Minister St-Onge announces the creation of an advisory panel to review and renew the interpretive exhibit at Canada's National Holocaust Monument

The Government of Canada announces the members of the Advisory Panel to review the exhibit at the National Holocaust Monument

GATINEAU, QC, Nov. 8, 2024 /CNW/ - The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage, announced today the creation of an advisory panel to guide the review and renewal of the interpretive exhibit and descriptive texts at the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa. These efforts are aimed at increasing Canadians' awareness of the Holocaust and the need to combat hate in all its forms.

The advisory panel is made up of Holocaust educators and representatives of key stakeholder groups. The members of the Advisory Panel are:

• Dr. Kori Street, Chair of the Advisory Panel, Executive Director of the USC Rossier Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE), Former Deputy Executive Director, USC Shoah Foundation
• Dr. Adam Silver, President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa
• Alice Herscovitch, Consultant and former Executive Director of the Montréal Holocaust Museum
• Deborah Lyons, Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism
• Dr. Adara Goldberg, Executive Director, Holocaust Resource Center, Diversity Council on Global Education and Citizenship & Human Rights Institute of Kean University (New Jersey)
• Dr. Alti Rodal, Founder and Co-Director of the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter
• Jody Spiegel, Director of the Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program at the Azrieli Foundation
• Joel Diener, Co-Chair of the National Holocaust Monument Committee and retired Ottawa business owner
• Mina Cohn, Founding member and current Chair of the Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship (CHES)
• Nate Leipciger, Holocaust Survivor, educator, author and lecturer
• Pinchas Gutter, Holocaust Survivor, educator, author and lecturer
• Rabbi Idan Scher, Member of the National Holocaust Monument Committee and rabbi of Congregation Machzikei Hadas in Ottawa
• Rachel Luke, Educator with the Peel District School Board in Mississauga, Ontario. Recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence in 2020
• The Honourable Jacques Saada, President of the Board of Directors of the Montréal Holocaust Museum. Former federal minister and Member of Parliament for the Quebec riding of Brossard-La Prairie

The advisory panel will report to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

This initiative is part of the Government of Canada's ongoing efforts to educate current and future generations about the Holocaust and combat antisemitism. The advisory panel will conduct a comprehensive review of the interpretive elements at the monument and will provide its recommendations to the Minister of Canadian Heritage in 2025.

Quotes

"The memory of the Holocaust must be preserved to ensure that the lessons of the past are never forgotten. The National Holocaust Monument commemorates the six million Jews and millions of other victims of the Nazi regime, while reminding us of the resilience and remarkable contributions of Holocaust survivors in Canada. The advisory panel will play a key role in revising the interpretive elements to ensure that the monument remains a symbol of remembrance and promotes the values of tolerance and diversity."

—The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage

Quick Facts

On March 25, 2011, the National Holocaust Monument Act received Royal Assent. The Act required the establishment of a National Holocaust Monument Development Council and gave the Government of Canada a mandate to create a national monument.

In 2014, following an international design competition, it was announced that the design Landscape of Loss, Memory and Survival by Team Lord of Toronto had been selected for the future National Holocaust Monument.

The team was made up of Gail Dexter Lord, co-founder of Lord Cultural Resources; Daniel Libeskind, architect; Edward Burtynsky, artist-photographer; the late Claude Cormier, landscape architect; and Dr. Doris Bergen, Holocaust scholar.

The monument includes an interpretive exhibit that provides visitors with historical information to help them better understand the context of the Holocaust and Canada's response to it.

Associated Links

National Holocaust Monument 

SOURCE Canadian Heritage

Contacts: For more information (media only), please contact:Charles Thibault-Béland, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, [email protected]; Media Relations, Canadian Heritage, [email protected]