Justin Trudeau Keeps Forgetting That Jews Were In The Holocaust
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau speaks at the United Nations. Le Premier ministre canadien Justin Trudeau parle aux Nations Unies. Image by EuropaNewswire/Gado/Getty Images
By Aiden Pink October 3, 2017
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a plaque last week to inaugurate the country’s new National Holocaust Monument. There was just one problem—the plaque did not mention anti-Semitism or the Jewish people.
“The National Holocaust Monument commemorates the millions of men, women, and children murdered during the Holocaust and honours the survivors who persevered and were able to make their way to Canada after one of the darkest chapters in history,” Trudeau’s plaque read. “The monument recognizes the contribution those survivors have made to Canada and serves as a reminder that we must be vigilant in standing guard against hate, intolerance, and discrimination.”
“How could the prime minister permit such a glaring omission of reference to anti-Semitism and the fact that the millions of men, women and children who were murdered were overwhelmingly Jewish?” Conservative opposition member David Sweet asked Minister of Canadian Heritage Melanie Joly in parliament on Tuesday. “If we’re going to stamp out hatred towards Jews, it’s important to get history right.”
Joly, of the Liberal Party, responded that the plaque had been removed and would be “replaced with language that reflects the horrors experienced by the Jewish people.”
This is the second time that Trudeau has gotten in hot water over memorializing the Holocaust. His original statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2016 also did not specifically mention Jews or anti-Semitism, which he fixed in a tweet after facing public criticism.
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
