The University of Toronto Faculty Association recognizes the importance of acknowledging today, January 27, 2023, as the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. The United Nations (UN) selected this day as it marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.
This year the UN investigates the theme of “Home and Belonging” in the context of the antisemitic violence faced by victims and the survivors of the Holocaust. This global outreach program highlights how the “… violence of exclusion began with disinformation and hate speech that lent support to systemic injustice, discrimination, and marginalization and ended with genocidal killing.” This highlights for UTFA the special role and responsibility of our members to exercise their academic freedom and to challenge disinformation in its historical and modern-day manifestations.
Moreover, UTFA stands with all those who are working to eliminate antisemitism in all its forms and manifestations, whether that be through acts of religious intolerance, vandalism, harassment, incitement to violence, or acts of violence against persons or communities. UTFA categorically condemns any attempts to deny or minimize the catastrophic impact of the Holocaust.
UTFA also recognizes that acts of antisemitism and Holocaust denial have occurred within the University of Toronto community and condemns these actions and events unequivocally. UTFA supports the recommendations of the Report of the University of Toronto Anti-Semitism Working Group.