Justice Minister Arif Virani’s office says it’s reviewing past comments and activities of the recently appointed head of Canada’s human rights watchdog that Jewish advocates are flagging as antisemitic.
Birju Dattani was appointed chief commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) earlier this month. He previously served in a similar role with the Yukon Human Rights Commission.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) said it is “deeply concerned” about Dattani’s appointment to the CHRC due to his past affiliations and social media activity.
“The appointment of someone with such a deeply flawed background only exacerbates the skeptical public perceptions of the CHRC and undermines our confidence in the commission’s ability to adjudicate issues of hate and discrimination,” the Jewish advocacy organization said in a statement provided to CBC News.
When asked for comment about CIJA’s concerns, Virani’s office said it was unaware of the concerns when Dattani was appointed.
“We have become aware of potentially troubling statements attributed to Mr. Dattani, as well as events he participated in while he was a graduate student in London, England a decade ago,” Chantalle Aubertin, Virani’s press secretary, said in an email.
“We have been carefully reviewing these statements and events, and discussing them with Mr. Dattani, as well as relevant stakeholders, to ensure that we have complete and accurate information.”
Past social media activity under scrutiny
CIJA pointed to a blog post that alleges Dattani posted articles on X, formerly Twitter, that compared Israel to Nazi Germany. The posts and Dattani’s account appear to have been deleted. CBC News has not independently viewed the alleged post.
When reached for comment, Dattani told CBC News he didn’t compare Israel to the Nazis and said he finds the comparison “offensive and odious.” He said he did share an article entitled “Palestinians are Warsaw Ghetto Prisoners of Today” without comment, but added that he didn’t agree with the article’s claim.
“I did share an article on Twitter, without comment, in 2014 for discussion as I was an academic studying such issues. I did not agree with the comparison. However, I do accept and sincerely apologize that this has deeply offended members of the Jewish community and I would never do such a thing now,” he said in an email.
In 2015, Dattani also spoke on a panel in the U.K. alongside a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic fundamentalist group that seeks to establish a new caliphate and opposes the existence of an Israeli state.
Dattani said he was unaware of the other panelists’ affiliations and had never met them before.
“I challenged the views of the other panel members and I wholeheartedly disagree with and condemn Hizb ut-Tahrir,” he said in his email.
CIJA said the government should have done a better job of vetting Dattani before making the appointment and called on Dattani to clearly denounce his past actions.
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