Simon Wiesenthal Center calls for an end to a ‘culture of tolerance for neo-Nazis and neo-Nazi activities’ One of the country’s leading human rights groups is urging Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan to turn all suspected acts of racism, white supremacy and hateful conduct within the Canadian Armed Forces over to a specialized task force of military police officers or the RCMP for investigation. The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center laid down a series of markers for reform during a teleconference meeting last week with Sajjan. Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, the centre’s director of its campaign against anti-Semitism, said the military needs to take decisive, independent action to stop what appears to be a growing problem of intolerance in some quarters of the military. The meeting — which included Rabbi Meyer May, the executive director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center — took place the day after CBC News published an investigative account of how a Canadian Ranger was allowed to keep serving even though he was openly active in two far-right organizations. “Change needs to happen. It needs to be decisive,” Kirzner-Roberts told CBC News. “We need to end this culture of tolerance for neo-Nazis and neo-Nazi activities within our Armed Forces and it needs to be done now.” The meeting with Sajjan was called originally to discuss the Royal Canadian Navy’s decision to reinstate a Calgary-based reservist sailor with neo-Nazi ties. Kirzner-Roberts said the publication of the CBC News story about Erik Myggland fuelled a broader, more urgent discussion about how the military responds to suspected cases of extremism.
via cbsnews: Rights group urges defence minister to turn cases of racism in the ranks over to police