CANADA AND THE HOLOCAUST

The Saint Louis William Lyon Mackenzie King (PM) sympathetic to

German Jews but convinced they would threaten national unit and his party’s political support where gov’t opposed all immigration

Tragedy showed depth of anti-Semitism in Canada Spring 1939 >900 Jews leave Germany on boat Initially bound for Cuba trying to avoid persecution but

turned away Appealed to help of Canada and US Both refuse to accept them Forced to sail back to Europe into occupied territory More than half killed by Nazis

The Children

> 1 million persecuted and murdered by Nazis between 1933 and 1945

Anne FrankDiary chronicled life in hiding at 13 for 2 yearsSent to Westerbork transit camp and killedFather only one to surviveDiary published as memoir and testimony

Canada’s Role

Between 1933 and 1945 opened doors to <5,000 Jewish people

Anti-Semitism in Canadian government Cdn immigration officer F.C. Blair in 1930s

encourages Hitler to find “domestic solutions” to the ‘Jewish problem’

Canada uses immigration act to exclude Jews and other ‘undesirable’ ethnic groups until 1948

Jewish Refugees in 12 years of Nazi rule….Country # of Jewish Refugees

United States 200,000

Palestine 125,000

Britain 70,000

Argentina 50,000

Brazil 27,000

China 25,000

Bolivia and Chile 14,000

CANADA 5,000

Denied Jews to public facilities in Toronto during 1920s and 1930s

RIGHT: Montreal

Postwar Immigration into Canada “None is too many” – Cda official regarding how

many Jews to let into Canada Start to change in 1940s

Need for workers in Cdn factoriesI.e. not for humanitarian reasons but for economic

reasons Pleas from Jewish community

Govt allows 1000 Jewish war irogans New Immigration Act in 1952 allowed more

Jewish immigrantsUp to 40,000 Holocaust survivors made Canada their

new home

What Canada Knew

Letters from refugees desparate to escape

Extensive press coverage 1938 Blair writes aknowledgement that

Jews facing discrimination 1942 ‘Final Solution’ was discovered July 1944-April 1945 forces helped

liberate camps At that point, full knowledge disclosed