“The success of inter-ethnic relations is the majestic theme of Canadian history, “and those relations must be reaffirmed both through education and through law. Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker declared here last night at a dinner which was part of the Canadian Jewish Congress celebration of the National Bicentenary of Canadian Jewry.
Every ministry of the Canadian Government was represented at the gala event at which Samuel Bronfman, national president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, declared that the 200, 000 Jews in Canada pledge anew their “dedication to the ideals of Canadian concord. “
Prime Minister Diefenbaker praised the work of Canadian Jews in fighting for freedom in Canada, declaring they have fought for “freedom for themselves and for other Canadians, in time of war and in time of peace. “
“The 200th anniversary of Jewish settlement in Canada,” said the Prime Minister, “is an event which belongs not to one minority, but to he Canadian people as a whole. The story of the first Jews in Canada, and of their descendants, is a golden thread in the fabric of freedom in Canada, Rights for Catholics as well as for Jews were secured in Canada before they were secured in Britain. “
The shrine recently dedicated at Three Rivers, commemorating the first Jew there, Aaron Hart, is a “national shrine to Canadian freedom, ” Mr. Diefenbaker asserted.
Touching upon his attitude toward Israel, Mr. Diefenbaker told the audience “I have visited Palestine, and have sat at a seder in Jerusalem. I am witness to the message of freedom some 3, 000 years old, I see in the State of Israel the embodiment of that search for freedom which the Jewish people have promised during their entire history. This appreciation of the contribution of the Jews of Canada to freedom has led to warm relations between Israel and Canada. This is based on a similarity of ideals in government, and on cultural and personal links.
“I had the privilege of presenting to the Law Faculty of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem the chair of the founder of our nation, Sir John A. MacDonald. This is a token of our appreciation of the contribution of Canadian Jewry to the development of democracy and to democratic freedom in Canada.”
BRONFMAN STRESSES JEWISH PATRIOTISM; HARMAN LAUDS CANADIAN JEWR
Mr. Bronfman paid warm tribute to Mr. Diefenbaker, declaring “to one in Canada has done so much in recent years to advance the concept of Canadian unity as has the Prime Minister. He has shown that Canadian unity is an essential for Canadian progress.”
Pledging the rededication of Canadian Jewry to the ideals of Canada and of the British Commonwealth, Mr. Bronfman declared: “Today, we, the 200,000 Jews in Canada, are in all fields of endeavor and are as one with fellow-Canadians of other creeds and origins. ” It is due to “this ideal of Canadian concord, ” he stated, “and this agreement upon basic and essential matters, that Canada has achieved the status which it enjoys today.”
Avraham Harman, Israel Ambassador to the United States, addressing the Bicentenary convention of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said: “While discharging the full obligations of American or Canadian citizenship, the Jews on this continent also discharge their obligation to their own local communities and to the scattered Jewish people everywhere. They sought and obtained freedom for their brethren in other countries and used their own freedom to help the Jewish people right the wrong of 2, 000 years.”
Mr. Harman told the delegates that “the mark of Canada is on every creative aspect of Israel life–in the personnel of its cabinet, in its military, in the kibbutzim and in its capital. ” He warned that there were still “depressed areas” in world Jewish life, communities “where Jews do not have the freedom which Jews in Canada and the United States enjoy, where they cannot commune with Jews in other countries on matters of common concern.”
“These communities are dear to us, ” he declared. “We come from there we are hewn from the same rock and it sits heavily on our consciences that so many communities were destroyed in the past 20 years and therefore every surviving Jew is the more precious to us. “
Asserting that “we have achieved much, ” he said: “Five years after the heroes of Warsaw went down in tragedy, our nation fought for its liberation against hopeless odds to victory. The military defense of Israel now rests secure on the foundation of the quality of its people, on its democratic institutions, on its growing productive capacity, on its expanding skills even in areas new to Jewish economy, on education and research and on artistic creativity.”
Dr. Israel Goldstein, addressing the convention, reported his impressions on the Jewish moods in the countries of Asia and Africa which he visited this year.
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