Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research

“The St. Louis Era: Looking Back, Moving Forward” Conference

The year 2009 marks the 70th anniversary of the fateful voyage of the M.S. St. Louis. Although the ship never entered Canadian waters, Canada’s failure to offer refuge to its passengers, mainly Jewish refugees, is viewed as an example of Canada’s reluctance to protect those seeking shelter from the persecution, and later the genocide, of the Nazi regime.

“The St. Louis Era: Looking Back, Moving Forward” conference, to be held in Toronto on June 1–2, 2009, will explore the historical aspects of the M.S. St. Louis from American, French and Canadian perspectives and the state of Holocaust education, research and remembrance in Canada today.

The conference is being coordinated by Citizenship and Immigration Canada in partnership with B’nai Brith Canada, the Government of France and the Government of the United States of America. It will support the second stage (the liaison stage) of Canada’s application for membership in the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF).

In June 2007, the Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, led a Canadian delegation to present Canada’s formal application for membership in the ITF. Canada is seeking to become a full member later this year.

In support of its application, the Government of Canada has engaged in efforts to teach the lessons of the Holocaust to future generations to help prevent future acts of genocide.

The government continues to preserve and promote human rights, both at home and around the world, including combating anti-Semitism and all forms of racism and discrimination.

Last year, the government announced that Canada would refuse to participate in the racist Durban process because it had serious concerns that the failings of the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa, would be repeated at the 2009 Durban Review Conference. In 2001, the Durban Conference degenerated into open and divisive expressions of intolerance and anti-Semitism. The government was vindicated in its decision to withdraw from the sequel.

In Canada, the Holocaust is used to teach the consequences of racism in its most extreme form and the responsibility of all people to help create societies that are based on respect, equality and understanding.

Through such action, we aim to build a better and more just future for all citizens of the world.

www.stlouis2009conference.ca