Toronto's Jewish community gathered Sunday to reflect on the horrors of the Holocaust at a remembrance day ceremony in a North York park.
The Holocaust Remembrance Day service took place at Earl Bales Park, located off of Bathurst Street, just south of Sheppard Avenue, at 2 p.m. The ceremony lasted about an hour.
This year's ceremony will focus on Holocaust survivors living in Toronto and will highlight their contributions to Canada, according to the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, the organization that helps put the annual event together.
More than 30 survivors will participate in the service. The commemoration will include a candle lighting to represent the six million Jews that were killed under the Nazi regime during the Second World War.
Kurt Weinberg told CTV Toronto he was 14 years old when he last saw his parents in Frankfurt, Germany. He often thinks of his mother waving her handkerchief at the train station as he was shipped off to safety in England before the war began.
He said he spends a lot of time at a Holocaust memorial at Earl Bales park where his parents' names are etched on the wall.
"When I touch this, it's like grasping the hands of my parents to say I remember you, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be alive," he said.
Israel Consul General Amir Gissin spoke at the commemoration and thanked Canada for fighting against evil.
"We're lucky to be here today in a country where this message is understood," he said. "Where our political system in this great country of Canada speaks in a clear voice against violence and extremism with a clarity of what is good and bad."
He said other countries, particularly in Europe, have shown weakness when it comes to taking a stand against evil.
"The fact that today there is a country that is a member of the United Nations that calls for the extermination of another country is not acceptable," he said, speaking of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments about the State of Israel.
Commemorative ceremonies were held around the world to mark the day, also known as Yom Hashoah.
Toronto's remembrance service is the second largest commemoration outside Israel, drawing in about 2,000 people from across the Greater Toronto Area.
Several political dignitaries attended Sunday's event, including federal Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff and MP Peter Kent, Canada's Minister of State of Foreign Affairs, and Vaughan Mayor Linda Jackson.
Holocaust survivor Eve Bergstein said telling of her experience is important for not only the Jewish community but for society in general.
"My story is not just a story about a Jewish woman," she said. "It's the story of racism and it is so important for people to be on the alert and not allow racism to take over."
