Thank you, Madam Chair.

I am here on behalf of B'nai Brith Canada. B'nai Brith is Canada's oldest human rights organization and the voice of Canada's grassroots Jewish community. Our organization, which was established in 1875, is dedicated to eradicating racism, anti-Semitism and hatred in all its forms, as well as championing the rights of the marginalized.

B'nai Brith's submission to this honourable committee comes at a time when Canada's Jewish community is in crisis. In 2023, there was an alarming rise in anti-Semitism across Canada. B'nai Brith's annual audit of anti-Semitic incidents recorded an over 109.1% increase in anti-Semitism in comparison to the previous year. Our audit also noted that campuses across the country are increasingly becoming the setting for anti-Semitic acts. The situation for Jewish Canadian post-secondary students has become untenable.

The purpose of B'nai Brith's submission is to aid the committee in ensuring that its report contains recommendations that can be utilized by the federal government to effectively respond to the pressing needs of the nation's Jewish post-secondary students. It is essential that Canadian leaders work to ensure the continued safety and well-being of Canada's Jewish post-secondary students. For our democracy to continue to thrive, our campuses must remain environments conducive of the academic success of all our nation's students.

Members of this esteemed committee have the opportunity to contribute to the fight against anti-Semitism and to preserve the sanctity of Canada's post-secondary campuses by endorsing the following recommendations in their forthcoming report.

Our first recommendation is that the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry work with Canada's federal research funding agencies to amend their funding agreements with institutions to include as a component of the agreements a provision that all activities funded by the agencies are conducted in consultation with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism as well as its illustrative examples.

The federal government adopted the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism in 2019. In 2021, the federal government pledged to continue to enhance the adoption and implementation of IHRA's working definition of anti-Semitism and to encourage mainstreaming and implementation of the IHRA definition to dovetail with the Canadian adoption of the IHRA definition in June of 2019 as part of Canada's federal anti-racism strategy. B'nai Brith Canada's recommendation would bring the agreement between Canada's federal research funding agencies and post-secondary institutions in line with these commitments.

The funding agreements utilized by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada already contain the requirement that the institution receiving funding shall commit to develop and implement effective and equitable policies. It is the submission of B'nai Brith Canada that a provision requiring consultation with the IHRA definition and its illustrative examples is in the spirt of the existing agreements and with the guiding principles enumerated by the federal government in its anti-racism strategy.

It is B'nai Brith's further submission that such a provision will only serve an ameliorative purpose and ensure that Canada's inter-agency research funding is in line with its anti-racism strategy.

Our second recommendation is that the federal government include funding in its 2025 budget to develop a five-year program to enhance the IHRA literacy of post-secondary students. The federal government in its 2024 statement on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combatting anti-Semitism indicated that it strongly supports and encourages the wide adoption and implementation of the IHRA's non-legally binding working definition on anti-Semitism and illustrative examples.

It is the submission of B'nai Brith that efforts to ensure the wide application of the IHRA definition and its illustrative examples requires the federal government to invest in ensuring Canada's future leaders are familiar with the nuances of the definition and how its examples can function as a tool and guide.

B'nai Brith, as a partner in the Department of Canadian Heritage's community support, multiculturalism and anti-racism initiatives, or CSMARI, funding, held a round table discussion with grassroots community leaders across the country. A recurring theme in the feedback was the need for greater understanding of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. This mirrors comments B'nai Brith has received from Jewish students across the country.

The five-year program could be administered by the Department of Canadian Heritage, could utilize the resources of our special envoy's handbook and could be in the best interest of all Canadians.

Thank you.