Toronto Sun columnists honoured by B'nai Brith Canada

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Toronto Sun columnists Brian Lilley, Warren Kinsella and Joe Warmington were honoured by B’nai Brith Canada for their coverage of the Middle East conflict and its impact on Toronto and the city’s Jewish community.

Held at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club in North York, the honourees were joined by peers, including Sun Editor-in-Chief Adrienne Batra, and city councillors, James Pasternak and Brad Bradford.

Judy Foldes, B’nai Brith’s chief operating officer, said the event also marked the 150th anniversary of the B’nai Brith media awards.

“We have been part of the Canadian fabric for over 150 years,” said Foldes. “And we have always stood for upholding human rights.”

Foldes said she was “very proud” of the three award recipients whose coverage has focused on issues that include the troubling increase in antisemitism.

“In the past year and a half, (the) transparency in media, telling truth in the media has been very important and there has been a lot of misinformation,” said Foldes.

“So awarding three really, really strong gentlemen in their fight for Canadian values and their fight for truth above all else is very important to B’nai Brith and Canada as a whole,” said Foldes.

Lilley was awarded the Grafstein Prize for Excellence in journalism. Warmington and Kinsella were awarded with the B’nai Brith Canada Chair’s Award for Excellence in upholding Canadian Values.

“Obviously it’s a big honour,” said Warmington, who added he has been covering issues involving B’nai Brith since the 1980s. “We don’t think about awards. We think about what’s right and we see what’s going on. ”

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Lilley said he originally thought he was being invited to the event as a guest, not an honouree.

“They asked me if I could come to the event without telling me what it was,“ said Lilley. “And once I said, ‘Yes, I can make that night,’ they later told me it was for an award.”

Kinsella, meanwhile, kidded Lilley, a conservative, that the top honour he received was named after a former Liberal senator, Jerry Grafstein.

“And who doesn’t love Jerry,” said Lilley, as Kinsella guffawed.