Voices May 06, 2024
What’s missing from B.C. human rights hate exhibit: 2 main targets of hate
By Terry O'Neill
In case you hadn’t realized it, the rise of hatred during the COVID-19 pandemic was bad.
That’s the big message in a new multi-media presentation that B.C.’s human rights commissioner Kasari Govender has just launched.
Acknowledging how bad hatred is would seem a worthy cause. But there’s a problem with Govender’s From Hate to Hope program, and it’s a big one.
Just as Govender’s 2023 report into the pandemic’s upwelling of hatred virtually ignored the hysterical anti-Catholic hatred that spewed forth in the form of arsons and vandalism in the wake of the Kamloops-cemetery findings, her new offering is blatantly biased in its selection of the forms of hatred it chooses to highlight.
Hatred against Asians: featured.
Hatred against Muslim women: featured.
Hatred against the visually impaired (apparently in the form of accidental discrimination): featured.
Hatred against Catholics: absent.
In fact, there’s neither a single word nor image about anti-Catholic hatred during Govender’s entire 25-minute multi-media presentation, which premiered April 23 at UBC Robson Square. This, even though Statistics Canada reported that anti-Catholic hatred rose at a faster rate during the heart of the pandemic than that of any other category.
But the presentation has an even worse omission: it ignores anti-Semitism.
At a time when campuses and public squares throughout the world are being stained by virulent anti-Semitic hatred, From Hate to Hope contains exactly zero references to the tsunami of hatred to which Jews are now being subjected.
How sadly ironic it is that an institution that claims to fight discrimination can itself manifest such blatant discrimination.
Are the “micro-aggressions” directed at certain minorities actually worthy of more attention than calls for Jews to be murdered?
A news release about the presentation says it “amplifies the voices represented in the [2023] inquiry.” But the truth is that, when it comes to Catholic and Jewish victims, those voices have been extinguished.
The problems with From Hate to Hope go deeper still. While the commission states that its mandate is “to address the root causes of inequality, discrimination and injustice in B.C.,” Govender’s new presentation barely scratches the surface of this question.
Using three screens and a surround-sound system to present its case, the exhibit features slow-motion videos of candles flickering in the wind, snippets from last year’s ritual-burdened event unveiling the original report, a few audio recordings of testimony from persons who were on the receiving end of hateful comments, and an extensive look at four community-mural projects commissioned by Govender “to share the message of coming together in the face of hate.”
Govender explained in a news release that as B.C. continues to see a rise in hate, “it is important to remain focused on addressing these issues in our communities and fostering spaces for dialogue, including through the power of public art.”
Yes, more dialogue won’t hurt. And good public art can certainly get people talking. But real leadership in addressing “the root causes” – the enduring misconceptions, misrepresentations, fabrications, and stereotypes that fuel anti-Semitism – is nowhere to be found.
Govender says she hopes “we can gain a sense of connection by seeing our experiences reflected in this work [From Hate to Hope] or develop a greater understanding by hearing another person’s story.”
But how is this possible when important experiences, of Jews and Catholics for example, have been left out of the presentation?
It is easy to conclude that From Hate to Hope speaks more about the deep-rooted prejudices of the commission’s politically correct and suitably woke employees than it does about the real problems facing us today.
The Office of the Human Rights Commissioner said the exhibit cost about $25,000 to put together, including the cost of showing it in Vancouver but not the additional stops in B.C. It will be in Fort St. John on May 10 and 11, in Nanaimo on May 16 and 17, and back in Vancouver on May 23. Details are at bchumanrights.ca/exhibits.
My advice is not to waste your time.