An interfaith gathering featuring songs and prayers was held at Ottawa’s National Holocaust Monument on June 15, in a show of support and solidarity after the memorial was defaced with graffiti earlier in the week.
“The desecration of the National Holocaust Monument was not just vandalism — it was an attack on the memory of six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and on the values of decency and humanity we hold as Canadians,” said Adam Silver, CEO and president of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.
“We must not stay silent. This vigil is about standing together to say clearly: hate has no place here.”
Over 200 people attended the event to pray for peace and to denounce the act of vandalism committed against the monument. The words “Feed Me” were scrawled in red paint against the monument’s exterior overnight between June 8 and 9. The graffiti was denounced by politicians as antisemitic, and the Ottawa police department’s hate crimes unit is investigating.
Lawrence Greenspon, co-chair of the National Holocaust Monument Committee, stated that the event was organized prior to Israel’s pre-emptive attack on Iran. He then acknowledged the monument’s desecration.
“The hate messaging was not only a violation of memory, but a reminder that in today’s world, antisemitism often wears the mask of anti-Zionism,” Greenspon said in his address.
“It is an abomination that the Holocaust, the systematic murder of six million Jews, is now being weaponized against the Jewish people by those who hate.”
Following his opening address, Greenspon asked for a moment of silence, before inviting Elder Verna McGregor from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation to speak.
“Why we’re here today…is to heal your sacred place,” Elder McGregor said. “We need to look after [each other], and that includes also striving for peace and peaceful coexistence.”
Other faith leaders, including Yvan Mathieu, Auxiliary Bishop for Ottawa-Cornwall, also offered prayers for peace at the event.
Agnes Klein, a Holocaust survivor, told the crowd that the vandalism brought back memories of the Nazi era.
“The paint may have been cleaned, but its memory will stay with us as a reminder of a certain malevolence against the Jewish people that has reemerged and that perhaps…was never really eradicated,” Klein said.
“In many ways, what is happening now does remind those who were old enough to remember of the type of incidents and words spoken following the rise of the Nazi regimes in Europe…. But we are resilient, and we shall prevail.”
Annette Wildgoose, president of the NHMC, described the vigil as a “potent reminder” that discrimination affects more than the communities directly targeted.
“They threaten the social fabric of our society,” Wildgoose said.
Joel Diener, co-chair of the NHMC as well as the son of a Holocaust survivor, echoed this sentiment as he described the importance of the interfaith vigil to The CJN.
“I’ve always felt this monument was a vehicle for bringing other groups together, not just Jews,” Diener said. “We need community these days. We need friends.”
