Mr. Chair, I found it a little cool in here, so I went out to the lobby to grab my scarf. Perhaps it is serendipitous that I am wearing this one tonight because I call this my scarf of many colours. Maybe it is indicative that we stand in solidarity with our Jewish friends.
I am always very proud when I am able to have Seder dinner with my very good friends, Sam Goldstein and his wife, Shelly, or with my good friends Julius and Etta Suraski. It is always a pleasure when I am able to spend Second Seder with my good friends Carla and Robin Silver in Richmond Hill. It has been an education for me. They are always evenings of great delight and enjoyment, not only with food but also fellowship and new cultural experiences for me.
When I was first elected, I was part of an inquiry panel chaired by my good friend from Leeds—Grenville. It was a great investigation that we undertook. I will note from our report some comments by Rabbi Bulka. I have read this report several times through and I always come back to one part where he said:
How do we counter antisemitism? To me, the very simple answer is teach, teach, teach.... We need to create foot soldiers, and those foot soldiers are the children of the next generation. We owe it to them. We owe it to the legacy of our founding fathers and mothers that children going through any elementary or high school system will have been so inoculated against hate by the time they get to university that when they see it, they will reject it.
Could my colleague comment on his experience of how we can bring this education into our school curriculum so that as the rabbi said, children will recognize this as hatred and reject it?