Friday, March 11, 2011
Helping Hands
So two days ago, there I was in front of the class doing my presentation on the Holocaust. Sometimes we think that we know a lot, when really we know very little. Something similar happened to me while I was in the process of putting my presentation together. I always had this pride in Canada for being such a diverse and multicultural nation where people of different backgrounds are accepted and given a warm welcome. I'm not saying that this is totally false but at the same time it's not fully true. What's my point? Well, I basically discovered that Canada's immigration system was not so kind and welcoming for the Jewish people trying to settle down in Canada after the Holocaust. If not for the sake of allowing too many Jewish people to migrate to Canada, at least Canada could have been sympathetic enough to lend a hand to those in need as a humanitarian gesture. In simple words, Canada could have let go of its "only-allowing-5000 immigrants" policy. If you really think about it, allowing 5000 Jewish people in Canada is really nothing when you compare it to the deaths that took place...just over 5 million people died during the massacre. I feel that Canada did not do justice to the Jews at the time of the Holocaust. To me as an individual, this is a form of discrimination that Canada held during the time. I feel that Canada was simply being selfish by not allowing others of different ethnicity to enter the country just because the Jewish did not fully categorize as "white," "blonde hair" and "blue eyes." Even though I'm not a Jewish I feel terrible for whatever happened during the Holocaust, and I believe that when we come across tragedies as such, we need to get over this whole notion of the "other" just because they aren't of the same ethnicity. So in terms of this whole immigration issue that took place during the mid-1940s, I feel that Canada was nonetheless discriminative towards the Jews. They were in need of help and had to settle down in a better land where they felt safe but Canada didn't offer much of a helping hand. And so we're basically left with the thought...where was Canada when our fellow Jews were in great atrocity?
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It really is a tragedy within a tragedy wouldn't you day? An individual who is beyond rationality and utterly insane decided to commit an act of atrocity and Canada says it is disgusted but lacks any significant action. If you look at Canada's involvement with monstrocity since, you can tell they are trying to be as active as possible to make up for it. Either way, I'd say one needs to recognize the past so it we can prevent it for the future. A real democracy has the people speaking up, so lets take advantage of that right and recognize.
ReplyDeleteWell although that was truly a dark moment in Canadian history I would like to think we learned from this tragedy.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to know that because of our hate speech laws that were protected through Supreme Court cases like R V. Kegstra we can prosecute people under these laws.
Although that does not make up for Prime Minister King only letting 5000 Jewish people into Canada I'd like we would prevent that from happening again.
The Holocaust is most probably one of the largest and most recognized genocide in world history.
ReplyDeleteIts hard to imagine as to what limits people will go through to discriminate and show their hatred.
Its sad how Canada at the time put a limit to how many Jewish people were allowed to immigrate to the country. Back then ofcourse, Canada did not have the multicultural identity tag...but I guess Canada improved on many things from their past, discrimination being a major one.