Mr. Speaker, today I stand in recognition of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
On January 27, 1945, soldiers of the Soviet Union's army of the First Ukrainian Front opened the gates and liberated the prisoners of the Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps. It is important that today, 71 years later, we remember. For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.
As Elie Wiesel said, today we bear witness to six million Jews, a third of the Jewish population, who were killed alongside countless others due to their race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. As Canadians, we must bear witness and demonstrate action against racial, ethnic, and religious intolerance. Canada has been profoundly shaped by the 40,000 Holocaust survivors who settled in this country after the war. We must not forget this history. We must teach our children about the victims of the Holocaust and continue to fight all forms of discrimination.
We must never forget.