Thank you to the member for Kenora–Rainy River and Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development for that speech, and thank you, Amanda, for helping prepare that.

I want to thank everybody who spoke to this motion. This is such a difficult subject to speak about, and while we, as elected officials here in Ontario, speak what feels like worlds away from where these terrible atrocities are occurring, we have to really be thankful how privileged we all really are to various degrees.

I think about my upbringing and the challenges that I saw day-to-day in my life. So many of us experience challenges, but the types of challenges that we’ve faced can’t compare to what Jewish people around the world are going through, especially those in the Middle East right now.

Every time I rise in this House to speak to a matter, any matter, I’ve often asked myself, what is it that I’m going to be speaking to? I try to think of a few questions: Who am I speaking for? Why am I speaking to this? And what is it that I hope to achieve?

I’ve listened over the course of the day, and what we know has been occurring in the Middle East is unimaginable. When I think of the challenges that I grew up facing and the challenges that I currently face and I think of the darkest days I’ve experienced, the biggest, most mind-numbing problems that I wanted to solve, I can’t imagine what some of these families—mothers, fathers, children, grandparents—must be thinking about. It’s hard to imagine a hatred that can run so deep. I have a hard time even saying the words, personally, even standing here to utter the words that other people out there are uttering towards an entire nation of people, towards a group of people, all because of where they’re from or their religion. I have a really hard time even repeating the words. And it makes me realize how privileged I really am and how privileged we all really are.

But I ask myself those questions again, Madam Speaker: Why am I doing this? Why am I standing up to speak to this? Why are we as a government speaking to this? Why are some people not speaking to it?

Ultimately, Madam Speaker, we are only in this chamber—I stand before you here today as the member for Sault Ste. Marie. It was my community that elected me to be here, and my community expects me to carry their voice. And I know that my community, notwithstanding that we have a very, very small population of Jewish people, in the tens of people, still expects me to stand here and condemn this behaviour, these atrocities, because it’s the right thing for us to do as elected officials. Not because of politics—because we carry a voice and it’s our job to carry a voice.

Well, why? I ask myself why. Why does it matter that I stand here and I talk about what’s happening a million miles away being bad? Because we all know it’s bad. So why is it important for me to stand here as the member for Sault Ste. Marie to say it’s bad? Why is it important for all of the members—the member for Kenora–Rainy River and the members all throughout here—to be able to say the words that they stood up here today and spoke?

I’m reminded of a very important day that we’ve come to honour in this country, just past: September 30. I’m reminded on September 30 of the speech that the member for Kiiwetinoong gave. It was a very moving speech. We speak about truth and reconciliation and the atrocities that happened in this country to Indigenous people because we want to make sure that it’s known and that it never happens again. So why do we stand up and speak to something happening far away? Because we want to make sure it doesn’t happen. We want to make sure that everybody here is aware and knows what’s happening. The more we speak about it, then hopefully we can prevent it ever happening here.

Almost 100 years ago now our country was called into a war. Many sons were lost. Not long thereafter, we saw atrocities happening to Jews. We saw terrible, despicable acts occurring, and ultimately it did spill over to us, didn’t it? We have to speak about these things.

As elected officials, perhaps the most important thing that we do is be the voice of our community, be the voice of the people we represent. Sometimes it’s for advocacy purposes, but the majority of the time, it’s just to be that voice of what the people in our community are thinking, are feeling. It’s not an easy task to consider what the majority would say. But in my community, I know that my community would want me to stand here and speak of the disgust, the awfulness of what is happening and to stand together in this Legislature as colleagues, all of us. You would think that if there was ever a time that we could stand together united, this would be it, because nobody wants this to happen to their children. Nobody wants this to happen to their families. Nobody wants this to spill onto our soil. Nobody here does. I know every member in this House feels that way. I know it; we all know it. But this is our opportunity to stand on behalf of our communities and say that this cannot happen here and this cannot happen anywhere, because if it can happen anywhere, it can happen here.

I’ve really struggled with what I’ve read, seen in the news and heard. I’m personally afraid, not for myself, but I’m scared for what could be. There is far too much hatred going on in this world. There’s far too much violence going on in this world, and we are not invincible. That shouldn’t be a good enough thing to say. Simply not wanting it in our own homes or in our own households or on our own soil, that shouldn’t be enough. I don’t want to repeat things that have been said, but it’s worth repeating: The most amount of Jews were murdered on October 7, 2023, than any time since the Holocaust. As I’ve heard people say, I’ve been—unfortunately it’s like we’ve become desensitized to these types of terrible terrorist attacks that have been occurring in the world for far too long, especially in the Middle East.

I really am afraid. I’m afraid for my kids. I’m afraid for everybody in this House’s kids. But I’m afraid for everyone. I’m afraid for humankind, quite frankly. That might sound a little bit broad, but there have been way too many acts of hatred that are going on in the world today, and I come back to my question: Why am I doing this? Who am I doing it for? What do I hope to achieve?

Well, there is not a lot I can do other than to stand up and have a voice, and as an elected official, I think it’s my duty to do that. I believe in my heart that if we all do stand up and speak, we are speaking in this House on behalf of almost 15 million people, and if we all rally and speak, maybe they will hear us all over the world; maybe they’ll hear us. I believe that they will, and if they hear us, maybe that little six-year-old who’s being brought up to hate will hear us too; maybe he’ll think a little bit differently. Maybe a lot of people will hear us and maybe we’ll prevent some atrocities from happening. That’s what we hope to achieve, isn’t it?

We don’t stand up in here and speak on a matter like this just because we want to say, “Hey, this is bad.” We know it’s bad. It’s worse than that. I don’t think there’s a word to describe it, quite frankly. I can’t think of an adjective that properly encapsulates what is going on right now, but I do believe that the most powerful weapon we have here is our voice, and if we don’t use it, what are we telling our families? What are we telling our communities? What are we telling everyone?

So I suppose I’m proud of the opportunity to stand up and speak to this, not for the reasons that I usually am when I stand up in this House, but I’m proud that we are all being proud enough to stand up and speak, to wield the only sword we have, to carry our voice and the voices of our communities that hatred towards any people is wrong; the terrible, unimaginable atrocities that are happening to people simply because they are Israeli, because they are Jews, is wrong; that no person should live in fear of persecution—and this extends in so many broad ways. If we don’t condemn this, if we don’t condemn these atrocities, how do we stand up and condemn any others? How do we stand up and say that it is wrong to persecute a person because of the colour of their skin, their age, their sex or their religion?

We, in this country, have dealt with some atrocities, and we recognize the importance as a group collectively to stand up and speak to them, to speak of those atrocities, to tell the stories so that we can prevent these things from ever occurring again. That is why we use our voice, and it’s making a difference in our communities. I’m seeing it make a difference here. I’m seeing how we are changing our perspectives. I’m seeing how it lends itself to me being more privileged, to all of us being more privileged than so many people around the world.

So, why am I doing this? Because it’s making a difference. Who am I doing this for? I’m hoping—I’m really hopeful, Madam Speaker, that it can prevent some pain and atrocity. And we’ll never know if it did, but I’m hopeful that it will and I have some confidence. What do I hope to achieve? Well, I really hope, as naive as it may sound, that all this violence will stop, but it is naive.

And one voice is just one voice but, collectively, our voices matter. Collectively, our voices can carry a lot of swords. Collectively, our voices may be able to prevent some of this persecution. Collectively, our voices may prevent further violence. Collectively, our voices may prevent any of these atrocities from happening here in our beloved province. Collectively, our voices can make a difference.