‘A lost cause’: Jewish organizations condemn Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish for comparing Hamas leader to Nelson Mandela

The Jewish community is condemning Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish for statements made during a council meeting on Wednesday when she compared Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to Nelson Mandela.

“I just want to point out, and I’m not being facetious, Nelson Mandela was declared a terrorist by the United States of America ‘til the year 2008. Your terrorist and somebody else’s terrorist may be two different things,” she said during Wednesday’s council meeting.

She was responding to Councillor Joe Horneck who had just raised concerns over a vigil planned later in the month next to City Hall to celebrate Sinwar, the terrorist group’s leader who was killed last month by the Israeli military. Horneck described him as a widely recognized terrorist and expressed views similar to those of other councillors and many in the public including Jewish organizations across the country that have said a public City-owned space is not an appropriate place to celebrate a terrorist responsible for the deaths of more than a thousand innocent civilians targeted in the attacks on October 7th last year.   

Mandela was the widely beloved human rights hero and anti-apartheid South African leader who became its first President and was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his determination to bring the country together after decades of brutal racism against his people. Sinwar orchestrated the murder, torture and rape of innocent civilians. 

Hamas is officially described by the Canadian government as “a radical Islamist-nationalist terrorist organization that emerged from the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1987. It uses political and violent means to pursue its goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in Israel.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) was among the first of many organizations that took to social media following the council meeting to condemn Parrish, writing in a post on X Wednesday afternoon: “By comparing mass murderer Yahya Sinwar and human rights hero Nelson Mandela, the Mayor of Mississauga has — again — crossed a line with her recent statement.” The organization has called on Parrish to “apologize immediately” for her remarks.

Parrish did not respond to a request by The Pointer Thursday for clarification about her comments the day before. She was also asked about her claim that the vigil is not happening. The organizer wrote on social media the event is moving forward as planned. 

Michelle Stock, vice president of the Ontario CIJA, says Parrish’s comparison equating Mandela and a known terrorist who ordered one of the largest mass killings of Israelis — The Times of Israel wrote that “October 7, 2023 saw the most Jews slaughtered in a single day since the Holocaust” — is “hugely insulting to the Jewish community” and “very tone deaf.”

“When she uses those words without understanding the impacts, the deep impacts well beyond the Jewish community, but for the safety of all Canadians, it really speaks to her inability to lead,” Stock told The Pointer. “She’s not really ever been an ally of the Jewish community and to use those words so definitely and confidently is very concerning for a mayor who has Jewish people who live in Mississauga.”

“She’s been quite silent. We’ve posted about what she said, it's been nearly 24 hours. She has not reached out to our office to speak. Her commentary [during the meeting] was very dismissive and so I think that she’s kind of a lost cause here. We’re not really confident that she’s going to do anything.” 

Parrish’s comments on Wednesday came after concerns from councillors were raised about the vigil which the City was made aware of over the weekend. It is set to be held in Mississauga’s Celebration Square, right next to City Hall, in honour of the former Hamas leader. Councillor Brad Butt on Wednesday voiced anger over the use of the poppy to promote the vigil on social media, criticizing the use of imagery associated with Canadian soldiers who fought in the World Wars. He was also upset that the event was being planned on City property, without a firm response from council (which is led by Parrish).

In a video posted to X on Monday by the organizer of the event, Canadian Defenders 4 Human Rights (CD4HR), the group’s leader Firas Al-Najim says they are moving ahead with the vigil and made the same comparison Parrish later used between the late Hamas leader and Mandela: “Just like Nelson Mandela was called a terrorist for many years… he rose up to be the president of South Africa and later on his image was clarified because he was, also just like Yahya Sinwar, defamed.” The CD4HR X account holder has also posted an updated version that reads: “Sinwar is our Mandela.”  

On Monday evening Parrish wrote in an X post that she had consulted a network of Muslim organizations, asking them to track down the vigil notice. She concluded “no organization exists. No vigil is planned.” She shared a letter from the Muslim Council of Peel, which said that the event “is not associated with any legitimate organization in Mississauga.”

CD4HR has maintained in social media posts that the vigil will happen as scheduled.

Many concerned about Parrish’s approach have questioned if she understands the real issue for most Canadians. 

“When she’s not taking a definitive position about it being unacceptable that there is a vigil that is commemorating the death of a known terrorist within Canada, it just speaks to the fact that she is empowering other terrorist sympathizers that it's okay and safe to say these things publicly in Canada,” Stock said. “And she is an elected official in a Canadian city, so it's very baffling to us that it wouldn’t be so black and white to her.”

“I’ve never seen a mayor speak that way or an elected official speak that way and she has a history of not speaking appropriately,” she added. Stock said she also has deep concerns over Parrish’s use of the inappropriate Mandela example, after the same words were spoken by the vigil’s organizers two days before the council meeting.

Parrish has been outspoken throughout her political career, often accused of refusing to take responsibility for remarks many have found offensive. 

During the mayoral by-election earlier this year, Parrish was heavily criticized for remarks made during a candidate debate in May when she addressed a question about refugees, describing them as having nothing to do other than to smoke, and also shared an anecdote about her granddaughter’s experience in school with gender-neutral washrooms suggesting it was confusing—comments she was widely criticized for.  

Carolyn Parrish also found herself in hot water over comments she made during the mayoral byelection campaign earlier this year. 

(Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer Files) 

Reporting by The Pointer showed opponents in the election did not include her words that offered some context about the concerns she had raised about refugees, suggesting it was a broken system that had put them in a difficult situation. 

But Parrish has had a history of using inappropriate words or making statements experts have labelled as either intentionally bigoted or subconsciously biased.

In 2018 Parrish sent text messages to the chair of the Peel Police Services Board at the time, regarding deputy chief Ingrid Berkeley-Brown, a Black woman: "It seems being black and female qualifies people for promotion which is dead wrong."

Berkeley-Brown later condemned the comments for being discriminatory. "The comments not only attacked my performance…but were discriminatory, bringing into question my character and Peel Regional Police promotional practices." 

Parrish's pay was docked for five days and she was ordered to attend sensitivity training. 

Parrish later apologized for her words. 

B’nai Brith believes it is now “imperative” that Parrish take a stand against the vigil as there is “no question” in Canada about whether Hamas is considered a terrorist organization.

“Mayor Parrish’s inference [suggesting] that may not be the case has profound ramifications to the security of her constituents as well as to the wellbeing of all those who have been impacted by the diabolical actions of Hamas,” Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy at B’nai Brith, told The Pointer. “[Her] remarks were completely unacceptable for a mayor of a Canadian municipality. Her reference to the notion that some people have different views of who constitutes a terrorist or what constitutes terrorism is extremely concerning.” 

He joined others who have said her latest remarks raise concerns around her “fitness to lead a major Canadian municipality, especially if she herself has questions about who is indeed a designated terrorist organization within this country.” 

Robertson acknowledged while everyone has the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of speech, it is the position of B’nai Brith that “you cannot glorify or condone the actions of a listed terrorist entity.” He added, “a red line has been crossed when the intended assembly is to celebrate the actions of a terrorist. That’s where as a nation, as a society we must draw a line.”

Echoing CIJA, Robertson said B’nai Brith also believes an apology is owed to the Jewish community and other groups or individuals who have been victimized by Hamas terror. He stressed, “There is no leeway, there is no debate. Yahya Sinwar was an evil man, a diabolical leader of a murderous terrorist organization and there should be no credence given to his actions or those of the group which he headed.” 

Organizations and residents in and outside Mississauga are now urging Parrish and the City to stop the event from going ahead. Councillors have expressed similar concerns about the event.

With the controversy around Parrish’s comments escalating, the City released a statement sharing that no permit for the vigil has been issued, but acknowledging that “Celebration Square is a public space, usable by the community.” The City added that, “Under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, groups have the right of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The City will not interfere with a peaceful vigil, as long as all laws and City by-laws are adhered to.” 

It is the same narrative Parrish has used to justify her refusal to condemn the vigil or take a firm stance on the use of a public municipal space for it. 

The claims by the City and Parrish are murky. Other municipalities, including neighbouring Brampton, have contemplated by-laws to limit freedom of expression and assembly to protect other rights. Activities that have drawn concerns around the incitement of hate or direct support of a hate/terrorist group have routinely been cancelled across Canada. For example, both Carleton and Concordia universities cancelled events early this year featuring a well known British pro-Hamas advocate who declared to an audience after the October 7th attacks that people should “celebrate the victory” of Hamas terrorism: “How many of you felt it in your hearts when you got the news that it happened? How many of you felt the euphoria?” 

Many are concerned the vigil in Mississauga will include the same type of words in celebration of the man who ordered and then reveled in the outcome of the October 7th attacks.

It remains unclear if the City will take any action to move the protest from Celebration Square. The City was unable to provide a response ahead of publication.

Parrish has long been an outspoken supporter of Palestinian statehood, first as an MP representing Mississauga, and has visited the region almost a half-dozen times.

While she has refused to prevent the vigil from taking place on municipal property, Stock said CIJA hopes Parrish will put strong safeguards in place to ensure the vigil is kept safe and respectable, although she is not confident that will happen.

The City has indicated Peel Police will be present at the vigil.

“I hope that if [the Mayor] hears things that are happening at the vigil that she will denounce it and be more clear with her position. If she doesn’t want to pick a side I think that it's clear she should be denouncing anti-Semitism, she should be denouncing hate. But coming out very strongly and saying one person’s definition of a terrorist is not the same definition for someone else is completely unacceptable from an elected official,” she added. 

“And we wholeheartedly believe she needs to apologize for that, not just to the Jewish community but to Canadians and her constituency in general in Mississauga.”

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @mcpaigepeacock

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