Mr. Speaker, at the request of rabbis in Hamilton and leaders of the Jewish community, I rise today and share an excerpt from their statement of solidarity with the Muslim community after the attack in London. They say:
Once again, the Jewish Community of Hamilton recoils in horror upon learning of the deplorable act of murder perpetrated in London yesterday. We are no less sickened to learn that the murder was a racially motivated, premeditated Islamophobic attack, carried out solely because the victims were Muslims....At this incredibly painful and frightening time, Hamilton’s rabbis and its Jewish leadership reach out to our Muslim brothers and sisters and to their sheikhs and imams, extending our empathy, solidarity and support. We cry with you and we mourn with you. We yearn for a day when every human being, whether Indigenous, Muslim or Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Atheist, Christian or other, can proudly live in this country true to her or his beliefs without a drop of fear. And we pledge to work with you, shoulder to shoulder, to bring this about....We pray for the recovery of the injured child, and that the memories of the murdered ones always be for a blessing.
In tears and hope