|
|
December 17, 2010
Memorial gets go ahead
After two years, Holocaust-related Bill C-442 passes.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
On Dec. 8, Bill C-442: An Act to Establish a Holocaust Monument was passed unanimously in the House of Commons. The act “requires the minister responsible for the National Capital Act to establish and work in cooperation with a National Holocaust Monument Development Council to design and build a National Holocaust Monument to be located in the National Capital Region.” It will come into force when it receives Royal Assent.
The ultimately successful private member’s bill was tabled in Parliament by Tim Uppal, Conservative member for Edmonton-Sherwood Park. However, former Liberal member for Thornhill, Susan Kadis, tabled a similar piece of legislation, Bill C-547, on May 14, 2008, which died when an election was called, and Liberal member for Winnipeg South Centre, Anita Neville, introduced Bill C-238, on Dec. 1, 2008, which also met a dead end. Uppal’s bill faced challenges as well – amendments desired by the government, which the Speaker of the House eventually determined should be removed – but survived to the Report Stage, which featured debates in the House of Commons on Oct. 27 and Dec. 8.
In the Oct. 27 session, Uppal moved that Bill C-442 be read the third time and passed. In that session, he said, “The horrific events of the Holocaust are a stark testament to what can happen when humanity and fundamental basic rights are discarded. This monument will serve as a symbol of Canadian value and diversity as much as it will be a memorial for the millions of victims and families destroyed. This monument will be a testament to the Canadian commitment and resolve never to forget, and always to stand up against such atrocities.”
Several other MPs spoke that day, then the Dec. 8 session picked up the debate, with more comments from MPs from every party. Among them was New Democrat Thomas Mulcair (Outremont, Que.), who noted, “Anne Frank’s house is in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. There is a commemorative centre in Budapest, Hungary. There is a Holocaust centre in Cape Town, the capital of South Africa. There is an historical institute that focuses on the Holocaust in London and a memorial in Hyde Park. Vienna, Austria, has the Judenplatz Memorial. Paris has the Mémorial des martyrs de la déportation. There are commemorative monuments in Berlin, Stockholm, Washington and Buenos Aires, too. In short, many countries have recognized the importance of commemorating, of recognizing this major event in world history that influenced them. This is a way of recognizing that the Holocaust was the greatest tragedy inflicted on a group of people in human history.”
Mulcair also noted that there is a Holocaust monument in Vancouver and another in Montreal, but none in the capital. “Bill C-442 simply proposes a good thing and we support it,” he said.
About the delays in getting the bill passed, Brian Jean, parliamentary secretary to the minister of transport, infrastructure and communities, admitted, “We have been working on this bill for some time.” He explained the delay on the part of the government as being “to provide greater transparency and accountability in the establishment of the national Holocaust monument by proposing a number of amendments at committee stage. The amendments proposed were also intended to ensure consistency in the roles, responsibilities and policies of the minister responsible for the National Capital Commission (NCC) and the commission itself. I would consider these very important principles, indeed, for any piece of legislation.... While the NCC acts as a facilitator in the realization of monuments, proponents are responsible for raising funds that cover not only the cost of the design itself but the construction and installation, and also the ongoing maintenance and preservation of the monument for future generations.
“Over the years, the commission has overseen the installation of a number of monuments in the National Capital Region, as I mentioned, with strong participation by individuals and associations that have supported these initiatives in the past, as well as this particular initiative. We have no doubt there will be many.
“As amended by the standing committee and further modified to reflect the Speaker’s ruling,” continued Jean, “Bill C-442 proposes that the minister responsible for the National Capital Act would oversee the planning and the design of the monument in co-operation with a newly created council. The minister would be responsible for the construction of the monument in the National Capital Region and, of course, for the ongoing maintenance of the monument.
“Further, the National Holocaust Monument Development Council would be created through Bill C-442. The council would spearhead a fundraising campaign for the cost of constructing the monument.... Although not specified in the present version of this bill, the government would expect that the funds raised by the council would sufficiently cover not only the construction costs of the monument itself but also the costs of planning, design, installation and maintenance of the monument.
“With the level of interest displayed by various organizations and individuals in Canada, I am confident that this initiative will generate adequate financial resources.... This historic initiative is indeed one which the government holds in high esteem, as we remember and remind ourselves that such atrocities should never happen again and that we should never forget.”
For her part, Neville said, “Madam Speaker [Denise Savoie], I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to [the] third reading of Bill C-442, an act to establish a national Holocaust monument. I am very pleased to speak to the bill because, approximately two years ago, I introduced the same bill myself. It is a very important bill.” She read from the bill’s preamble and reiterated her concern that the bill should not be seen as a new initiative.
She added, “I was also concerned to see the sponsor of the bill, the member for Edmonton-Sherwood Park, use his last opportunity to speak to the bill to argue why the Conservatives deserved credit for their actions. This is not an issue of who supports a community more than others or who likes monuments better than others. This is an important non-partisan issue that all members of the House should support and should be supported by all Canadians.
“This is about how a country acknowledges the history of a genocide that had a profound impact on many of its citizens and of people in all corners of the world. This is a bill that, in creating a monument, remembers not only the victims of the Holocaust but its survivors. It is a bill to honor those who fought on our behalf. It is a bill to ensure that future generations do not forget.
“My colleagues and I in the Liberal party are fully supportive of a bill to establish a national Holocaust monument in the National Capital Region that is built on public land with a plan, design, construction and ongoing maintenance funded by the government of Canada. This intention [was] at the core of my bill, Bill C-238, and was at the core of Bill C-442 when it received the unanimous consent of the House at second reading,” she said.
Neville added that, despite the unanimous support, the proposed amendments took away “the concept of public lands and funding for the development and maintenance of the monument.” She concluded, “Amendments were put forward by members opposite for every clause of the bill, which gutted the spirit of it. It was a bill with amendments that, on one hand, giveth and, on the other hand, taketh away. Fortunately, my colleague, the honorable member for Eglinton-Lawrence [Joe Volpe], challenged the amendments and the Speaker subsequently ruled that they were out of order and ordered that the original version of the bill, which is what we are debating today, be presented.
“I want to reiterate that it is a publicly funded bill on public land, design and construction, given in memory of those who survived and those who were victims of the Holocaust and honored by all Canadians.... It is important that all parties support the bill, that it receive unanimous approval. It will be a national monument that, as the preamble says, ‘shall forever remind Canadians of one of the darkest chapters in human history and of the dangers of state-sanctioned hatred and antisemitism.’”
According to Bill C-442, “The monument shall be completed not later than three years after the day on which sufficient funds, as determined by the minister, have been raised” by the council, which is supposed to be formed within one year of the act coming into force.
^TOP
|
|
