Remarks by
The Honourable Anita Neville, P.C., O.M.
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY
Legislative Building
Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 12:00 pm
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Fellow Manitobans, I join you here today on a day of remembrance and defiance.
I would like to acknowledge that we are gathered in the heart of Treaty 1 land, in the capital of a province that is the ancestral and present-day home of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Red River Metis, Dakota, Dene and Inuit peoples.
We acknowledge northern Manitoba includes lands that were, and are, the ancestral lands of the Inuit.
Together, the people of this diverse and beautiful province are working to move forward in partnership to build a society of understanding, opportunity and healing.
Today, we have come to keep the light of memory bright and to let it light our way forward.
On Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Memorial Day – we rededicate ourselves to preserving knowledge of an attempt to erase memory itself. We commit ourselves to returning and acknowledging names and faces to six million Jews who had, in the minds of their murderers, been reduced to numbers. As we heard earlier, “unto every person there is a name”.
On this day – and on every day – we repeat the often-cited words “never again.” In doing so, we also acknowledge the present day atrocities around us as we strive for a world where all people can live in peace.
As the Holocaust passes, with each year, beyond first-hand knowledge and experience, we reaffirm our commitment to keep its lessons alive.
As Canadians and as residents of a province that is home to the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, we look to the Canadian contribution to drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. In that document, a world slowly rebuilding from the horrors of genocide and war created a framework for a better future.
As Canadians, we also must remind ourselves that in our own country the policy in the 1930s for admitting Jewish refugees from the horror of Nazism was the shameful “none is too many.”
At a time when online extremism has emboldened anti-semites and racists of all description, we need to remember and to act on those lessons.
Whether we are standing firm as a nation against genocidal campaigns abroad or speaking up to counter the new language used – sometimes in our own cities and towns – for the vilest ancient lies, we work to build a united front against an evil that is both historic and contemporary.
To the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, who organized this ceremony, and to all who help to build that alliance of compassion and courage… thank you… and thank you all for being part of this day, and allowing me to be part of this day.
Merci… Meegwich.