Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

FELDSTED: Looking back at 1939, knowing about the horrors of WW II and the holocaust, is far different from trying to look forward to the six years between 1939 to 1945


Trudeau apologizes for Canada's 1939 refusal of Jewish refugee ship
Steve Scherer  ~~  Reuters News  ~~  November 7, 2018

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized on Wednesday for the country’s 1939 refusal to take in a ship carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees, adding that the country would do more to protect Canadian Jews from violence.

The St. Louis left Hamburg in May 1939 in a desperate search for a safe haven from persecution by Nazi Germany. After it was rebuffed by Canada and other nations, it returned to Europe, where historians have estimated that more than 250 of the passengers were murdered in Nazi death camps.

CLICK HERE to read the full story


Our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, seems unwilling to understand that he can only apologize for his own actions and behaviour.

There is something ironic and hypocritical about apologizing for a Liberal Prime Minister who made a poor decision 80 years ago.

William Lyon Mackenzie King has been repeatedly, and thoroughly, disparaged for his decision not to allow the MS St. Louis to land; history has not been kind on the issue, and rightly so. However, to keep the event in perspective, Canada was not the only nation to refuse acceptance of the St. Louis and her Jewish passengers.


As we age, we reminisce and think to ourselves how life would differ if what we know now, we could have known when we were 20 years of age. Looking back at 1939, knowing about the horrors of World War 2 and the holocaust, is far different from trying to look forward to the six years between 1939 to 1945.

We can acknowledge unacceptable discrimination of the past and commit to erasing discrimination in the present.  We can also be ashamed of a government decision made in 1939, but we cannot apologize for it.

Our grandchildren will judge us on the decisions our government is making today, because actions speak louder than words.

Vowing to protect Jewish and Muslim places of worship is an admission that hatred is still stalks our society. We have not erased racial and religious hatreds. Christians also face faith-based discrimination and that is a glaring omission from the apology statement.

As equals we have the right to worship in peace and safety. We cannot accept anyone to be targeted by hatred.  


John Feldsted
Political Consultant & Strategist
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

GORDON F. D. WILSON: When The Trick Masquerades as The Treat

Thirty-seven years ago, Halloween 1987, I became the leader of the BC Liberal Party.   British Columbia was badly polarized. Social Credit held one side and the NDP the other. It had been twelve years, 1975, since Liberal MLAs Garde Gardom, Pat McGeer, and Alan Williams had walked away from their party to join Social Credit, one year after the lone Progressive Conservative MLA Hugh Curtis had abandoned his party to sit with Bill Bennett, the son and heir apparent to long-serving BC Premier, WAC Bennett.   An unwritten agreement by the biggest Canadian political shareholders, the federal Liberals and Conservatives, decided that if British Columbia was to remain a lucrative franchise from a revenue perspective, they couldn’t risk splitting the electoral vote and electing the real enemy, the NDP, so no resources would be used to finance either a Liberal or Conservative party provincially.   “There are two sides to every street,” I was told by a very prominent Canadian businessman who cont

FORSETH: You Have To Be A Bit Crazy

  Ward and his wife Carleen celebrating his win on election night.   In March of this year, I took on the role of Campaign Manager for BC Conservative candidate Ward Stamer.  It’s the third time I’ve had the opportunity as I took on the role for Peter Sharp in 2013, and for Dennis Giesbrecht in 2020. Now let me tell you, in the past, a BC Conservative campaign team generally consisted of myself, the candidate and one or two helpers – and very little in the way of a campaign budget. Thankfully, a benefit of having spent 30+ years in the broadcast media afforded me the ability to do ad copy and write candidate speeches, and prep both Dennis and Peter to deal with the media – it’s also something I have always enjoyed. That was part of my duties this time around as well, however having a team of a dozen and a half volunteers meant that for the first time we had people available to ID our supporters, put together and install campaign signs, distribute campaign literature, and help out at ou

FORSETH: As a BC Conservative member, and campaign worker, I will again state that the fact these errors were found -- AND brought to light BY Elections BC -- shows the system IS working

Sadly, two and a half weeks after the BC provincial election campaign, those who want to undermine our political process are still at.  PLUS, we also have one who doesn’t even live in our country, never mind our province. I speak of the buffoon running for President of the United States, who has poisoned the well when it comes to faith in the electoral process. Just today alone, comments such as the following, were being made of posts that I shared online: ... all the votes they keep finding has just favoured NDP on in all critical ridings and soon they will flip another riding in favour of NDP, Come on. ... Elections BC has ridiculed British Columbians, and I no longer have confidence or trust in their process and competence regarding the results Then there are others online, with comments like these – who are claiming fraud in the October 19th election: ... Who is the oversight for Elections BC? They should be investigated for election fraud! ... Fraudulent election ... should be red

Labels

Show more