BREAKING NEWS! Speaker Approves Al Quds Demonstration at Queen's Park; Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center Says Hate Rally Harms Canadian Values

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 16, 2012) - Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) is profoundly concerned that Queen's Park is helping undermine Canadian values of tolerance and democracy by permitting a hate rally to take place on the grounds of the provincial legislature.

"There is no question that the 2011 Al Quds rally at Queen's Park was a hateful display in which the flag of Hezbollah, an acknowledged terrorist group, was proudly flown," said Avi Benlolo, President and CEO of FSWC. "The question is whether or not groups supporting terrorism have the right to proudly promote their beliefs on these grounds; we join the majority of Ontarians who believe the right to free speech at Queen's Park does not encompass such hateful and violent propaganda."

FSWC appreciates the time taken by the Speaker, the Sergeant at Arms and the Clerk of the Legislature to discuss this issue with us. We remain alarmed by the incursion of a terror-based ideology in Canada, and will continue to raise awareness and bring attention to issues affecting the public sphere.