Ottawa, ON – January 17, 2023 – On Friday, January 27, 2023, Jewish Canadians will stand united with a global movement to remember the six million Jewish children, women, and men murdered in the Holocaust. This commemoration is part of the International Day for Holocaust Remembrance, this year marking the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. We also remember, with gratitude, the many families honoured as Righteous Among the Nations for their courage and heroism.
As the Canadian affiliate of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) has joined the WJC in what will be the largest global Holocaust commemoration ever – the eighth annual #WeRemember campaign calling on us all never to forget the victims and Survivors of the Holocaust.
From January 20 to 27, Canadians across the country are encouraged to upload pictures of themselves holding “We Remember” signs and post them on social media using the hashtag #WeRemember and tagging @cijainfo and @worldjewishcongress. Many of these images from around the world will later be projected on a screen at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
As part of the campaign, public venues across Canada, including Ottawa’s National Holocaust Monument and Peace Tower, Niagara Falls, Toronto’s CN Tower, Montreal’s Olympic Stadium and Champlain Bridge, and Vancouver’s Canada Place, among others, will be bathed in yellow light in remembrance on January 27. A full list of monuments to be illuminated across the country can be found here.
An in-person commemoration event featuring Holocaust Survivors, Jewish community leaders, and diplomatic and political representatives will be held at the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa (January 27, 11 a.m. EST.). The event is hosted by the National Holocaust Monument, CIJA, the Embassy of Israel, and the Ottawa Jewish Federation. The ceremony will be live-streamed at facebook.com/cijainfo.
For more information about the #WeRemember campaign and International Holocaust Remembrance Day, visit cija.ca/weremember.
QUOTES:
Shimon Koffler Fogel, President and CEO of The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs:
“As the number of Survivors diminishes with time, it becomes even more important that the horrors of the Shoah remain in the public consciousness. The Holocaust was the most carefully documented genocide in the world, and yet Holocaust education and the universal lessons it offers about how hate, racism, and bigotry can poison a society are lacking in today’s curricula.
“With antisemitism surging in Canada and around the world, it is important to teach about the Holocaust in a way that bridges understanding of historic antisemitism with the hate experienced today. We will continue to call on provincial governments across the country to follow the example of Ontario’s Ministry of Education in mandating Holocaust education in elementary schools, expanding resources, and strengthening anti-hate training for students, educators, and families.
“Together, let us renew our collective vow: “Never Again.””
Pinchas Gutter, Co-President of the Canadian Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants (CJHSD):
“As Survivors, we remember. We have witnessed with our own eyes the horrors of the Holocaust and the darkest days of humanity. Loved ones, children, women, men torn from their families, brutalized, traumatized, and murdered. International Holocaust Remembrance Day calls on all of us to remember the six million souls murdered and to proclaim: “Never Again.””
Edit Kuper, Co-President of the Canadian Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants (CJHSD):
“As Descendants of Survivors, we have felt the profound impact of the Holocaust on Survivors and on our own generation. We not only have a responsibility to remember and transmit that past but to ensure it never happens again by working to eradicate Holocaust denial, hate speech, prejudice, and antisemitism.”
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
- International Holocaust Remembrance Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly on November 1, 2005, to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. The resolution stemmed from a special session held on January 24, 2005, during which the United Nations General Assembly marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and the end of the Holocaust.
- The UN theme this year is “Home and Belonging”, which guides their Holocaust remembrance and education in 2023. The theme highlights the humanity of the Holocaust victims and survivors, who had their homes and sense of belonging ripped from them by the perpetrators of the Holocaust.
- The Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey conducted by the Claims Conference demonstrated that an alarming 22% of Canadian millennials have not heard, or are unsure if they have heard, of the Holocaust; and 62% of Canadian millennials were not aware that six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
- CIJA is committed to working with the government to increase investment in antisemitism and Holocaust education across Canada.
About the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) is the advocacy agent of Jewish Federations across Canada. CIJA is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve and protect Jewish life in Canada through advocacy and to advance the public policy interests of Canada’s organized Jewish community.
About Canadian Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants
The Canadian Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants (CJHSD) was founded in 1999 and is a grassroots organization dedicated to advocating on behalf of its members and representing Canadian Survivors at the Jewish Material Claims Conference. The CJHSD is an independent organization affiliated with CIJA.
MEDIA CONTACT:
For more information or to coordinate interviews, please contact:
Nicole Amiel
Director, Media Relations and GTA Communications
Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs
416.525.2592
namiel@cija.ca