Fisherman defends 'Jew at a Nazi convention' comment after FISH-NL Facebook post draws ire

Comments that were said at a meeting of fish harvesters inFerryland, Newfoundland Thursday morninghave stirred up controversy.

At the meeting with officials from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), fisherman Keith Hawkins gave a passionate account of how difficult it is for people to get involved in the inshore fishery these days.

"I feels like a Jew at a Nazi convention," Hawkins said after telling how he was recently denied getting a crab licence.

FISH-NLFacebook post

After the meeting, the president of the Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL),Ryan Cleary, posted to the group's Facebook page, misquoting Hawkins as saying "I feel like a Jew at a Nazi concentration camp."

Cleary, whose union is challenging the Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) for the right to represent fish harvesters,continued with a long post that criticized DFO and the Professional Fish Harvesters Certification Board.

The post was taken down a few hours later.

"As a former journalist ...I should have known better thanto repeat that," Cleary told CBC News.

"But, obviously nothing is comparable to the elimination of six million people. Nothing is comparable. Period. End of story," he added.

Clearysaid the sentiment the fisherman was trying to express isthat "there is an agenda to eliminate a way of life."

'I know it's an awful comparison'

Hawkins saidwhile he may have gotten a bit carried away with the Nazi reference, insistedhe was justdrawing on a recent experience visiting a concentration camp in Poland.

I know nobody was going gassing us or nothing, but the way it is in the fishery now it seems like they're all coming at you at all angles.- Keith Hawkins

He said he was just trying to express his frustration at what he sees as attempts by the federal government and the FFAWto push people out of the inshore fishery.

"It's the way they're doing it. It reminded me of when I went to Poland three years ago. I went to Poland and visited the Auschwitz camp," he told the St. John's Morning Show.

"I know it's an awful comparison, but I learned that the Nazis fooled the Jews into going to these camps, and when they got them in there everyone knows what happened. Well they're going to eliminate me right out of the fishery and I'm not even going to know what's happening."

Hawkins said he knows that Holocaust references can be controversial, butin the heat of the moment thought it was relevant to draw on that part of World War Two history when describing the fear he and others have about being forced out of an industry he's worked in for more than three decades.

"I know nobody was going gassing us or nothing, but the way it is in the fishery now it seems like they're all coming at you at all angles," he said.

"I know it's an awful different comparison, the elimination of the Jews. But the word elimination came to mind in the heat of the moment."

'Repugnant' comparison

While he couldn't comment specifically on the remarks by Hawkins at Thursday's meeting, Vice-President of the Hebrew Congregation of Newfoundland Michael Paul said any comparison between the livelihoodsof fishers and what happened in the Holocaust is inappropriate.

His comment is repugnant and should be rescinded.- Michael Paul

"The Nazis were genocidal in their attempts of ethnic cleansing, and were not just trying to put people out of business," he toldCBCby email.

"I do not think that the Government of Canada is trying to torture or murder anyone."

In terms of Hawkins's claims that he was inspired by his visit to Auschwitz, Paul said that tour is very "watered down" and still doesn't convey the actual horror that took place at thatconcentration camp during the1940s.

'There are no dead bodies or the odour of the crematoria burning human remains.One can see the barracks, now cleaned up, and several of the crematoria, the railway lines, the collection of human hair andchildrens' shoes," Paul said.

"His comparison is repugnant and should be rescinded."

'Not a comparison I can accept'

Steve Wolinetz, president of the local Jewish Community Havura, agrees that the comparison is inappropriate.

"It's not a comparison I can accept," he said.

"I appreciate he is upset about what is happening in the fishery, but there is no systematic murder of an entire people."

The timing of the comments is also unfortunate,as they came less than 48 hours before International Holocaust Remembrance Day,an eventrecognized by the United Nations to honour the six million Jewish people killed during the Holocaust.

Wolinetz said thatwhile this incident is hurtful, it is not the norm in this province.

"People here recognize what the Holocaust was," he said.