BILL NO. 27

1st Session, 58th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
49 Elizabeth II, 2000

Government Bill

Holocaust Memorial Day Act

The Honourable John F. Hamm, M.D.
President of the Executive Council

First Reading: March 27, 2000

Second Reading: March 28, 2000

Third Reading: March 28, 2000

WHEREAS haShoah (the Holocaust) refers to the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by the Nazis and their collaborators between 1933 and 1945;

AND WHEREAS six million Jewish men, women and children were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators;

AND WHEREAS other atrocities were planned, organized and carried out by Nazi civil and military authorities and their collaborators, victimizing Jews and many others because of race, religion, physical disability, mental disability or sexual orientation;

AND WHEREAS, during the Second World War, Canada and its allies took part in a prolonged armed struggle, costly in human life and human suffering, to defeat the Nazis and their collaborators;

AND WHEREAS it is desirable to observe a day to remember the victims of the Holocaust and to honour those who fought to defeat the tyranny and genocide of the Nazis and their collaborators;

AND WHEREAS such a day would provide an opportunity to reflect upon and educate Nova Scotians about the enduring lessons of the Holocaust and to consider other instances of the systematic destruction of peoples, human rights issues and the multicultural reality of modern society;

AND WHEREAS Yom haShoah (the Day of the Holocaust) is determined in each year by the Jewish lunar calendar;

THEREFORE be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 This Act may be cited as the Holocaust Memorial Day Act.

2 Throughout the Province, Yom haShoah as determined each year by the Jewish lunar calendar shall be kept and observed under the name of Holocaust Memorial Day - Yom haShoah.