The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs has launched an Election Hub to provide resources and advocate for the organization’s priorities before the upcoming British Columbia provincial election.
British Columbians will head to the polls to vote on Oct. 19. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said it hopes to help the Jewish community actively engage in this process.
Nico Slobinsky, the Vice President of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Pacific Region, told True North that the reaction to the hub since its launch has been positive and several community members have expressed interest in the advocacy priorities. The positive feedback included community members saying they would pass the resources on to their friends and family.
“B.C.’s election season falls in the middle of the Jewish High Holy Days and the first anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attacks committed by Hamas. At this critical time, we created the BC Election Hub to give our members and allies an accessible resource to help them make an informed decision at the ballot box,” said Slobinsky.
The Jewish community has been present in British Columbia for over 160 years. It includes around 40,000 members, according to the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
The Election Hub features various resources, along with CIJA’s community priorities. The priorities include building more affordable housing, making hate crime and incident reporting mandatory, combatting hate and antisemitism, and more.
The many priorities include myriads of requests from the B.C. government, such as implementing mandatory Holocaust education in the province’s K-12 education, standardizing hate crime reporting, leading a trade mission to Israel, and much more.
On top of the organization’s priorities, the Election Hub also includes resources for residents to learn about British Columbia’s major political parties and access election resources from Elections BC, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, and the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee.
According to CIJA, one in six community members lives below the poverty line and depend on government subsidies. British Columbian Jews comprise the largest proportion of those born elsewhere in Canada, 36%. The community has grown by 2% annually since 2001.
“Between 2019 and 2021, police-reported hate crimes targeting Jewish people in B.C. rose by 59%,” said the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs’ community priorities document.
Despite making up less than 1% of Canada’s population, Jewish people accounted for 70% of all religiously motivated hate crimes in 2023.
“During this time, it is important that we consider policies that strengthen family, community, and government efforts to combat antisemitism,” said Slobinsky. “I encourage community members and our allies to educate themselves on the party platforms and to get involved in the democratic process by voting and volunteering.”