Yom Hashoah - Rembering the Holocaust

Thursday April 12, I spoke on Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Manitoba Legislature.

A video of my remarks is available at this link The text of my remarks as it appears in Hansard is below:

Mr. Gerrard: Madam Speaker, today is Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943.

* (13:40)

For many years now I've had the honour to read the names of those who died in the Holocaust so that we may never forget what happened to the Jewish people in the Second World War. When Naomi and I have visited Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Centre in Jerusalem, the US. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and, of course, our gallery–Holocaust gallery here at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, it's very clear how important it is that we remember each and every person who was killed or slaughtered in the Holocaust.

The Holocaust is a very sorrowful chapter in the history of mankind and womankind, and its echoes are still felt today. We still need even better tools, better ways and better processes to address and prevent racism and discrimination.

There is progress in understanding here in Winnipeg. A month ago, Naomi and I attended a remarkable interfaith Seder presided over by Rabbi Alan Green at Shaarey Zedek Synagogue.

As the number of Holocaust survivors dwindles and the years pass, it's more important than ever that we ensure that the stories are heard, that future generations learn about the horrors of the past, and we ensure that all of us continue the fight against anti-Semitism and against discrimination and racism more broadly here in Manitoba, in the rest of Canada and, indeed, around the world.

Thank you.

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