On October 16, 2023, the Canadian government appointed Deborah Lyons, former Ambassador of Canada to Israel (2016-2020), as the new Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism. The Special Envoy Lyon's office is a joint unit of both Canadian Heritage and Global Affairs Canada, bringing her role into the realm of international relations (whereas the Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia is singularly located in Canadian Heritage). Additionally, her mandate comes directly from the Prime Minister, and it involves promoting the controversial and anti-Palestinian International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism (IHRA). It also includes the creation of an IHRA handbook, purportedly to help civil servants, politicians, and police departments to apply it to real-world situations.

Critics have long warned that IHRA conflates legitimate criticism of Israel and Zionism with antisemitism. For that reason it has long been understood as a threat to the full exercise of Canadians' Charter Rights, as it targets political expression including criticism of Israeli policies and activism for Palestinian rights. CJPME argues that IHRA is an instrument intended to suppress Palestinian perspectives, as well as the discussion of topics such as apartheid. IHRA should therefore be understood as a form of state-sponsored anti-Palestinian racism.

Thank you for listening to the ‘Palestine Debrief’ podcast. This podcast is produced by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and hosted by Wissam El Cheikh Hassan.

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Resources:
- CJPME report, "Defaming the Pro-Palestine Movement"
- Canada’s Special Envoy must be replaced after spreading misinformation to defame the pro-Palestine movement: CJPME

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