ARCHIVED – Speaking notes for The Honourable Jason Kenney, P.C., M.P. Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism

At the launch of the travelling exhibition “To Me there’s No Other Choice,”to Commemorate the 100^th Anniversary of the Birth of Raoul Wallenberg

Ottawa, Ontario
November 21, 2012

As delivered

Your excellencies, members of the diplomatic corps, parliamentary colleagues, and our guests of honour from Sweden.

It’s a special honour to welcome to Canada Speaker Per Westerberg, Speaker of the Swedish Riksdag and the Ambassador of Sweden, the Ambassador of Hungary, the Ambassador of Israel and, of course, Louise Von Dardel and Marta Sebor, to be here as living witnesses to the heroism of the subject of tonight’s exhibition and the centenary activities, Raoul Wallenberg.

It’s a great honour to be here to inaugurate this very important exhibition at this magnificent Canadian War Museum. The exhibition, as I’ve said, commemorates the 100^th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest heroes of the 20^th century of human dignity, Raoul Wallenberg. It was created by the Swedish Institute in partnership with the Living History Forum.

I would like to thank the Swedish government, as well as the Swedish, Hungarian and Israeli Embassies for their efforts, in cooperation with the Government of Canada, to commemorate Raoul Wallenberg this year.

Raoul Wallenberg was not Jewish, but in 1944 he left the comforts of Sweden to serve – under diplomatic cover – the War Refugee Board, and assist Hungary’s remaining Jews from the wrath of the Nazis.

Wallenberg accepted his mission wholeheartedly. He said, “I’d never be able to go back to Stockholm without knowing inside myself that I had done all a man could do to save as many Jews as possible.” At great personal risk and with remarkable ingenuity and courage, Wallenberg successfully rescued as we know over 100,000 Jews – more than any other organization or government.

On the 17^th of January 1945, however, Soviet forces captured Wallenberg as the Soviet Union pushed the Nazis out of Hungary and – to this day – his fate remains unknown. So I join with the family in calling for the government of the Russian Federation to fully open up the archives, so that we can do everything possible to identify his fate following the war.

The United Nations declared Wallenberg the greatest humanitarian of the 20^th century and, in recognition of his heroic achievements both, Houses of the Canadian Parliament unanimously, in fact, invented a new honour that had never existed before to recognize Wallenberg as our first honorary citizen. He has since been joined by only four others, including the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and others of remarkable stature.

On January 17, 2013, as it was mentioned, Canada Post will issue a commemorative stamp to recognize Wallenberg’s exceptional courage.

On a visit to Sweden last month, I was honoured to officially announce the naming of the main function room of the Embassy of Canada in Stockholm as the ‘Raoul Wallenberg Room,’ in honour of a man who is both a Swedish hero and Canada’s first honorary citizen.

I’d also like to acknowledge the presence of our Ambassador to Stockholm and thank him for his brilliant initiative in that respect. Last month, I also had the opportunity to visit the memorial monument to Wallenberg and tour, in Budapest, one of the several monuments and to tour the Hungarian Holocaust Memorial Centre in Budapest. Of course, it was there that he accomplished his most extraordinary humanitarian feats.

The government of Canada is committed to preserving Raoul Wallenberg’s legacy of combating hate and prejudice and to continuing our proactive role in the international fight against anti-Semitism in all of its forms. We’ve done so through our role in the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism, led by Irwin Cotler, and I’d like to also acknowledge the strong contribution of Dr. Mario Silva who will be, on our behalf, hosting the International Task Force on the Commemoration, Education and Research of the Holocaust.

We will continue our efforts to work in close partnership with Holocaust education centres and museums, researchers and community groups both across Canada and around the globe.

This past year, the government of Canada announced our intention to create a national Holocaust monument, which will be located here in Canada’s capital region to serve as a permanent reminder of the most unthinkable crime of human history.

This Raoul Wallenberg exhibit, which will be on display in Ottawa and Toronto in the coming weeks, will remind Canadians of how one individual is capable of standing up to the forces of evil. It is my sincere hope that all Canadians will learn more about the legacy of Raoul Wallenberg and be inspired by his spirit of heroism; that they will work to combat hatred, prejudice and racism in all of its forms.

I would like to thank you for joining us here today. I hope that you will find this exhibit highly informative and I hope that, with the participation of Canada, Israel, Hungary and Sweden, we will continue to preserve the memory of this remarkable man, a great hero of humanity.

Thank you very much

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