Saul Hayes - Canadian Jewish Congress

1948 - 1948
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Saul Hayes (1906–1980) was a prominent leader of Canadian Jewry in the mid-twentieth century and representative of the world’s Jewish community on the international stage. As executive director of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), Hayes transformed this umbrella organization into a formative lobby group.

After obtaining his law degree from McGill University in 1932, Hayes practiced in the field before becoming national executive director of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), a position he held from 1942 to 1959. Working alongside Congress president Samuel Bronfman, Hayes had political connections and public-speaking skills that made him invaluable to the CJC Committee for Refugees in the 1930s. He also served as executive director of the United Jewish Relief Agencies of Canada (UJRA) from 1938 to 1942. The plight of Jews under Nazi rule drew him to a career in which he would fight tirelessly on behalf of the Jewish community.

Hayes was active in many lobbying efforts during his campaign to challenge Canada’s restrictive wartime immigration policies. One such delegation appealed to F. C. Blair, Ottawa’s seemingly obscure but powerful director of the Immigration Branch of the Department of Mines and Resources, to reverse policies preventing German Jewish refugees from coming to Canada. With the assistance of community leaders Hirsch Wolofsky, editor of the Keneder Adler (Montreal’s Yiddish daily), Peter Bercovitch, honorary president of the Federation of Polish Jews and a Member of Parliament, and fellow CJC leader Michael Garber, the delegation gained admission for 130 Jews. Unfortunately, the efforts of Hayes and others were unable to shift federal policy further: Canada accepted fewer than 5,000 Jewish refugees from 1933 to 1948 – less than any other Western country.

Known as “Mr. Canadian Jewish Congress,” Hayes was an important ambassador for Canadian Jews to Ottawa. Under the leadership of the Bronfman–Hayes team, the CJC became the unchallenged parliament of Canadian Jewry, working to persuade the government to permit greater integration of Jewish refugees. As Bronfman’s right-hand man, Hayes was instrumental in Congress’s anti-defamation work, particularly concerning the Social Credit political party, which not only disseminated the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a work of antisemitic propaganda, but whose leaders periodically injected allusions to Nazi discourse in their 1940s political campaigns.

Hayes represented Canadian Jewry at meetings of the World Jewish Congress, the San Francisco Conference on International Security in 1945, the Paris Conference on Peace Treaties in 1946, and at the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency, where he advocated for victims of war-torn Europe. In the latter capacity, Hayes became the first delegate to represent world Jewry before an international body since the 1919 Versailles Conference.

Among his numerous accolades, Hayes was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 1974. Serving on many committees, he championed human rights both in Canada and abroad. The Saul Hayes Human Rights Award, established by the Canadian Jewish Congress, recognized individuals making significant contributions in this field.

Compiled by Marian Pinsky.

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Liens

Canadian Jewish Congress - Saul Hayes

Sources

Abella, Irving and Harold Troper. None is Too Many : Canada and the Jews of Europe, 1933- 1948. Toronto : Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1982.

Hayes, Saul, et al. “The Jews of Canada.” Viewpoints: Canadian Jewish Quartery. 7.3 & 4 (1973)

Marrus, Michael R. Mr Sam: the Life and times of Samuel Bronfman. Toronto: Viking, 1991.

Medresh, Israel. Between the Wars: Canadian Jews in Transition. Montreal: Vehicule, 2003.

Newman, Peter Charles. Bronfman Dynasty: the Rothschilds of the New World. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1978.

Harper, Stephen. "Prime Minister Harper Receives Saul Hayes Human Rights Award."Prime Minister of Canada: Stephen Harper. Toronto, Ontario. 31 May 2009.

Stingel, Janine. Social Discredit: Anti-Semitism, Social Credit, and the Jewish Response. Montreal: McGill-Queen's UP, 2000.

Avrum, Rosensweig. "We Should Honour Our Own Giants - Canadian Jewish Congress." Canadian Jewish Congress. 02 Nov. 2010.

*Images courtesy of the CJCCCNA.

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