MARKHAM – City councillors from across York Region joined members of the Jewish community at the Markham Civic Centre in honour of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

As they have in previous years, city councillors from Markham, Aurora, Vaughan, Thornhill and Richmond Hill participated in B’nai Brith Canada’s meaningful and emotionally moving Yom Hashoah ceremony, Unto Every Person There is a Name.

Ernie British, Bill Goldstein, Shelley Goldstein, Marlene Smith, Dr. Aubrey Zidenberg and Markham-Thornhill Councillor Howard Shore lit the yahrzeit candles. Robbi Wilson read the poem Unto Every Person There is a Name and Allan Wilson read the poem The Butterfly. David Grader read the testimony of Pastor Martin Niemoller. Pauline Goldberg made the opening remarks and Rabbi Stephen Wise, spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarei Beth El in Oakville, recited the El Maalei Rachamim and the Mourner’s Kaddish.

As with the ceremonies held in Winnipeg, Montreal and Toronto, numerous people took part in reading aloud the names of some of the six million Jewish victims of the Nazis and their collaborators.

Men and women from the B’nai Brith Seniors’ Program at 15 Hove St., many of whom are Holocaust survivors, played an important role in the Toronto event.

All events were well-attended and B’nai Brith lodges were well-represented.

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