Mr. Chairman, I will be splitting my time with the member for Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale.
As the Minister of State for Multiculturalism I am honoured to speak this evening on this very important and timely debate. I commend the Minister of National Defence and Minister for Multiculturalism and the member for Mount Royal for proposing this debate.
Anti-Semitic incidences and Holocaust denial are on the rise around the world. Whether it is the streets of Paris, the highest political offices in Tehran, or the dark corners of the Internet, we are deeply concerned about the alarming increase in anti-Semitism worldwide, because we know that history has shown that the enemies of freedom and democratic rights often target the Jews first.
We are also seeing anti-Semitism under the guise of human rights in an attempt to de-legitimize Israel.
As once Jewish businesses were boycotted, some civil society leaders today call for a boycott of Israel, the Jewish homeland. This new anti-Semitism targets the Jewish people by targeting Israel and attempts to make the old bigotry acceptable to a new generation. That is why I am proud that, for our government, Israel has an absolute and non-negotiable right to exist as a Jewish state.
As the Prime Minister said in his historic address to the Knesset:
In the democratic family of nations, Israel represents values which our Government takes as articles of faith and principles to drive our own national life. And therefore, through fire and water, Canada will stand with you.
As freedom-loving people, we have an obligation to remember the poisonous effects of anti-Semitism, the disregard for human rights and human dignity, which led to the horrors of the Holocaust. We have an obligation to learn lessons from the Holocaust and apply them to the present. We also have an obligation to recognize that the same threats exist today.
It is for this reason that our government has invested in a number of educational and remembrance projects in recent years, including the national Holocaust monument right here in Ottawa. It was an honour for me to help create this monument by bringing forward the act in this House, which was supported by all parties. The national Holocaust monument will serve as a powerful reminder about what can happen when we fail to take a stand against social injustice, xenophobia, and discrimination.
Just last month I was greatly privileged to join four Canadian Holocaust survivors, Mordechai Ronen, Miriam Ziegler Friedman, Howard Chandler, and Martin Baranek, as they bravely returned to Auschwitz as some of the 100 survivors from around the world who attended the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp.
As I stood with them at the gate of Auschwitz, I was profoundly moved. The endless courage, the incredible spirit they demonstrated to go back to that place of such evil, their own hell on earth, to remember and to ensure that future generations will never forget.
I would like to share the story of one of the Canadian Holocaust survivors, Mr. Mordechai Ronen, who returned to Auschwitz with his son Moshe Ronen and granddaughter Sari for the commemoration.
Mordechai grew up in a Jewish orthodox home in a part of Hungary that now belongs to Romania. He was only 11 years old when he was seized by the Nazis at the end of 1943 along with his parents and four siblings. The family was transported to the Nazi concentration and death camp, Auschwitz, where he, his father, and his brother were separated from his mother and sisters, never to see them again.
It was many years before Mordechai shared the horrific and traumatizing experience of the Holocaust with his family. The loss, as well as the constant terror and suffering that he endured while in the camp, are beyond comprehension to most people, but in spite of this, upon his return to the camp, he demonstrated the remarkable spirit of survivors when he stated, “I am not a victim; I am a victor. I have survived and returned to tell the world these awful things happened, and we must never allow them to happen again”.