B’nai Brith issued a statement welcoming the official handover ceremony today in Berlin, whereby Canada has assumed the chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

“We applaud the Government for its decision not just to seek full membership in the Alliance, but also for its willingness to assume a leadership role in this 31-state international body,” said Frank Dimant, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada. “Under the stewardship of Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, we saw a renewed interest in government support for Holocaust education, remembrance and research here in Canada. This allowed us, through our own National Holocaust Task Force, to create and develop a range of new resources that can be shared with our international partners.

"We were pleased to be able to partner with the government in an international conference on the doomed MS St. Louis, a new Student Resource on the history of Canadian immigration that reached 10,000 students across the country, academic research on Canadian attitudes to Jewish refugees in the World War II era, and an educational DVD to highlight these issues to a wider digital audience.

“We congratulate Dr. Mario Silva who holds the chairmanship of the Alliance for Canada and whose own experience and expertise will bring enhanced stature to the position and to the Alliance in general. We look forward to continuing to work with him as the year unfolds.”

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