New human rights commissioner resigns before starting role

Canada's human rights commissioner Birju Dattani has resigned before ever officially starting the job, according to a post on his LinkedIn account.

Dattani agreed to go on leave last week — the day before he was set to officially begin his role — following complaints about past comments and actions of his that were called antisemitic by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).

"I remain a steadfast believer in the Commission's work, mandate, and its importance to our democracy," Dattani posted on LinkedIn on Monday.

The complaints triggered a fact-finding mission initiated by Justice Minister Arif Virani and run by the firm Filion Wakely Angeletti LLP. They submitted their report to Virani on July 31.

"The findings speak for themselves," Virani said in a media statement. "I received Mr. Dattani's submissions in response to the report on August 1, 2024. I have accepted Mr. Dattani's decision to step down as Chief Commissioner. As I have said, maintaining the confidence of all Canadians in the Canadian Human Rights Commission remains my top priority."

Virani added that the search for a new commissioner will begin as soon as possible and the interim commissioner, Charlotte-Anne Malischewski, will continue to serve in the role in the meantime. 

Virani's press secretary Chantalle Aubertin replied "no comment" when asked if Dattani was paid during his leave or received a compensation package after resigning.

CIJA has pointed out that Dattani used the name "Mujahid Dattani" in some of his online activities and speaking engagements, a name that was not covered by the initial Privy Council Office (PCO) background check.

The report's findings state that, "on a balance of probabilities and based on the totality of evidence," Dattani omitted the name Mujahid Dattani from his background check forms and omitted periods of unemployment.

The report does not offer advice on whether Dattani should continue in the role of human rights commissioner. 

The report also says there is no evidence that Dattani is antisemitic.

"Based on Mr. Dattani's evidence, the scholarship that was reviewed and provided, we cannot find that Mr. Dattani harboured or harbours any beliefs that would be characterized as anti-Semitic or that he has demonstrated any biases (conscious or unconscious) towards Jews or Israelis," says a segment of the report cited by Dattani in his Aug. 1 letter to Virani.

Another excerpt of the report cited by Dattani says he has a "high degree of self-awareness and sensitivity" regarding the challenges faced by Canadian Jews.

Deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman took to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, to call for an investigation into how Dattani was hired.

"A welcomed announcement — one that was made way too late. Antisemites should hold no position in Canada's government — especially one entrusting them to safeguard Canadians' rights and freedoms, including the right to worship and the right to free speech," she said.

Richard Marceau, CIJA's vice-president of external affairs and general counsel, said it's a "good thing" that Dattani resigned.

"The Jewish community had lost confidence in him to occupy that position, which is so important at this period where we're seeing sky-high levels of antisemitism," he told CBC News. "It was the right thing to do."

B'nai Brith Canada and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, other Jewish advocacy groups, also applauded Dattani's resignation.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) said it is still reviewing the report.

"As we stated from the outset, we find that the witch-hunt against Mr. Dattani to have been utterly unacceptable, and motivated, as the 'context' suggestion of the third party report suggests, by political considerations about the ongoing conflict versus anything else," NCCM advocacy officer Fatema Abdella wrote in an emailed statement.

"We are disappointed that yet another racialized minority has had to go through national attacks on their person based on allegations of hate that turned out to be unfounded, and we are sure that the Government of Canada realizes the dangerous precedent that has been established here: it is fine to drag every appointee through the mud as long as they're brown or Muslim."

A second name and social media

In Dattani's letter to Virani, he says he was raised Hindu but became Muslim in 2001 and adopted the name Mujahid. Dattani says that in 2017 he chose to again go by his given name of Birju Dattani, but Mujahid remains part of his identity.

Dattani says in his letter that he misinterpreted the intent of some of the boxes in the background check form and accuses the investigator of "glazing over" his explanation.

"We do not accept Mr. Dattani's suggestion that his choice of name was sometimes 'just whimsical'. Mr. Dattani was strikingly thoughtful in respect of what names he chose to use and when," the fact-finding report states. 

Dattani used the name "Mujahid Dattani" in a handful of advertised speaking engagements in 2015 on the Middle East, as outlined in the report. 

At one of these events, Dattani recalled a fellow panellist saying "we need a caliphate again." He said he told the investigators he could not remember who made the comment.

CIJA pointed to a blog post alleging that when he was an academic, Dattani posted articles on X 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 posts.

Dattani previously told CBC News that he shared the post, titled "Palestinians are Warsaw Ghetto Prisoners of Today," in order to generate conversation.

In his letter to Virani, Dattani states that he deleted his Twitter account eight years ago and would go back and provide more context on the intent of his posts if he could.

Dattani cited excerpts from the fact-finding report which say he "deliberately de-emphasized" and "made attempts to downplay" how his academic work was critical of Israel.

In his submission, Dattani criticized those statements as "subjective" and said they lacked evidence.

The report states that while Dattani's past involvement in advocacy and criticism of Israel would not necessarily have interfered in his ability to do the job of human rights commissioner, he should have been more forthcoming in the application phase.

"Mr. Dattani's efforts to downplay the critical nature of his work was concerning and, certainly, his failure to directly disclose this work deprived the Government of the opportunity to have a discussion with Mr. Dattani about what, if any, impact his scholarship and perspective would or could have if he were appointed to the role of Chief Commissioner," the report says.