Canada is one year away from full membership in an international group dedicated to commemorating the Holocaust.

Canada was granted “liaison” status recently by the Task Force for International Co-operation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, said Jason Kenney, secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity. Canada had enjoyed “observer” status and Kenney expects that within a year, Canada will be granted full membership. The task force consists of 25 member countries, including France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Austria and Germany. The United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe are permanent observers.

“We’re delighted to be at that table,” Kenney said in a telephone interview, adding membership underscores the government’s belief that it ought to take steps against Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism.

Members are required to implement “national policies and programs in support of Holocaust education, remembrance, and research,” states the task force website. In addition, “the task force also encourages appropriate forms of Holocaust remembrance.”

Kenney said Canada already has an educational program on tap – “the commemoration of the St. Louis incident.”

Announced only a few weeks ago, the commemoration is slated for Halifax’s Pier 21 where the passenger liner carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees docked in the summer of 1939, shortly before World War II broke out. The Canadian government refused to permit the ship’s Jewish passengers to disembark, as did the United States and Cuba, it’s original destination. The ship sailed back to Europe, where an estimated one-third of the passengers were killed in the Holocaust.

Kenney said the federal government would also work with the provinces, which possess jurisdiction over education, to develop curricula that address Holocaust education.