Message from the Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism

On June 1^st and 2^nd 2009, the Government of Canada and the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada will host an international conference entitled The St Louis Era: Looking Back, Moving Forward. This seminal event will bring together government officials, academics, educators and civil society in a discussion of the many complex themes that flow from Canada’s restrictive immigration policy during the Second World War. It will commemorate a time in Canadian history when this country excluded refugees seeking sanctuary from the Nazi death machine, as in the case of the M.S. St. Louis. The discriminatory policies and practices of that dark era will be examined in terms of how best to educate future generations, not just about the Holocaust and its linkages to Canada, but also about the dilemmas facing society today as we continue to see mass human rights violations in all corners of the globe.

This two-day conference, made possible by funding from the Community Historical Recognition Program of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and with the academic partnership of the Holocaust Literature Research Institute at the University of Western Ontario and a variety of partners in the field of Holocaust research, education and remembrance, is the signature event that will support Canada’s full membership in the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research. This event is the liaison project under this international task force and reflects the partnership between the Government of Canada and the U.S. Department of State, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Mémorial de la Shoah. It will also mark the launch of the League for Human Rights’ three-year National Task Force, which will enhance Canada’s efforts in these three core areas, which are central to the ITF mandate.

This unique conference will be the first in recent years to bring together a diverse body of experts from across the country and abroad to create a forum for dialogue about the current status and the future of Holocaust research, education and commemoration.