January 27, 2022

OTTAWA—Walk down the street of your community and you will see Canada’s diversity. You will come across people with different faiths and backgrounds and languages. Each person has a story, their own journey that brought them to this country, to that street, in that moment.

During the Holocaust, Jewish people ceased to walk their streets. Instead, they hid in the forests, dug holes for shelters, crammed into barns and attics. And six million of them would never see their streets again. Their journey ended in cruelty and inhumanity.

Today, we mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day. A day when the Jewish community comes together, alongside so many other minority communities who lost people during that time. And in one voice, they say “Never Again.”

On this day, look beyond the casualty statistics to the individual stories of survival and loss, of courage and resilience. Together, let us look to a future free of hate and anti-Semitism, where we can be free to worship, gather, speak and love in our own unique ways, without fear.

As we remember the past, let us all work to reconcile the darkness of humanity with the bright future in which we all have the right to share. 

Mary Simon

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