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Dear John, 

This week, we joined Jewish community members and allies at the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa to mourn the six million Jews murdered by Nazis, we celebrated the rich contributions of Jewish Ontarians to our society at CIJA's Jewish Heritage Month reception in at Queen’s Park in Toronto, and we applauded Vaughan City Council for putting words into action in support of the GTA community.  

Read on to learn more. 

CIJA

On May 7, Ottawa’s Jewish community, leaders from other faith communities, and elected officials met at the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa for a community-wide Yom HaShoah commemoration to remember the victims of the Holocaust, honour the Survivors, and reaffirm the commitment to preserve the memories and lessons of the Shoah. 

This year’s Yom HaShoah ceremony focused on the 80th anniversary of the deportation of 440,000 Jews from Hungary from May 15 to July 9, 1944. This official commemoration invited not only the Jewish community but all Canadians to take a moment to reflect on the past. More than 100 students joined the more than 300 Holocaust Survivors, Jewish community members, diplomatic representatives, and elected officials.  

Statements included:

 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who reaffirmed his commitment to Zionism, saying:

"In a country like Canada, it should be and it must be, safe to declare oneself a Zionist - Jewish or not. Zionism is not a dirty word or something anyone should be targeted for agreeing with. It is the belief, at its simplest, that Jewish people, like all peoples, have a right to determine their own future."

And the Leader of the Opposition Pierre Poilievre who reaffirmed his steadfast commitment to the Jewish community, and called for the listing of the IRGC as a terror entity in Canada, saying:  

“It is appalling that four years after the antisemitic and genocidal terrorist group, the IRGC, killed 55 Canadians in the PS752 attack, and seven months after that same terrorist group helped coordinate Hamas' attack on Israel, the IRGC still operates legally in Canada with 700 agents on the ground.” 

We are thankful to elected officials across the country for their meaningful remarks on Yom HaShoah, including Marco Mendicino, Selina Robinson, and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew who announced a commitment, starting this year, to make Holocaust education mandatory in Manitoba as part of the province's K-12 curriculum. 

On May 7, more than 100 people came together at Queen’s Park to celebrate the rich contributions of Jewish Ontarians to our society at CIJA's Jewish Heritage Month reception. Remarks were delivered from elected officials from each major party, including Michael Kerzner, Stephen Lecce, Laura Smith, Sandy Shaw and John Fraser, who expressed strong support for our community.   

We are grateful to our devoted community members, without whom we could not accomplish our work, and for the allyship of elected officials for the work they are doing to support the Jewish community in their ridings and across the province of Ontario. View the photo album.

This week, Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca announced the ratification of his Member’s Resolution to create a bylaw to protect communities from hateful demonstrations that incite intolerance and violence, including at places of worship, schools, childcare facilities, health centres and other critical infrastructure. We join the GTA community in applauding Mayor Del Duca and Vaughan City Council for following words with action. We continue to call on the province to follow suit and safeguard vulnerable communities across Ontario. 

Community Calendar

Communities are gathering in cities across Canada in support of the people and land of Israel. Find an event near you.

May | Jewish Heritage Month
May 12-13 | Yom Hazikaron 
May 13-14 | Yom Ha'Atzmaut
May 20 | Victoria Day
Jun 12-13 | Shavuot

CIJA in the News 

Proposal to teach Palestinian history in schools faces backlash (CBC News British Columbia) 

Pro-Palestinian encampment planned for U of Manitoba campus (CBC News Manitoba) 

Pro-Palestinian encampment coming to the University of Manitoba next week (CTV News Winnipeg) 

Vancouver police made an arrest based on a viral video of a woman praising terrorists—a few days before she was spotted at the encampment at UBC (The Canadian Jewish News) 

Justin Trudeau se dit sioniste et en faveur d’un État palestinien (Le Devoir) 

Encampment in support of Palestinians sets up on the University of Manitoba campus (CTV News Winnipeg) 

Biden condemns antisemitism as campus protests continue (The Globe and Mail) 

Humanitarian aid shipments at risk as talks between Israel, Hamas collapse (The Globe and Mail) 

Students are calling for U of T to divest from Israel. Here’s a closer look at what that would mean (Toronto Star + Metroland Media Syndication) 

Jewish students testify that they feel unsafe on Canadian university campuses, with some hiring private security (The Globe and Mail) 

Community Careers

National senior professional, External Affairs - CIJA
Associate Director, University Relations - Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, CIJA
Associate Director Advocacy, Public and Independent Schools - Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, CIJA
Hillel Director - Jewish Federation of Edmonton
Chief Executive Officer - Calgary Jewish Federation