President Steenkamp: International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

On behalf of Royal Roads University, I honour the victims of Nazi persecution on this International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.

On this day in 1945, the thousands of Jewish prisoners who were still alive were liberated from the German-occupied Polish extermination and concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

This day now serves as a reminder; a commitment that we all make as a society to remember its horrors. At a time in which assault, vandalism and harassment targeting Jewish people is dangerously on the rise, we carry this reminder of what can happen if we allow anti-Semitism to go unchecked. 

Geopolitics and freedom of speech are complex topics. But our duty as post-secondary institutions and as educators is clear: we must work to understand and support one another. We must work through challenges and conflicts. And we must all remember that freedom of speech does not grant freedom to hate, nor the freedom to minimize or revise history.

Anti-Semitic rhetoric is not an intellectual stance; it is blatant bigotry that can escalate into violence. Countering this intolerance through education provides an opportunity to combat all forms of prejudice, and the ignorance at the core of anti-Semitism and other divisive ideologies that threaten a diverse, interconnected society.

Today, as we remember and learn from the past, we must also raise our voices. Our university's values of courage and care call upon us to ensure a safer and more inclusive environment for all. We must remember and learn about the Holocaust. And we must not stop speaking up about anti-Semitism.