Representatives of national refugee-aid organizations today called upon Thomas A. Crerar, Minister of Mines and Resources, with an appeal for generous admission of refugees to Canada. The meeting was in camera, but it was announced afterwards that Mr. Crerar gave the delegation a “most friendly reception.” The plight of Jewish refugees was said to have been specially emphasized.
Senator Carine Wilson (Liberal, Ottawa) headed the delegation. Six members of the delegation represented the Montreal Conference to Aid Victims of Nazi-Fascist persecution, five were from Ottawa organizations and four from Toronto.
The delegation included: the Rev. Dr. D. L. Ritchie, dean of the United Theological College and chairman of the Montreal conference; Raoul Trepanier, chairman of the Montreal Trades and Labor Congress and vice-chairman of the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada; Prof. R.B.Y. Scott of the United Theological College; Louis M. Benjamen, lawyer and co-chairman of the Montreal conference; N.S. Gray, vice-chairman of the People’s Committee Against Anti-Semitism, and Charles Rosen, of the Jewish Assistance and Social Organization, Inc.
Meanwhile, cards appealing for admission of refugees to Canada, many of them signed by prominent Canadian residents of Quebec province, were beginning to pour in on Mr. Crerar. They represent the first lot of 50,000 cards recently distributed by the Montreal conference as a counter-campaign to the petition introduced in the House of Commons by Wilfrid LaCroix (Liberal, Quebec-Montmorency) and bearing the signatures of members of the St. Jean Baptiste Society and some other organizations in Quebec.
The cards read: “Humanity stands aghast at the helpless plight of hundreds of thousands of refugees, victims of Nazi-Fascist persecution. Many of these refugees can enrich Canada culturally and economically. I, as a Canadian, urge my Government to share with other democratic countries the solution of the pressing problem by admitting into Canada a generous number of refugees.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
