A Liberal Member of Parliament urged Canadians to “learn from our history” less than two months before Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will formally apologize for Canada’s role in refusing to allow the St. Louis to dock in Canada in 1939 because it was transporting 900 Jewish refugees.
“On Nov 7th, the PM will apologize for turning away the St. Louis,” tweeted MP Omar Alghabra. “As we continue to promote human rights globally, we must reconcile with our mistakes at home. We turned away asylum seekers without giving them due process and dignity. We must learn from our history.”
On Nov 7th, the PM will apologize for turning away the St. Louis. As we continue to promote human rights globally, we must reconcile with our mistakes at home. We turned away asylum seekers without giving them due process and dignity. We must learn from our history https://t.co/x2OEP2IKPD
— Omar Alghabra (@OmarAlghabra) September 8, 2018
Conservative Sen. Linda Frum, who is Jewish, warned Trudeau to be careful about comparing Jewish victims of Hitler to “the contemporary crisis of illegal economic migrants.”
I’ve made this warning before: if Trudeau’s apology for Canada’s rejection of the “voyage of the damned” compares Jews fleeing the Nazis to the contemporary crisis of illegal economic migrants, he will require an apology for his apology. Think carefully. https://t.co/PEyFrhTZlm
— Senator Linda Frum (@LindaFrum) September 8, 2018
Columnist Norman Spector, who was also a chief of staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, also told Alghabra in a tweet not to “conflate the Nazi Holocaust” with the border crisis.
Everyone in Canada is guaranteed Charter rights, subject to its s 1 and its s 33. But don’t conflate the Nazi Holocaust, which was about burning live babies in ovens, with the situation on our border with the United States https://t.co/J3LGbkKPNR
— Norman Spector (@nspector4) September 8, 2018