Michael Levitt

[Petitions, April 23rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition calling upon the government to work with the United Nations to secure the release of the remains of two Israeli soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, which the terrorist group Hamas has illegally held for over four years. As the petitioners have noted, Hamas has engaged in an ongoing campaign of incitement against Israel. Refusing to act in the best interests of Gazans and refusing to release the remains of these soldiers to their families is cruel and a breach of international humanitarian law.

[Yom Ha'atzmaut, April 19th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, today is Yom Ha'atzmaut, celebrating the 70th anniversary of Israel's independence. Yesterday, on Yom Hazikaron, Israelis stood silently in their workplaces and on the streets, and stopped on highways to solemnly remember the fallen Israeli soldiers and victims of terror.

Today, we proudly celebrate Israel's miraculous independence. For 70 years, Israel has been a beacon of democracy in the Middle East, and we count it today as a steadfast friend, partner, and ally.

As chair of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group, I am proud to continue fostering strong ties between Canadians and Israelis. I have had the pleasure of visiting Israel countless times, and I am always left in awe by the spirit and vibrancy shown by its citizens. Even in the face of great adversity, Israel stands proud and strong. As we mark Yom Ha'atzmaut, Canada stands proud and strong with them.

Yom Ha'atzmaut sameach.

[Canadian Jewish Heritage Month, March 27th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to conclude the debate on Bill S-232, the Canadian Jewish heritage month act.

It has been an honour to sponsor the bill in this House, and I would like to thank my colleagues from both sides of the aisle for their strong support. I also want to thank Senator Frum, who co-sponsored this bill with me and guided it through the other place.

Since its introduction in December 2016, this initiative has been welcomed by members of the Jewish community from across the country. None of this would be possible, though, without the groundwork laid by the former member for Mount Royal, the hon. Irwin Cotler, who originally introduced the substance of this bill in 2015.

I have thanked Professor Cotler each and every time I have spoken to this bill, and I have dedicated my efforts in his name. I do not do it just because he is my dear friend and mentor, but because he is an inspirational leader who exemplifies the very best of what it means to be a Canadian and a member of the Canadian Jewish community. I would like to spend my time remaining honouring and paying tribute to this exemplary man.

Professor Cotler is one of the world's pre-eminent international legal minds and human rights advocates. For 26 years, he was a law professor at McGill University and the director of its human rights program. During that time, he served as counsel to prisoners of conscience from around the world, including Natan Sharansky, Nelson Mandela, and Jacobo Timerman. He was a member of the international legal team for Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, and he serves as international legal counsel to imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi and Venezuelan political prisoner Leopoldo López.

Irwin has been described as “counsel for the oppressed” and “freedom's counsel”. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

In 1999, when lesser persons would have begun thinking of retirement after an esteemed legal career, Professor Cotler ran for office. For 16 years, he served Canadians as the Liberal member of Parliament for Mount Royal. He brought his insatiable appetite for justice and human rights work to his work in government. During that time, we were privileged to have him as our minister of justice and attorney general.

Among many accomplishments, he initiated the first ever comprehensive reform of the Supreme Court appointment process; crafted the Civil Marriage Act, the first ever legislation to grant marriage equality to LGBTQ Canadians; and quashed more wrongful convictions in a single year than any prior minister.

He did not slow down in opposition or lose his drive to advance Canada as a beacon of justice and human rights. He advocated and oversaw the creation of the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights, which I am now privileged to chair. He chaired the Inter-Parliamentary Group for Human Rights in Iran and the Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Inter-Parliamentary Group, and I should add that he was a driving force behind Canada's adoption of a Magnitsky act.

As colleagues in the House who worked with Irwin well know, he was less a politician than a parliamentarian scholar. He was among the most very respected members of this House, and his legacy is felt across party lines to this day.

Now, despite his supposed retirement in 2015, it turns out that Irwin's political career was more of a sabbatical from his real job: the defence of human rights around the world. Without pause, at 75 years of age, he returned to the struggle for international justice as the founder and chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. He now travels and works just as hard as he ever did as a member of Parliament.

Last September, he was appointed to the OAS independent panel of international experts on possible crimes against humanity in Venezuela, and he has not stopped or slowed his unmatched advocacy for prisoners of conscience around the globe.

Why does his story matter? It is because for over a half century, Professor Cotler has been bringing great pride and honour to the Canadian Jewish community. On a personal note, I am constantly inspired by the example he has set. My own journey as an MP, including my work on human rights and this bill, are entirely due to his ongoing legacy. Let my closing words on this bill be a thanks to Irwin for all of his contributions and to the great pride he brings to the Canadian Jewish community each and every day.

I am thankful for the opportunity to close the debate on Bill S-232. I look forward to this May being the inaugural Canadian Jewish heritage month, when we can all celebrate together.

[Canadian Jewish Heritage Month Act, February 13th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am well aware of the fantastic contribution so many Jewish communities across Canada have made in supporting refugees, whether Syrian refugees or the Yazidi community. They have had an ongoing role in advocating for and supporting the refugees when they have arrived in Canada.

In my own community, several synagogues have banded together, particularly Temple Darchei Noam and Beth Emeth and a number of others, and have been active in supporting and advocating for refugees. In the Jewish tradition, this is something that is a priority. We want to lend our voices and our support to people who are in need. We want to make sure that we are giving people the opportunity.

I think that is something that, again, will be highlighted during Canadian Jewish heritage month, and I look forward to those lessons being taught to future generations as we move forward.

[Canadian Jewish Heritage Month Act, February 13th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I have just learned more about another part of our great country and the contributions of the Jewish community. One of the joys of bringing this bill to Parliament has been hearing from all sides of the aisle, from all parties, the great and inspirational stories of Canadian Jews and their contributions.

I share with the member pride in the hon. Irwin Cotler and his contributions. As the chair of the subcommittee on international human rights, I lean on his learnings often. He is one of so many strong voices of Jewish Canadians in this country. Just down the hall, we have Justice Rosalie Abella, with her contributions to the Supreme Court.

I could go on and on, as I have done in previous speeches. This is the opportunity of Canadian Jewish heritage month. Every May, across this country, we are going to be able to celebrate and talk about the contributions of Jews to Canada. This is going to be especially important. My children are 18 and 16, and I look forward to their learning more and more about the contributions Canadian Jews have made as the years go on. It is a tremendous opportunity, and I thank my colleague for his support.

[Canadian Jewish Heritage Month Act, February 13th, 2018]

moved that the bill be read the third time and passed.

Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour to rise again as the House considers Bill S-232, an act respecting Canadian Jewish heritage month. It has been an absolute privilege not just to be the sponsor of the bill, but to be part of and witness to the debate and discussion surrounding the bill in both the other place and in the House.

I want to acknowledge Senator Linda Frum, who has partnered with me in introducing the bill, and the members for Thornhill and Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, who I have had the pleasure of working with to ensure strong multi-partisan support for the bill. I saw enthusiastic support as the bill was considered before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, and I hope it will be mirrored by all members of this chamber as we debate Bill S-232.

I also want to take a moment to recognize the efforts of my friend and mentor the Hon. Irwin Cotler, who originally introduced the substance of the bill as a motion in 2015. I designate my work on this bill in his honour.

The bill came before the heritage committee soon after the committee heard from representatives of the Jewish community on the anti-Semitism that Jewish Canadians face. As we know, Jewish Canadians are consistently the most targeted group for hate crimes in Canada. Anti-Semitism, like all forms of discrimination, has no place in Canadian society. It is a testament to the long-standing advocacy of Jewish Canadians and Jewish civil society that we have come this far on this issue, but there is so much more to do.

While we know that anti-Semitism is a very real problem in Canadian society, we can all be proud of the distance we have come as a country. We no longer face the institutional, social, and political discrimination faced by so many Jewish Canadians over the course of Canadian history.

It is fitting that we have resumed debating the bill in 2018. This year marks the centenary of the end of the First World War, in which approximately 4,700 Canadian Jews from across Canada fought for their country, in spite of the discrimination they faced at home. Samuel Waskey from Winnipeg joined the 44th Battalion as a private and lost his life at the Somme. To avoid what has been referred to as an “unpleasant experience” because he was Jewish, he changed his name to Waskey from Warshawsky. Other Jewish soldiers took a more drastic step and registered as Protestants.

Saskatchewan Jews were among the first to volunteer during both World Wars I and II, and many lost their lives fighting in Europe. The province honoured those who sacrificed their lives, including a number of Jews, by naming lakes after them. Among these eternal memorials to our fallen are Faibish Bay, after Jack Faibish from Markinch, Saskatchewan; Levine Lake, after David Levine from Swift Current; and Glansberg Lake in honour of Maurice Glansberg.

During the Second World War, over a third of all Jewish Canadian men over 21 served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. This was in spite of the discrimination and the many hurdles they faced. The year 2018 also marks the 70th anniversary of the end of Canada's notorious “none is too many” policy. From 1933 to 1948, under this policy, only 5,000 Holocaust refugees were admitted to Canada, the fewest of any western country. The most egregious example of this misguided policy was in 1939, when Canada turned away the MS St .Louis. Of the more than 900 Jewish refugees on board seeking sanctuary here in Canada and forced to return to Europe, 254 died in the Holocaust. We cannot turn away from this ugly truth and Canada's part in it. However, in 1949, Canada admitted 11,000 Jews, more than any other country except Israel.

As Canadians, we must remember the lessons taught by this awful period. The stories of Holocaust survivors who came to Canada are our stories as Canadians. I am proud that my riding of York Centre became home to so many Holocaust survivors who emerged from the ashes of Europe to begin new and vibrant lives here in Canada. They helped inform and build the modern Canada that we are all so proud to represent.

I want to highlight the success of the March of the Living, a two-week educational experience that takes hundreds of Canadian students each year to Poland and Israel. On Yom HaShoah, to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, these students undertake a three kilometre march from Auschwitz to Birkenau accompanied by a group of indomitable Holocaust survivors who serve as their guides.

This May is March of the Living's 30th anniversary. Over 12,000 high school students have taken part in this incredible project. I want to recognize the exceptional work of Rabbi Eli Rubenstein for his leadership on this initiative.

March of the Living illustrates the importance of Holocaust education as an essential part of our Canadian Jewish heritage. Projects like March of the Living connect our past to our future, with older generations educating our future leaders. The march has 12 goals, among them to never allow the unchecked rise of the menace of antisemitism; to never again allow any kind of discrimination directed by any individual or any group against any other to gain strength; and to inspire participants to commit to building a world of freedom, democracy, and justice, free of oppression and intolerance.

March of the Living has benefited enormously from the selfless work of over 100 Holocaust survivors, survivors like Max Eisen, Anita Ekstein, Esther Fairbloom, Bill Glied, and Pinchas Gutter, to name but a few. They give their time and energy, but most importantly, they open themselves up to reliving their immense pain and suffering so that future generations can learn from their experiences.

There is no replacement for the first-hand stories of Holocaust survivors. As their numbers dwindle, it is even more important that we hear and document these stories.

Nate Leipciger is one of the hundreds of survivors of Auschwitz who came to Canada, but he has returned to Poland 17 times with the March of the Living. I have personally had the privilege of listening to and learning from Nate, from his experiences during and after the Holocaust.

One of his most inspirational stories is from a year and a half ago. Seventy three years after having survived the lowest point of his life at Auschwitz, Nate returned there with the Prime Minister. He described his return to Auschwitz with the Prime Minister as triumphant. As Nate wrote, “When the Prime Minister and I shed tears together in Auschwitz-Birkenau, never have I been more grateful for the welcome given to me by my adopted land, never have I been prouder to be a citizen of our beloved country, Canada. It was one of the most uplifting moments of my life.”

The Prime Minister's experience is not unique. It has been shared by thousands of Canadians from all walks of life.

Jewish Canadians hail from all corners of the world: South Africa, Russia, Israel, Morocco, India, Iraq, Argentina, and many other countries. Their histories and experiences shape the Canadian Jewish identity and add to the very fabric of our nation.

I am a proud Canadian, and I am also a very proud Scottish Jew. Nothing gives me more pleasure than sharing my own heritage, like wearing the Jewish tartan, as I am today, or donning my kilt, as I did at our annual Robbie Burns supper on the Hill just a couple of weeks ago.

In many ways, the diversity of Jewish Canadians mirrors the diversity of our broader Canadian society, each of us bringing our own customs and our own traditions. These stories have played out in communities big and small across Canada. I am certain that every member of this House from every province and territory can point to the history of Jewish Canadians in their own communities.

While the largest Canadian Jewish communities are in Montreal and Toronto, the purpose of this bill is to recognize the role and highlight the stories of Jewish Canadians from coast to coast to coast, from St. John's to Victoria to Iqaluit and everywhere in between.

During the debate on Bill S-232, I have learned of the histories of Jewish communities in Cape Breton, Niagara Falls, and Hirsch, Saskatchewan. Each community has a rich history and a story to share, like Congregation Emanu-El in Victoria, Canada's oldest synagogue, in continuous operation since 1863, or the Jewish community of St. John's, which is one of the oldest in Canada, having arrived in Newfoundland in the 1770s. Even the very small Jewish community in Iqaluit, numbering just 20 people, adds to the fabric of our Canadian Jewish heritage.

The enactment of Canadian Jewish heritage month will ensure that the historic and ongoing contributions of Jewish Canadians are recognized, shared, and celebrated across this great country for generations to come. By choosing May as Canadian Jewish heritage month, we will see what currently exists in the United States and Ontario expanded to a national celebration across our great country.

As I close, I want to thank my colleagues for the support they have offered so far and encourage all of them to see this bill passed into law.

[International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, this past Saturday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a sombre anniversary when we remember the murder of over six million Jewish men, women, and children during the Second World War.

It is also a day when we recognize and remember the invincible spirit of those who survived this evil, among them the thousands of Holocaust survivors who built new lives for themselves and their families in my riding of York Centre and across Canada. Their enduring legacy of courage and triumph of spirit must continue to inspire us to combat anti-Semitism and all forms of systemic racism in our communities and around the world.

We must guard against a resurgence of anti-Semitism and xenophobia and ensure that we never forget our obligation to stand up and speak out against hatred and prejudice wherever they may rear their ugly heads.

We remember.

[Toronto Football Club, December 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, Glory in Red. An ode to Toronto FC:

The sun was setting on Saturday night, as our boys in red took the field shining so bright.
A superlative season would lie in their wake, but this was the big game, an opportunity for redemption at stake.
We were flying in the first half keeping Seattle pinned back, but sadly no goals even though we dominated attack.
The second half kicked off; TFC in full flight, then in a moment of glory Altidore struck with great might.
The celebration was wild as the fans they did roar, Red Patch Boys, Tribal Rhythm Nation, U-Sector and so many more.
As the clock wound down Vazquez put it away, ensuring TFC fans would never forget this championship day.
As the lads raised the cup our hearts filled with delight, our heroes got it done on this unforgettable night.
So here is my message as I wrap up this short ditty, your hard work and commitment bring tremendous pride to our city.
As we end 2017 and put this year to bed, we will forever have memories of our TFC champs, of their Glory in Red.

[York Centre, November 7th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I recently held an event in my riding where I recognized 15 constituents who demonstrate an incredible commitment to their community.

One of these extraordinary individuals is Angelita Budao. She was nominated for her tireless work with the Friends of Earl Bales Park, Action for Neighbourhood Change, and the First Filipino Canadian Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Angie's efforts have been felt throughout our community, bringing youth, families, and seniors together in common cause.

I want to also recognize the other 14 award winners for their contributions to our community. They are volunteers, faith leaders, activists, and organizers. During this Canada 150 year, I am proud to honour their contributions every day to making Canada a better place. Through their hard work, determination, and leadership, these individuals have made a tremendous impact in York Centre, and I ask all members to join me in recognizing and congratulating them.

[Foreign Affairs, October 23rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians have been horrified by reports of the abhorrent treatment of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes into neighbouring Bangladesh. Their villages have been burned to the ground and there are terrifying reports of brutal killings of civilians. These are crimes against humanity.

Our government has repeatedly spoken out against the ethnic cleansing being perpetrated against the Rohingya by the security forces in Myanmar. Would the Minister of Foreign Affairs tell us what further steps the government is taking to address this terrible violence?