Reading your article made it very clear to me that there is absolutely no reason why anyone in the Jewish community should hold back and not speak their mind on this issue. How are we as a community going to feel if in the final result, there is no permanent Holocaust gallery in the CMHR?

At the very beginning of this project, even before it ever became a government funded museum (remember that time Mr. Luciuk?), it was held out to the Jewish  community that there would be a permanent gallery dedicated to the Holocaust in the CMHR. If you and your supporters have your way, that will not be the case. Clearly, there is no point in waiting to speak out, or holding back.   We as a community are going to feel extremely resentful if efforts to eliminate a permanent Holocaust Gallery are successful.  Why should we be silent  on this issue when you are out there making all sorts of noise?

I, for one, don’t think that the decision of whether or not there ought to be a permanent Holocaust gallery in the CMHR ought to be based on a poll, by Nanos or any other company.

The Jewish people have never done very well in polls—we have never been that  ‘popular’ historically (in fact we have been expelled from numerous countries over our long history, prevented from owning land, etc ). If you had taken a poll during the Holocaust and asked Canadians and other countries whether they ought to intervene and bomb the train tracks to Auschwitz  to save the  Jewish people—guess what? We probably wouldn’t have done well in the poll. We probably would have ranked as a very low priority on the world agenda.

If during the time our ancestors in Manitoba wanted to be physicians, but couldn’t be because there were quotas against Jews being in medical school, and one had commissioned a poll - guess what? The majority probably would have said that the quotas should remain. 

And if at the time we had taken a poll about how many Jewish refugees between 1933-1948, Canada ought to have let into the country, how well would we have done in that poll? (As Irving Abella and Harold Troper have shown in thier book  “None is Too Many”  the Canadian government did less than other Western countries to help Jewish refugees between 1933 and 1948. According to official statistics, only 5,000 Jewish refugees entered Canada during this period, the lowest record of any Western country. The book’s title is based on the following anecdote:  In early 1945, an unidentified immigration agent was asked how many Jews would be allowed in Canada after the war. He replied, "None is too many.") 

QUESTIONS FOR THE FUTURE

There are a few questions that arise as a result of your rather ferocious campaign to turn the clock back and reduce or eliminate  the permanent Holocaust gallery that the Jewish community was led to believe would exist in the CMHR.

And  should those in our community who have designated bequests to the  CMHR on the basis that they naively believed that there would be a permanent Holocaust gallery, consider changing their bequest? It seems like that may be a prudent course.

I guess it’s time to raise all these issues now since everything here seems to be an open question and a moving target.

Is it time to begin considering the options of what we as a Jewish community would like to have happen if there is no permanent Holocaust gallery?

 Should we begin fundraising for the building of a gallery that will be at least as large as the 13,000 square foot  Holocaust gallery we were originally told  would be included in the  CMHR.  After all, if the size of the permanent Holocaust gallery becomes no larger than a quarter to an eighth of that, maybe we’d be better to buy land near the Forks and  put up our own museum, with a big sign that says “ THIS IS THE PERMANENT HOLOCAUST GALLERY” THAT WE NAIVELY BELIEVED WOULD BE PART OF THE CMHR.” At least that way we wouldn’t be subject to the whims of this or that poll, or the upcoming election.

Or maybe it’s time to begin penning a book where every member of our community can at least use their freedom of expression to say how they will feel if it turns out there is no  permanent Holocaust gallery? 

Should we as a Jewish community keep in mind  that in the not too distant future there will be no more survivors alive, to educate first hand about the Holocaust—which will make exhibits in museums all the more important educational tools? 

Should our Jewish community institutions both locally and in other parts of Canada be speaking out? In my view the answer is yes.

Should we be reaching out to non-Jewish Canadians who support the existence of a permanent Holocaust gallery and asking them to raise their voices also? It’s now or never. I say it’s now.

RE: A SPECIAL PERMANENT GALLERY FOR THE HOLODOMOR

In your article Mr. Luciuk, entitled “Museum Editorial Misleading Uninformed,” you say  that the statement in the  Winnipeg Free Press editorial was not accurate when it said “The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association has been demanding that if the Holocaust gets favoured treatment in the museum then it wants a special gallery for the Holodomor.”

You wrote “We have never made any such request.”

Yet, isn’t it interesting that  a subtitle on a  March 25, 2011 posting on the website of the  Ukrainian Canadian  Congress  reads “ Unstoppable Momentum as Ten More Liberal MPs Sign to Support the Establishment of a Permanent and Prominent Holodomor Gallery in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights” [emphasis added].  The title of the posting is “ ANOTHER 10 MP's SUPPORT UKRAINIAN COMMUNITY ON HUMAN RIGHTS MUSEUM.”

To my ears, a permanent prominent Holodomor gallery sounds awfully like a special gallery for the Holodomor , doesn’t it?  

Is it the case that these Liberal MP’s are calling for a permanent prominent Holodomor gallery on their own initiative without anyone requesting  or lobbying them to take that position? [Note that the title of the posting itself says that the MP’s are supporting the position of  the Ukrainian community.]

 In fact the posting referred to begins with the following sentence:

Ottawa, Canada-March 25, 2011-Today, an additional ten Liberal MPs added their names to “The Statement of Liberal Members of Parliament on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights” calling for the establishment of a permanent zone (gallery) on the Holodomor (Ukrainian Famine-Genocide) in Canada’s national human rights museum. [emphasis added]. http://www.ucc.ca/2011/03/27/another-10-mps-support-ukrainian-community-on-human-rights-museum/. [The complete posting is reproduced at the bottom of this letter.]

The above statement by Liberal MP’s isn’t calling for a permanent zone gallery on the Holodomor and other mass atrocities. It is calling for a permanent gallery on the Holodomor, and since it doesn’t mention anything else presumably that zone would be specified for the Holodomor only, wouldn’t it?

Readers can all  click here to view the Feb. 23, 2011 Statement of Liberal MP’s on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights “where again the Liberal MP’s are calling for a permanent permanent gallery for the Holodomor” [emphasis added],

Also, after you wrote in your  article Mr. Luciuk that you have never requested a special gallery for the Holodomor, you then wrote that you have called for   “all 12 of the 12 museum galleries to be inclusive, comparative and thematic.” I note that none of the wording in this sentence can be found in either of the Liberal MP statements I referred to.

Moreover, Winnipeg Conservative MP Joy Smith made a  February 23rd, 2011 statement noting that currently “the Holodomor genocide is slated to have a permanent display in the Mass Atrocity gallery.” But she said "I believe the Holodomor genocide should be given a prominent presentation that is independent of the Mass Atrocity gallery”  [ emphasis added ].

That to me sounds like she is advocating a special gallery for the Holodomor. Did Joy Smith happen to get that idea all on her own ? I wonder if anyone lobbied her to take that position.

*The following is the posting of March 27, 2011 that I read on the  website of the  Ukrainian Canadian Congress:

Ottawa, Canada-March 25, 2011-Today, an additional ten Liberal MPs added their names to “The Statement of Liberal Members of Parliament on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights” calling for the establishment of a permanent zone (gallery) on the Holodomor (Ukrainian Famine-Genocide) in Canada’s national human rights museum.

This brings the total number of Liberal Members of Parliament that have publicly called for a permanent zone (exhibit) on the Holodomor in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to 40 – a majority of the Liberal Caucus.

Previous signatories:

Scott Andrews, M.P. (Avalon), John Cannis, M.P. (Scarborough Centre), Bonnie Crombie, M.P. (Mississauga-Streetsville), Hon. Ujjal Dosanjh, P.C., M.P. (Vancouver South), Hon. Wayne Easter, P.C., M.P. (Malpeque), Marc Garneau, M.P. (Westmount-Ville-Marie),Andrew Kania, M.P. (Brampton West), Gerard Kennedy, M.P. (Parkdale-High Park),  Hon. Lawrence MacAulay, P.C., M.P. (Cardigan), Alexandra Mendes, M.P. (Brossard-La Prairie),Brian Murphy, M.P. (Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe), Joyce Murray, M.P. (Vancouver Quadra), Bernard Patry, M.P. (Pierrefonds-Dollard), Marcel Proulx, M.P. (Hull-Aylmer),Hon. Navdeep Bains, P.C., M.P. (Mississauga-Brampton South), Hon. Denis Coderre, P.C., M.P. (Bourassa), Sukh Dhaliwal, M.P. (Newton-North Delta), Kirsty Duncan, M.P.(Etobicoke North), Hon. Hedy Fry, P.C., M.P. (Vancouver Centre), Mark Holland, M.P.(Ajax-Pickering), Hon. Jim Karygiannis, P.C., M.P. (Scarborough-Agincourt), Kevin Lamoureux, M.P. (Winnipeg North), Hon. Keith Martin, P.C., M.P. (Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca), Hon. Maria Minna, P.C., M.P. (Beaches-East York), Hon. Shawn Murphy, P.C., M.P. (Charlottetown), Massimo Pacetti, M.P. (Saint-Léonard-Saint-Michel), Glen Pearson, M.P. (London North Centre), Hon. Bob Rae, P.C., M.P. (Toronto Centre), Yasmin Ratansi, M.P. (Don Valley East), Todd Russell, M.P. (Labrador), Mario Silva, M.P. (Davenport),Pablo Rodriguez, M.P. (Honoré-Mercier), Hon. Judy Sgro, P.C., M.P. (York West), Scott Simms, M.P.(Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor).

Click here to view Feb. 23, 2011: Statement of Liberal MP’s on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights http://www.ucc.ca/2011/02/24/statement-from-liberal-mps-on-the-canadian-museum-for-human-rights/