Foreign Affairs committee  I would like to take one minute. You are asking, what are the chances of this thing recurring and happening? Well, let me tell you, it's happening as we speak. I hear every day that the Christians who are now a minority in all of the Arab countries are in the same desperate s

Foreign Affairs committee  I think that now that the story is being told, and you've heard from Gina Waldman who is speaking for the Jews of Libya, each country is getting organized to provide the history, the stories, whatever documentation there is. You'll get a lot of support and help from the communiti

Foreign Affairs committee  I am part of an international committee to try to preserve those shrines, because, again, when the U.S. army went into Iraq, they were able to salvage a lot of the parchments, the papers, the documents that were confiscated by Saddam. They found them in a basement. They were floo

Foreign Affairs committee  I definitely think that history repeats itself. We've seen that over and over again, so definitely, to answer that. That was your third question. The first question, do I myself expect redress for properties confiscated from my family? It's funny because I would say it took 50

Foreign Affairs committee  Shall I speak English or French?

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll continue in English, and they can translate. My brother was lucky to leave in 1963 before the Baath regime closed all exit visas to the Jews. So he was a Canadian, and he applied for us to be reunited. I'm very curious to go into the Canadian archives today and find out how

Foreign Affairs committee  I cannot give you the exact number because I don't think we ever tracked that number. I can tell you that we are part of a synagogue in Montreal, a Sephardic synagogue, and there are at least 400 families. Would you agree?

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, 400 families.

Foreign Affairs committee  There is a sizeable community also in Toronto.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  Which riding is that?

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, I'm right near there. I can walk there.

Foreign Affairs committee  I will come visit you.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen, in 1970-71, the then Government of Canada decided to intercede on behalf of 17 very desperate Jewish families who were trapped in Iraq, with the objective of reuniting them with their Canadian sons and daug