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Dear John, 

This week, we joined Jews around the globe in showing the world the extraordinary strength of the Jewish community. 

Read on to learn more. 

The CIJA Team  

On January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, this year marking the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, Canadians stood united with the World Jewish Congress' global #WeRemember movement to honour the six million Jewish children, women, and men murdered in the Holocaust. 

In Ottawa, hundreds of Canadians gathered in commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the National Holocaust Monument. Guests heard remarks from CIJA President and CEO Shimon Koffler Fogel, Holocaust Survivors, Jewish community leaders, and diplomatic and political representatives, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Leader of the Official Opposition Pierre Poilievre, which were followed by the laying of a commemorative wreath.

On January 26 and 27, 59 monuments, buildings, and well-known landmarks across Canada, including Ottawa’s National Holocaust Monument and Peace Tower, Niagara Falls, the Toronto sign and CN Tower, Montreal’s Olympic Stadium Tower and Champlain Bridge, and Vancouver’s Canada Place, were illuminated in yellow, evoking candlelight, in honour of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

'People aren’t born hating each other. It’s something we learn and it’s something we can unlearn.‘

CIJA Vice-President Eta Yudin spoke with CTV News about the significance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the critical role that education plays in the fight against rising antisemitism and all forms of hate.

Pinchas Gutter, Holocaust Survivor of six Nazi concentration camps, and co-president of the Canadian Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants, on the importance of educating youth about antisemitism and hate, as a way to honour the memory of those, including his family, who did not survive.

“CIJA is pleased that neo-Nazi Gabriel Sohier-Chaput has been found guilty of promoting hate. The verdict is a strong statement that hate, and antisemitism are not acceptable and perpetrators will be held accountable."

Gabriel Sohier-Chaput was found guilty of “wilful promotion of hatred” by the Court of Quebec. The court also upheld longstanding precedent that recognizes the Holocaust as historical fact under Canadian Jurisprudence, reaffirming that, as the most documented genocide in the world, its facts are well known and there is no room for denying or distorting them – whether in the public, online, in the media, or in court.

CIJA in the News 

Community Calendar

February 5-6 | Tu BiShvat
March 2 | The Abraham Accords: A Turning Point in the Legal World
October 16-17 | Democracy in Action 

Careers

CIJA is Hiring:

• Associate Director, Policy and Communications (Pacific Region)
• Program Coordinator - CIJA/Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver
• Office Services Coordinator, Toronto
• Associate Director Communications and Media Relations (Quebec)
• Associate Director, Partnerships and Community Engagement (Quebec)

Chief Executive Officer, Jewish Federation of Winnipeg
Designer/Creative Coordinator: Jewish Federation of Winnipeg
Hillel Director, Jewish Federation of Edmonton