GATINEAU, November 8, 2024

The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage, announced today the creation of an advisory panel to guide the review and renewal of the interpretive exhibit and descriptive texts at the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa. These efforts are aimed at increasing Canadians’ awareness of the Holocaust and the need to combat hate in all its forms.

The advisory panel is made up of Holocaust educators and representatives of key stakeholder groups. The members of the Advisory Panel are:

• Dr. Kori Street, Chair of the Advisory Panel, Executive Director of the USC Rossier Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE), Former Deputy Executive Director, USC Shoah Foundation
• Dr. Adam Silver, President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa
• Alice Herscovitch, Consultant and former Executive Director of the Montréal Holocaust Museum
• Deborah Lyons, Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism
• Dr. Adara Goldberg, Executive Director, Holocaust Resource Center, Diversity Council on Global Education and Citizenship & Human Rights Institute of Kean University (New Jersey)
• Dr. Alti Rodal, Founder and Co-Director of the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter
• Jody Spiegel, Director of the Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program at the Azrieli Foundation
• Joel Diener, Co-Chair of the National Holocaust Monument Committee and retired Ottawa business owner
• Mina Cohn, Founding member and current Chair of the Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship (CHES)
• Nate Leipciger, Holocaust Survivor, educator, author and lecturer
• Pinchas Gutter, Holocaust Survivor, educator, author and lecturer
• Rabbi Idan Scher, Member of the National Holocaust Monument Committee and rabbi of Congregation Machzikei Hadas in Ottawa
• Rachel Luke, Educator with the Peel District School Board in Mississauga, Ontario. Recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2020
• The Honourable Jacques Saada, President of the Board of Directors of the Montréal Holocaust Museum. Former federal minister and Member of Parliament for the Quebec riding of Brossard-La Prairie

The advisory panel will report to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

This initiative is part of the Government of Canada’s ongoing efforts to educate current and future generations about the Holocaust and combat antisemitism. The advisory panel will conduct a comprehensive review of the interpretive elements at the monument and will provide its recommendations to the Minister of Canadian Heritage in 2026.