Commitment to future

Editorial

Canada will soon have a National Holocaust Monument. The monument, which is expected to be completed in two years, will stand adjacent to the National War Museum in Ottawa, part of a ceremonial path commemorating events of historical significance.

The decision to create a permanent Canadian memorial to the Shoah ameliorates a situation in which Canada was the only country among the Second World War Allies without an official national Holocaust monument. The monument is welcomed, particularly at a time in history when it seems increasingly necessary to remind ourselves and successive generations of the events of the Shoah. Just this week in Hungary, as delegates from 100 countries gathered for the World Jewish Congress assembly in Budapest, hundreds of extremists gathered nearby in a rally organized by the country’s third largest party, the far-right nationalist movement Jobbik. Hungary, of course, is only one of the flashpoints of renewed antisemitic rhetoric and violence.

The federal government seems to be acknowledging this reality. “The National Holocaust Monument will recognize how Canadians and Canadian history have been affected, and that we will continue to stand against any forces that oppose our essential principles,” according to a statement. “We must never allow the crimes of the past to be repeated or forgotten. The monument will remind us that we must be vigilant in standing guard against hatred and tyrant rulers while promoting freedom for all peoples.”

At the same time, while a monument is absolutely a step in the right direction, it should not be seen as anything less than a part of a much broader public education strategy that goes beyond the Jewish particularity of the Holocaust and drives future generations to fulfil the promise of “Never again.”

In commemorating the Holocaust, Canadians should remember our own country’s role in the events, both as Allied liberators of Europe and as a country with race-based immigration policies that closed our gates to refugees with cataclysmic consequences, and quota systems that held back qualified people from becoming fully functioning and contributing members of Canadian civil society.

The lessons of the Holocaust have particular Jewish implications and universal human implications. The meaning of the Holocaust for Jewish individuals, families and communities was shattering. In different ways, the catastrophe of European Jewry was shattering for the values of Western civilization. The Holocaust, among so many other lessons (many still not widely assimilated), demonstrated the fragility of democracy, equality, freedom and, indeed, the veneer of civilization itself. Even those for whom the well-being of Jews is not of paramount concern, ignoring the lessons of the Holocaust holds dangerous potential. And yet, there is a discernible current in public opinion to do exactly that.

There seems to be an inevitable reaction whenever education about or commemoration of the Holocaust is raised in the public discourse. One need only read the unedited public comments section of mainstream media websites (and many edited sections of less mainstream ones) to discover a prevalent belief that discussion of the Holocaust somehow diminishes the experiences of other peoples who have suffered.

Such comments are unintentionally ironic, most often demonstrating that those who claim most loudly that we have heard enough of the Holocaust are precisely those who need to hear about it more and to consider its implications. In fact, education about the Holocaust is an effort to learn from Jewish history and thereby improve conditions for all people. Learning these lessons is about the fate of the values that make Jewish people – and all people – safe from tyranny, dehumanization and genocide.

While a national Holocaust monument should remind us of the past, it should drive us to push for a better future: for continued, relentless education; for investments in the infrastructures of civil society here in Canada and through our foreign aid; for community projects that bring diverse peoples together to witness one another’s humanity; and for efforts to inculcate Canadian values of tolerance among new immigrants.

Canada’s National Holocaust Monument is an overdue gesture. Yet, when it is completed, it must not mark the end of a project. It should symbolize our unending national commitment to learning and implementing the lessons of the past in the service of a better future.

^TOP