Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, we are going to be working with the three Holocaust centres to preserve those testimonies, probably making them accessible in digital form. These are things we are working on at the moment with the three centres. It certainly would be a major undertaking during our chairmanship year.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much for your question. In terms of the government support, as I mentioned, $2.5 million was invested for the Jewish community historical recognition project. There were several initiatives, including the work Canada is doing, of course, with the ITF on the issue of education and remembrance and research.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Very briefly, there is a working definition as well which the organization has on Holocaust denial. Holocaust denial is a form of anti-Semitism and attempts to deny the genocide of the Jewish people, or attempts to blame the Jews for causing their own genocide. It goes on to deal with issues of Holocaust denial, and they include, public denial, or putting in doubt the use of principal mechanisms, justification or trivialization of the Holocaust, and diminishing the Holocaust, Hashoah, including minimizing the scope of the Holocaust.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There certainly are other obstacles. There is always more to do in raising awareness, which is why education plays such an important role for our organization. Unfortunately, it is a constant struggle. As I told the subcommittee, anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia still exist, so we have the obligation to continue to fight them.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for your question, Mr. Jacob. First of all, as president, my work consists in playing a major role in advancing ITF's work around the themes I mentioned, which are Holocaust education, research and commemoration. In addition, I have an advocacy role to play with other governments and NGOs, and working with them to advance the three different educational themes I mentioned previously.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for the questions, Mr. Schellenberger. Anti-Semitism is a problem, unfortunately. It's a global phenomenon. It's prevalent in all societies. It's an incredible problem of hate. I want to give you some statistics so you can see how things are moving, at least in Canada.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much, Professor Cotler. On the first point, and it's the importance of the Righteous Among the Nations, I should maybe let members of the committee know that I will be moderating a panel tonight at the Canadian War Museum. Professor Cotler will be one of the speakers, along with Irving Abella, Áron Máthé, and Brian Palmer.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There are some other public events. One thing we want to focus on during the plenary session in Toronto is a night dedicated to the Righteous Among the Nations. We think this is a great opportunity as well to invite Canada's wonderful, fabulous multicultural communities. Even though it was a very dark period in human history, there were incredible people from various countries who actually risked their lives to save people.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you. You'll do very well, I'm sure.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Sure.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Well, it's challenging for countries like Canada, because education is at the provincial level, so we are dealing with our provincial counterparts to look at their best practices and their goals with regard to how the Holocaust is being taught. We have a series of funding formulas as well through the ITF to provide support for different teaching institutions to also help teachers.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much, and thank you for sharing with me those personal stories. This is one committee where all of us have been touched one way or another by an event in our lives that drives us to be involved in issues of human rights. With respect to the education, you're right that with knowledge comes responsibility.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Mr. Sweet, thank you very much for your kind words. It was an honour to share the podium with you. You're certainly a worthy recipient of the award. Part of the institutional building that will take place during my chairmanship is to look at engaging other countries. Specifically, I was tasked by the Government of Canada to look at having Ukraine join as a member country.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, members of the committee, for allowing me to appear today. I would like to brief you on the work of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, otherwise known as the ITF. I appear before you in my capacity as incoming chair of the ITF, a role I will assume in March 2013.