A Tale of Two YMCAs (Part One)

Anti-Racism  •  June 5, 2026  •  Larry Haiven

This is a tale of two YMCAs in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Actually, it’s the same YMCA, but divided by time. One in 2025, failing in its community outreach by succumbing to pressure groups; the other, thirty years before, establishing a gallant stand on the same issue. Unfortunately, that 1995 project has been all but forgotten. That story begs to be told.

What was the Y’s shameful act in 2025? We’ll deal with that first and then turn to a very different Y three decades earlier. The tale of that thirty-year-old venture can be found in Monday’s article.

Y Awards, then rescinds “Peace Medal”

Like Ys across Canada, during Peace Week every November, Halifax awards “Peace Medals” to local individuals making significant contributions in three areas: Empowering Youth; Health and Wellness; and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

On November 19, 2025, the Y’s 2025 Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award went to well-known Halifax activist Rana Zaman. The announcement had run for several weeks on the Y’s video monitors (see below).

But the pro-Israel lobby in Halifax and nation-wide launched a powerful campaign against her, and within a few days of the ceremony, the Y had rescinded that award.

Rana Zaman: Humanitarian Superstar

What had Ms. Zaman done to deserve the Peace Medal in the first place? The record of her accomplishments is enormous. As the website of the organization Canadian Immigrant said seven years ago:

“Rana Zaman arrived in Canada [from Pakistan] as a child in 1971, and tried hard to fit in. ‘Canada was lacking diversity at the time we arrived, let alone embracing it [as it does now],’ Zaman says. ‘It was a struggle to hold on to my identity and as a child I just wanted to fit in. As an adult, I tried to reclaim my identity and became more confident in myself. Fortunately, the environment had become more receptive to diversity…’

“…Zaman has put that belief into action. She co-ordinates events and speaks on topics of racism, feminism, bullying, poverty and Islamophobia to create awareness in her community of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

• Zaman is an active member of a score of organizations dedicated to social inclusion and fellowship. A Muslim herself, in the 2010s, she helped found a Halifax group of Jewish and Muslim women that met regularly to discuss peace.
• A tireless humanitarian, Rana is the go-to person for not only immigrants, but anyone in need. Winter coats for the newly-arrived? A hot meal? Bereaved? Call Rana Zaman.
• In one act of courage and empathy, Rana confronted a Halifax police officer who had made Islamophobic social media posts. Rather than denounce him from afar, Zaman arranged to meet with him and noted that his action ‘[was] coming out of pure anger, and there’s something behind it, there’s pain and anger behind that comment’.”

Even some who lobbied hard against Zaman acknowledge her impressive humanitarian credentials.

The fact that the 2025 campaign against Zaman succeeded despite her manifold accomplishments tells a lot about ethnic and religious politics in Canada today.

So, what was it that led to the voiding of her award? Palestine.

Rana’s compassionate instincts have led her into the forbidden zone, the third rail of Canadian politics, the exception to the humanitarian principles: she has distinguished herself as a vigorous organizer and spokesperson for the cause of Palestinian human rights. Week by week, her high-pitched voice rings out at rallies with “Greetings Humanity!”

Rana’s Palestine advocacy has led pro-Israel organizations to paint a bullseye on her back. And they have robbed her of honours several times.

After she won the NDP federal riding nomination in 2019, that party “discovered” (thanks to some active trolls) some social media posts denouncing the Israeli army’s shooting of unarmed Gazans in the 2018-19 “Great March of Return” and the NDP national office kicked her off the ticket. Later that year, after Rana won a coveted Human Rights Award from the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, the Atlantic Jewish Council (AJC) launched a lobbying campaign against her, claiming she was antisemitic. No matter the Muslim-Jewish peace organization she helped to found. No matter that two local rabbis, Raysh Weiss and Jonah Rank, vouched for her. Weiss called the affair a “shanda” (Yiddish for shame or disgrace) “the critique from the AJC etc. regarding Israel-rhetoric is irrelevant to honouring Rana for her incredible loving work on the ground in Nova Scotia.”

Nonetheless, the Commission capitulated to the pressure, just as the YMCA did six years later.

This is par for the course for pro-Israel organizations, like CIJA, B’nai Brith, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal and Canary Mission. Having lost Canadian hearts and minds over Israel’s Gaza genocide, they now engage in relentless shut-down campaigns against critics of Israel, including attempts at prohibiting protests, firing from jobs, dismissal from schools, denial of awards like Rana’s, criminal charges, doxxing, slander and abuse. As I have explained it, using Hebrew terms, “Hasbara” (the famed pro-Israel propaganda) has given way to “Hashtakah” (or outright silencing.)

Particularly vulnerable are organizations that survive through public and government fundraising. Just last year, for example, the Girl Guides of Canada was targeted when girls in one of its Saskatoon units produced fabric art showing a baby wrapped in a keffiyeh (the Palestinian scarf.) No sooner had the accusation of antisemitism been hurled than the offending graphic disappeared from social media.

B’nai Brith Plays Spoiler

Another, personal, example: A year ago, B’nai Brith Canada launched a public shaming campaign to stop the Atlantic School of Theology (AST) from awarding honorary degrees to my wife, Judy Haiven, and me for our work, as Jews, on Palestinian human rights. Fortunately, AST refused to succumb.

Sometimes the silencing effort is a quiet whisper campaign; more often it is loud and raucous, and always full of wild accusations and distortions. B’nai Brith Canada was the culprit behind the campaign to get the YMCA to revoke Zaman’s Peace Medal. B’nai Brith publicly chided the Y for honouring “a radical who has peddled antisemitic conspiracy theories,” and “[called on] the YMCA of Greater Halifax and Dartmouth to withdraw Zaman’s name and take a firm stance against antisemitism, racism, and hatred in all its forms.”

The Halifax Y was not taken by surprise. When first informed of the Y’s intention to honour her, Ms. Zaman warned Executive Director Brian Posavad that his organization would suffer bullying and abuse if the Y honoured her. Zaman was also frank and forthcoming about her political activities.

In the midst of the controversy, Judy and I met with Mr. Posavad and the Halifax Y’s chief development officer. We supported Zaman and denounced the malicious campaign against her. At that meeting, both Y officials insisted that they would hold firm and disregard the threats.

But those promises came to naught as the menacing mounted. We are told that YMCA National and several government officials intervened, cautioning that YMCA’s funding could be in jeopardy.

Halifax journalism professor and columnist Stephen Kimber, who has followed and opposed  Rana Zaman’s vilification for years, wrote an “Open Letter” in the Halifax Examiner to the Y and Posavad, asking pertinent questions about the Y’s surrender:

“Who did you speak to? Did your review include speaking to members of the local Muslim and Pakistani communities? The Atlantic Canada Palestinian Society? How about Independent Jewish Voices? The ‘United for One Association,’ through which Ms. Zaman helped raise $200,000 to support Syrian refugees? How about ‘Diverse Voices for Change Halifax’…” 

“Were any of the 13 non-profit volunteer organizations Ms. Zaman has worked with – like the Caring Human Association, which she founded and which provided ‘freshly home-cooked meals to organizations like Shelter NS, Out of the Cold, and Hope Cottage, as well as collecting items for care packages for organizations like Bryony House and Adsum House’ – consulted?”

The local Palestine human rights community also protested loudly. Several rallies in front of the Y denounced its capitulation, singing a mocking version (click to watch video) of the Village People song “YMCA.”

They tried everything
To muzzle Rana Zaman
So, let’s show up on their front lawn
It’s a disgrace to them; Y-M-C-A
You have no place at the Y-M-C-A
They tried everything to embarrass us all, but
it’s clear that they dropped the ball.

The Canadian BDS Coalition has put the YMCA on its boycott list.

When the Y surrendered to the B’nai Brith Canada campaign, the organization loudly proclaimed victory: “B’nai Brith Canada thanks the YMCA’s leadership for their openness, their willingness to engage, and their principled decision-making.” More ominously, it promised to play a role in further Peace Medals. “We look forward to continued cooperation to ensure that future Peace Medal recipients truly embody the compassion, integrity, and hope that the award is intended to honour.” Some wags have suggested that all organizations employ B’nai Brith’s services to vet decisions.

Many in Halifax’s Muslim community saw the Y’s action in stripping Zaman, a Muslim, of her honour as nothing less than a slap in the face. Zaman had been nominated for the medal by a group of Muslim women. Many of the Y staff and volunteers are themselves Muslim, and some are newcomers to the country. They told us that Y management warned them not to speak to members about the Zaman situation, and to ignore the demonstrations, as they were “divisive.”

The NDP’s, the NS Human Rights Commission’s and the YMCA’s actions in caving to the pro-Israel lobby are sharpened by the prodigious ten-fold growth of the Muslim population in Nova Scotia in the past thirty years, many of whom share Rana Zaman’s horror at the massacre and destruction in Gaza.

To compare this story with a very different Halifax YMCA and its bold initiative on Palestine thirty years ago, see Part 2 on Monday. •