Tonight at sunset, alongside Jewish communities in Canada and around the world, we commemorate the more than six million Jews who were persecuted and murdered during the Holocaust. We also honour the memory of the other countless innocent victims of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.
Yom HaShoah, also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day, is observed each year according to the Jewish lunar calendar. On this day, we join Jewish communities across Canada in commemorating the victims and honouring the survivors of one of humanity's darkest chapters, and commit ourselves to preserving their experiences and memories. Today, we also honour and recognize the more than 40,000 Holocaust survivors who came to Canada for their enduring resilience, as well as their many descendants, for their contributions towards building a strong, diverse, equitable, and consciously more inclusive society.
While we continue to stand against all forms of hate and intolerance, we know that Canada is not immune to violence, xenophobia, and antisemitism. The courage, determination, and resilience that members of Jewish communities have shown throughout history continue to empower us to fight against hatred, intolerance, and racism in all of their forms. Our government is committed to combat all forms of antisemitism through important measures, including by adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism in Canada's Anti-Racism Strategy 2019-2022 to help combat antisemitic attitudes and behaviours, including Holocaust denial and distortion.
As Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth, I invite everyone from coast to coast to coast to reflect on the lessons of the Shoah so that they may be remembered by future generations. On this solemn day of Yom HaShoah, let us reaffirm our collective duty to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.
