Mr. Chair, I have been moved by many of the speeches in this take-note debate tonight. When we are in unanimous agreement in condemning anti-Semitism, as we are tonight, the challenge for all of us is to find recommendations for what we can do to ensure that Canada, more than any other nation, rejects anti-Semitism. I believe that would be a good goal.
We must reject as well racism of all kinds, and we must reject prejudices, phobias, and attitudes that are either xenophobic or grounded in hatred and superstition. Goodness knows where some of this hatred comes from.
Going back to the history of anti-Semitism in Canada, I note that it is not a good record. In looking back I found that years ago Pierre Berton, one of my favourite authors, did an investigation, a little experiment, with respect to anti-Semitism. He had two young women assume different names and apply for positions as stenographers. The woman whose name was Grimes got job interviews. The woman named Greenberg, who had the same qualifications and was applying for the same jobs, did not get callbacks or was told the job was filled. He did the same experiment making reservations at a golf club.
This was back in the late 1940s. We know as well the story of the St. Louis pulling into Halifax Harbour and being sent away.
If we as Canadians are to really expunge, reject, and forever remove anti-Semitism from our society, we have to acknowledge that it was rather deeply embedded in our culture in the past and acknowledge that we are making improvements. There is no question that anti-Semitism is less prevalent now than it was then, but we cannot be content with the progress we have made. We must continue to move forward to condemn any acts of anti-Semitism, as my friend from Richmond Hill has said, to ensure that it has no place in our society and that it is named, outed, and rejected wherever it is found,