Vanier College apologized Monday for cancelling a Holocaust remembrance ceremony last week and has promised it will be rescheduled.
The CEGEP sparked outrage when it called off last Wednesday’s commemoration “in light of the current volatile geopolitical climate,” although its annual Symposium on the Holocaust and Genocide continued for its 34th year under tight security.
The last-minute move was
deemed “cowardly” by Eva Kuper
, a Holocaust survivor who was set to speak at the event, and a failure of the college’s responsibility to educate younger generations about a dark period in history, especially with antisemitism on the rise.
“The decision to reschedule the Holocaust Commemoration was made in the context of heightened attention to safety and security for participants and the broader College community,” Vanier said in
. “In doing so, the College acknowledges that it did not fully consider the significance and impact that such a change could carry. This was an oversight. We regret the consequences that resulted and extend our sincere apologies to those who were affected, and especially to Ms. Eva Kuper and all Holocaust survivors.”
Although last week Vanier said it was “reviewing the format” of its annual remembrance, it is now pledging to hold such an event soon.
“Vanier College takes full responsibility for this situation. Steps are being taken to make things right, including working closely with the event organizer to offer a commemoration for our students and employees soon, under conditions that allow it to proceed with the respect and attention it deserves. We hope this commemoration will meaningfully complement the initiatives that other community organizations may offer to the public.”
Kuper was going to speak last Wednesday about
how her mother passed her off a train bound for a death camp
as a baby and her father hid her with a Polish nun for the rest of the Second World War. She said she was relieved by Vanier’s reconsideration and hopes it will be a turning point for the college.
“I don’t need an apology, I need them to do what their mission says they’re supposed to do,” Kuper said. “I hope there’s an opportunity for Vanier to move forward with an understanding and maybe a plan for how to put people together, how to help people see each other, listen to each other, hear each other and expose students to various points of view rather than shutting things down when you feel that there may be an issue or a problem. That’s not the way to handle it, it’s cowardly, it’s absolutely teaching the wrong lesson.”
The controversy at Vanier erupted as college and university campuses have been thrust into the breach of world events. Tensions have mounted since Israel launched its war on Gaza in response to Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Jewish diaspora often found itself shouldering blame for the mounting death toll of Palestinians. Jewish institutions and neighbourhoods have been the scene of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests. Jewish schools and synagogues in Montreal
. Antisemitic vandalism and incidents have skyrocketed.
Since the United States and Israel went to war against Iran on Feb. 28, the climate has deteriorated further.
Canada’s Integrated Threat Assessment Centre recently
warned there is a “realistic possibility”
the Jewish community will be targeted by extremist violence.
It was in this context that Vanier pulled the plug on the remembrance event while allowing the symposium to continue with talks on the Rwandan genocide, Armenian genocide, and expulsion of Jews from Iraq in the 1950s, among other topics.
But calling off the memorial in memory of six million Jews, Roma and Sinti, mentally challenged and LGBTQ people under the Nazis’ Final Solution came as a shock given its long history of Holocaust education.
No date has been given for when the rescheduled commemoration will be held.