[rad-green] Calgary council proclaims city-wide day of Holocaust remembrance, abandons IHRA definition of antisemitism

*https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/council-proclaims-city-wide-day-of-holocaust-remembrance
<https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/council-proclaims-city-wide-day-of-holocaust-remembrance>*

*CALGARY HERALD        November 18, 2019*

*Council proclaims city-wide day of Holocaust remembrance*

BY MEGHAN POTKINS <https://calgaryherald.com/author/mpotkins>

*Members of Calgary's Jewish community filled Calgary City Council chambers
Monday November 18, 2019 to watch as council unanimously voted to declare
January 27 as the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day in Calgary. GAVIN
YOUNG / POSTMEDIA*


City council unanimously proclaimed Jan. 27 as Calgary’s annual city-wide
International Holocaust Remembrance Day at a city hall meeting Monday where
young Jewish students and a handful of Holocaust survivors were in
attendance.

“I wanted to see this happen. It’s very important for us as survivors — I’m
a child survivor — to see recognition of a day,” said Terry Groner, who was
born in 1936 and attended Monday’s meeting at city hall. “I was not in a
concentration camp but I was hidden during the war as a Jewish child.”

Proponents of the remembrance day say they’re concerned by figures showing
that one in five Canadian youth are unaware of the events that occurred
during the Holocaust, even as statistics continue to indicate that Jewish
people are the frequent target of hate crimes and that hate crimes in
general have increased sharply.

Jewish people are also the most frequently targeted ethno-cultural group
when it comes to police-reported hate crimes across the country, according
to Statistics Canada.

The motion brought forward by Coun. Diane Colley-Urquhart was endorsed by
all of council.

*Calgary City Councillor Diane Colley-Urquhart speaks about her initiative
to declare January 27 as the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day in
Calgary. POSTMEDIA*


“We have Holocaust survivors here in this city and we have generations
growing up who don’t know about it,” said Mayor Naheed Nenshi Monday. “I
think it’s important for council to condemn bigotry in all its forms,
anti-Semitism being one of them. And I think it’s important for us to
commemorate the remembrance of that great loss of life in the Holocaust.”

An earlier version of Colley-Urquhart’s motion included direction to city
staff to explore adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance
Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism.

The IHRA definition, which has been adopted by handful of countries
including Canada, has come under fire in some jurisdictions for being
overly broad and potentially chilling of criticism of the Israeli state.

The final motion passed by council Monday enshrined Calgary’s annual
Holocaust day of remembrance, but did not include direction to the City of
Calgary on the adoption of an official definition of anti-Semitism.

-- 

--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sid-l" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected].
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sid-l/CACKppczq%3DWxATSN_uL3yzafLAaRB93uKs-W8naaFyGkMmmZSUg%40mail.gmail.com.

---
To unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
List help: <https://riseup.net/lists>