Mr. Speaker, there are more than six million Jews in the United States. Since 1654, generations of Jews have come to America's golden shores. They came to escape bigotry and hate they faced in their native lands.
They came looking for freedom and a better life in a country where the words of a young female Jewish writer, inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, warmly welcomed them.
That is why Saturday's brutal murder of 11 innocent souls at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh is so devastating. This is not supposed to happen in America. We should not need armed guards in the places we worship to protect us.
I want to express my deepest sympathies to the victims, their families, their friends, the congregation, the people of Pittsburgh and the entire American Jewish community. Canadians stand with them in rejecting the intolerance and anti-Semitism that led to this heinous crime.
In a world of growing anti-Semitism and intolerance, we in public life have a duty to lead. We must stand together against any form of hatred against any group with no equivocation. The victims of this slaughter deserve nothing less.