HALIFAX — “If Canada had taken a stand [in 1939] and opened its doors to people on the MS St. Louis, probably 620 of them would have passed through these halls [at Pier 21 in Halifax] seeking Canada’s promise of peace and prosperity.”
Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism and architect Daniel Libeskind unveil the Wheel Of Conscience. [Joel Jacobson photo]
With those words, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney bemoaned the actions of Canada’s government in the 1930s.
“My predecessors led to the tragedy of the St. Louis,” he continued at a Jan. 20 ceremony at Canada’s Immigration Museum at Pier 21. The St. Louis sailed from Germany in 1939 with 937 Jewish passengers seeking a life free of persecution. The ship was refused admittance to Cuba, the United States and Canada, and sent back to Europe, where two-thirds of the passengers eventually perished in concentration camps.
“‘None is too many’ became the policy of the Canadian government because of indifference and political subterfuge,” said Kenney. “Today I say Canada will never close its doors to legitimate refugees who need our help.”
A monument, called Wheel of Conscience, was unveiled by the minister and designer Daniel Libeskind, a world-renowned architect and the son of Holocaust survivors. The large round metal sculpture has moving intermeshed cogs denoting hate, xenophobia, racism and antisemitism on one side and the names of those who sailed on the St. Louis engraved on the other.
“Today we remember those who were consumed by the Holocaust and those who survived it,” Kenney said. “Today, we are learning our own history of antisemitism and teaching people to contemplate this memorial, teaching that hate can lead to xenophobia which leads to racism and can lead to antisemitism.”
The unveiling was witnessed by more than 200 people, including members of Parliament, members of the provincial legislature and city officials. Canadian Jewish Congress president Mark Freiman and CJC executive director Bernie Farber also addressed the audience.
Freiman said he came to Canada through Pier 21 at age four, 59 years ago. “My parents told me it was a place of safety, possibility and a home.”
He praised Kenney’s vision in 2009 to take the initiative “to eliminate the stain of [the St. Louis incident] and learn from it. This project is emblematic of the partnership between government and the Congress.”
Through the Community Historical Recognition Program, the government allotted $475,000 to CJC to memorialize the events. Part of the funds will go to a St. Louis education program that will go to every high school across Canada, Farber said.
In an interview, Farber said that the monument and education program are “a fulfillment of a long-standing dream. It’s not necessarily to memorialize the victims of the St. Louis and the Holocaust but to act for future generations. It’s not really enough to create a monument but to engage the public in a productive, democratic way of responding to genocides and crimes today.”
Ruth Goldbloom of Halifax, who was vitally responsible for the development of Pier 21 from a shabby waterfront shed in the late 1990s to its museum status today, and is now on the board of trustees, said, “This has such historic value. I feel as excited today as I did July 1, 1999, when 10,000 people saw us cut the ribbon to re-open Pier 21. The St. Louis happened in a dark and tragic time in our government’s outlook. Today symbolizes how every ethnic group entering our country has suffered, and I hope young people will see how tragic it was to turn away people because of their ethnic background.”
The manager of development and partnerships of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, John Hennigar-Shuh, developed a St. Louis exhibition two years ago in conjunction with the Atlantic Jewish Council.
“The display includes a scale model of the ship and many pictures and artifacts,” he said. “We want to develop a travelling exhibit and are trying to arrange use of the film about the St. Louis tragedy produced by CJC.”
MC Irving Abella of Toronto, a noted author and history professor, said after the event that it “was unique. It reminds us of a time when Jews in Canada were at the bottom of society and were not always comfortable. Today, things seem to be going well in Canada with multiculturalism and openness. It used to be a very different Canada.”
