and “liberation.” After all, the Canadian Human Rights Commission has explicitly referred to it as a settler colonial state.Islamist strategists have advanced ideologically driven false narratives that are appropriating Indigenous social justice language because they understood those narratives would resonate with the academically ignorant and the academically sinister alike.Islamist extremists are weaponizing Indigenous culture, our shared history, and reconciliation efforts led by Indigenous peoples against Jewish Canadians, Zionists, their allies, and Israel. It is cultural appropriation of the highest order. It is colonialism. It is not only antisemitic. It is racist toward Indigenous peoples as well.As a former judge, I believe those combating antisemitism should look more closely at Indigenous law and legal principles. They are not symbolic. The Peace and Friendship Treaties that govern these lands are foundational agreements now recognized within Canada’s constitutional framework.Indigenous law and principles do not govern only the relationship between the Crown and Indigenous peoples. They govern all our relationships. Their principles of respect, coexistence, and shared responsibility are binding on all who live here, including those who hijack Indigenous tradition and reconciliation efforts to advance false narratives and ideologies of hate.These principles offer another way to understand rights, responsibilities and relationships between peoples. They offer another arrow in the lawfare quiver. And judges love novel, creative and principled legal arguments. I know because I was one.Jewish and Indigenous peoples share two powerful life-affirming characteristics that have ensured our survival: hope and resilience. Hope allowed Indigenous peoples to survive policies designed to erase us. Hope carried the Jewish people through exile and the darkness of the Holocaust. Hope launched the rebirth of Israel in 1948. Hope is determined resilience. But hope does not mean silence. Hope and resilience are sacred obligations we owe the seven generations who came before us and the seven generations who come after us. They are moral imperatives.Indigenous peoples in Canada are well versed in being let down by governments and the failures of elected leaders. Our current prime minister profoundly disappointed many of us. With or without him, we will move forward. Because governments do not decide whether ancient peoples survive. We do.The Jewish people are not alone. I stand with them. Miigwetch. Shalom. Am Yisrael Chai.The Honourable Harry S. LaForme O.C. & I.P.C. is a retired justice of the Ontario Court of Appeal, the first Indigenous person appointed to an appellate court in Canada. 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