Jack Silverstone

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Jack SilverstoneExecutive Vice-President & General CounselCanadian Jewish Congress,

Mr. Chairman, Your Honour Lieutenant-Governor Kinley and Lieutenant-Governor designate Myra Freeman?and I extend on behalf of all of us at Canadian Jewish Congress our very warmest congratulations on this wonderful appointment? worthy rabbis and clergy, distinguished members of the Cabinet, the Legislative Assembly, municipal councillors, members of the judiciary, honoured guests, dear friends, ladies and gentlemen. I am honoured to be here this evening and bring greetings from Canadian Jewish Congress?s national president, Moshe Ronen.

Today is an historic day in Canada. For today, as we mark this Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, around the world, the Province of Nova Scotia, through its Lieutenant-Governor, proclaimed into law Bill 27, the Act to recognize Yom Hashoah as Holocaust Memorial Day, making it part of the official calendar of this great province. Earlier in the day, the province of Quebec proclaimed similar legislation. In western Canada, the provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba are doing so today as well. Along with Ontario, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, these Canadian provincial jurisdictions are leading the world in the legislative commemoration of the Holocaust. The Province of Nova Scotia, like the other provinces I have mentioned, has seen the importance of drawing on the universal lessons of that terrible period as a tool to combat racism, anti-Semitism, intolerance and extremism.

All Nova Scotians should be very proud of what has transpired here today. It speaks to their basic decency, and indeed to the decency of all Canadians, in recognizing in a formal way the tragic events of 1933 to 1945 that took the lives of some six million Jewish men, women and children as well as millions of other victims put to death by the Nazi régime.

This bill is part of the trend toward recognition in this country and internationally of the greatest crime of this century and perhaps in all recorded history, where murder was, indeed, industrialized. It entailed the unique obscenity and horror of importing people to be killed from countries outside the territorial boundaries of Nazi Germany. Yet I fear that the world has not learned sufficiently well the tragic lessons of the Holocaust. And I must tell you that whenever we at Canadian Jewish Congress?including, of course, our valued affiliate the Atlantic Jewish Council?consider the issues that confront us as a community and as Canadians and we look at the horrors of Cambodia or Rwanda or Yugoslavia or elsewhere, it is the survivors of the Holocaust who are at the forefront of our organization?s humanitarian positions against such atrocities, because they understand better than anybody the reality of persecution and of genocide.

The playwright Oscar Wilde said that “memory is the diary we all carry about with us.” For those of us who are born in this safe, free and democratic country, can we even begin to imagine carrying the diary of a survivor of the Holocaust? Who among us would want to unlock that secret book? And yet, we call on survivors to do that and much more. We ask them to read aloud from that terrible memoir of personal recollection of their experiences too awful to imagine, let alone speak of, because we must know some of what they know so that we can work against its repetition. And survivors, difficult as it is, dig deep into their souls every day to recount their time in hell. And we must be forever grateful to them.

But not only do they share their most tragic experiences, but as I said, they also provide moral leadership and guidance for the rest of us, and if we lose our course, they set us back on it, because they, above all, comprehend the consequences of moral failure.

There is another group to whom we must pay homage, and that is our brave veterans who fought and, in all too many cases, died to turn back and destroy the scourge of Nazism. They, too, understand better than most. And we must honour those righteous among the nations, Gentiles who at great risk heroically saved Jews.

We wish them all long life. We say in Hebrew: “Ad me?ah v?esrim,” until 120 years, the life span of our greatest prophet, Moses. But as the generational memory of the Holocaust recedes, we must ensure that its history is perpetuated as part of the Canadian and world body politic through the establishment of museums, high-level scholarship, legislation and, when necessary, in the courts. Indeed, Canada is one of the few Allied nations where there is a vacuum in the glaring absence in our national capital of a facility dedicated to Holocaust remembrance and human rights.

And if anybody thinks that such efforts are not needed and that the lessons of the Holocaust are seared indelibly in the collective conscience of the world, let them consult the Internet to see the cutting edge of the new anti-Semitism: Holocaust denial. There is an attempt being made to use this medium to poison the minds of a whole new generation, our youth, with the most obscene lies and hatred that you can imagine. That is why we are struggling so hard to devise means to counteract this insidious transnational phenomenon. We saw their ilk dealt a severe blow in London in the trial of Holocaust-denier David Irving.

That is one reason we at CJC continue to struggle to see to it that Nazi war criminals in this country are brought to justice so that the Canadian jurisprudential record will reflect the truth about the Nazi period and not, as some maliciously argue, for revenge, as if any punishment that could be meted out by a law-abiding country like ours could ever be remotely commensurate with the gravity of the crimes.

I believe that Canada is determined never again to be a safe haven for those who perpetrate war crimes and crimes against humanity. And that is why we at CJC support federal Bill C-19, an Act respecting genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and to implement the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which was introduced in Parliament on December 10, 1999. This law, when it is passed, will facilitate the prosecution of war criminals in Canada or at a new International Criminal Court. Although probably too late to be applicable to Nazi-era criminal proceedings, it will be relevant to contemporary war criminality, and that will be one of the greatest legacies for Canada and the world of the tragedy that befell the victims of the Nazis.

What of the future? For if the Holocaust is to have resonance, it must be made comprehensible to future generations. I think that the passage of legislation today in this province is a very important step in that direction, as is education, both formal and informal. That is why we are supporting the initiative entitled “March of Remembrance and Hope,” a leadership mission which will bring Jewish and non-Jewish students together from all over the world to visit the killing grounds in central Europe and then take them on to the contemporary centre of world Jewish life?the State of Israel, to which survivors have contributed so much.

We must also ensure that Holocaust studies, along with education against intolerance and racism, forms part of the curriculum of every Canadian student. And we, all of us, are obligated to follow the lead of survivors and speak out and act vigorously against hate speech, discrimination and oppression, which can lead tragically to mass murder. And if you think this is an exaggeration, you need only look at the public discourse in Rwanda that preceded the genocide there. As the legislation that was proclaimed here today recognizes, the Holocaust did not begin in 1939 but at least in 1933 with hateful and dehumanizing language directed primarily against Jews.

The Province of Nova Scotia has a wonderful history of joining in the struggle against injustice, when it provided a refuge for those seeking freedom from slavery. What we also must remember is that over nine hundred Jewish refugees on the St. Louis were turned away at the port of Halifax in 1939 as a result of the xenophobic and anti-Semitic policies of the federal government of the time. Having been refused landing in Cuba and the United States as well, that ship then sailed back to Europe, where the majority of the passengers ultimately perished. Canadians have come a long way since then, as today?s event demonstrate.

I always feel unworthy to speak about the Holocaust in the presence of survivors and veterans, and I do so tonight, asking for their forbearance. Tonight I ask for your special understanding when I raise a current issue that is not directly connected to our topic but is a manifestation of religious intolerance and disregard for human rights, and that is the situation of 13 Jews who stand falsely accused in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Thirteen members of the Jewish community of Iran in the eastern city of Shiraz are facing a so-called revolutionary tribunal for allegedly spying for the United States and Israel. Ten of the 13 have languished in prison without bail or due process for more than a year: among them a rabbi, Hebrew teachers, and a teenage boy. Their trial, if I can use that word, began yesterday. We must use all our power and exert all our efforts to see that they are freed and returned to their families. Canada, along with other democratic and freedom-loving countries, has led the way through diplomatic initiatives. We must support our government and do what we can to bring this sorry situation to a satisfactory conclusion. We have an opportunity to prevent a great injustice, and we cannot allow ourselves to be silent. For there was too much silence for far too long in the period leading up to and during the Holocaust.

I do believe that universal truth and justice can prevail, but if that is to happen, then concerned people such as yourselves must be personally involved. The lessons of the Holocaust cannot be learned without teachers, and all of us should commit ourselves to becoming teachers in some small way and by learning first ourselves at the feet of our masters, the survivors.

I can assure you that as a human-rights organization, Canadian Jewish Congress will continue to vigorously advocate for justice on Holocaust-related issues. Whether it be the matters I?ve already mentioned or restitution for survivors, including the recovery of assets looted by the Nazis or securing compensation for Canadian servicemen who were held as prisoners in the Buchenwald concentration camp or the preservation of priceless archival material that records the beginnings of survivors? new lives in Canada, the issue of Holocaust commemoration will remain high on our agenda. Because, ladies and gentlemen, memory is also a human right.