HILL: No haters needed in the queue for immigration to Canada

I sincerely hope the opinion I’m about to express is largely supported by the silent majority of Canadians. It is with great effort that I endeavour to write this without resorting to any expletives. What has happened to our beloved Canada, when so many of our citizens attend protests that promote the hatred of other citizens? Where they enthusiastically cheer speakers at these events who celebrate the premeditated slaughter of others? Where they applaud those vile individuals who advocate for the global eradication of others based upon the religion they were born into, specifically Jews. Where they join in the chant, “From the (Jordan) River to the (Mediterranean) Sea , Palestine will be Free,” and pretend to not know that Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS and their like view this slogan as support for the complete extermination of all Jews? Where even the most moderate look the other way and remain silent, while some describe the horrendous atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7 as justified? I for one am appalled that such blatant antisemitism is allowed to be openly expressed here in Canada. That our Jewish citizens increasingly live in fear because of it. And, that our prime minister continues to do nothing but compare antisemitism with Islamophobia. Yes, both are despicable,and I strongly condemn both equally, but I have not (thankfully) seen widespread protests in our peaceful nation against law-abiding Muslims.Like many of my fellow Canadian citizens I have reflected long and hard about this deplorable situation over these last few weeks. I conclude that two things are long overdue to change.First, as the years accumulate between the end of the Second World War and present day, there remain only a handful alive with firsthand experience and the memory of the conflict and the horrific death toll it extracted. Winston Churchill is credited with saying “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Just as we pledge “We Will Remember Them” on November 11, “Never Again” should remain front-of-mind whenever the Holocaust is mentioned.We have failed our youth and indeed substantial numbers of adults of all ages, by not teaching them about why Canadians fought and why 45,000 gave their lives, to rid the world of the evil of the Nazis and Imperial Japan. I have believed my whole life if there has ever been a “Just War,” surely the Second World War was it. We must educate our citizens that studying the reasons why the Allies fought this war is not glorifying war, but on the contrary it is to recognize and prevent a repeat. Are Canadians and so many others, willingly turning a blind eye to what was the meticulously planned extermination of millions of innocent men, women and children? I wonder how few Canadians have ever taken the time to read, research, watch a documentary or even a movie such as “Schindler’s List?" How few have ever visited a Holocaust Museum or Memorial. Or an actual concentration camp site such as I had the privilege to visit this past summer. I would challenge anyone to tour Dachau, north of Munich, the Westerbork transit camp in the Netherlands or Yad Vashem in Jerusalem as I have and not be moved to tears. Or, closer to home the Holocaust Museum in Montreal, or the one recently opened in Toronto, the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg or the Holocaust Education Centre in Vancouver. There is no excuse for ignorance about the genocide of the Jewish people, and others.I wholeheartedly applaud all premiers and provinces who are belatedly adopting the Holocaust as a part of school curricula and hope they will also include a thorough and unbiased study of the Just War and respect for all those who sacrificed for it’s victory. The second issue is the absolute debacle our immigration system has become that allowed far too many immigrants and refugees to enter Canada with inadequate screening. I reserve my greatest concern and empathy for those immigrants and refugees who have come to Canada seeking a new beginning, while embracing our core values even as they desperately try to leave their past in the past and in their country of origin. Our open-door policy and internationally known compassion have allowed easy access to those that bring their indoctrinated prejudices and hatred. It is an indictment of past and present government policy and proves yet again we have learned nothing from the problems so evident in Germany, France, the UK and other countries.The current Liberal Government policy summed up by Trudeau’s slogan, “diversification is our strength” may be so, but only if it’s done with meticulous evaluation to prevent entry to those who want to bring their entrenched hatred, bigotry and intolerance to Canada. When the Conservative Party of Canada ultimately forms government, I sincerely hope that educated and informed members of Prime Minister Poilievre's cabinet, such as my friend Shuv Majumdar, will undertake a complete overhaul of Canada's immigration policy. Or I sadly fear “Never Again” will become just a forgotten mantra.

HILL: No haters needed in the queue for immigration to Canada

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