In 1939, the MS St. Louis, a ship carrying German Jewish refugees desperately seeking safe haven, was denied entry into Canadian waters. Forced to turn back to Europe, its passengers were condemned to almost certain death in Nazi Europe. The Canadian Government’s recent recognition of this great injustice led to its commitment to fund the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada in a three-year National Task Force (NTF) on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, which will investigate what Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called “this dark chapter in Canadian history”. 

The participation of academics, educators, legal experts and community stakeholders will enhance the work of the Task Force, which aims to raise public awareness, promote discussion and examine the many complex themes that flow from Canada’s restrictive immigration policy during the Second World War.

The Task Force will expand the parameters of existing research and scholarship on the St. Louis era, developing widely-accessible material, both print and multimedia, that will appeal to a range of audiences. These will be made available for use in educational settings to encourage teachers and students to apply the lessons of the St. Louis, and the context in which this injustice took place, to current-day dilemmas.

Please click here to read a message from the Honourable Jason Kenney, PC, MP, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism about the creation of the National Task Force.