VoiceofCanada editor Mark Vandermaas was called to the stage at the National Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony to be part of the candle-lighting ceremony in honour of the ‘Zachor Coalition’ — the group of organizations who contributed to the event’s success.
120423 Mark Vandermaas (white shirt & tie, behind podium) with other members of ‘Zachor Coalition,’ National Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
In the audience were 45 people who had travelled with Mark via a bus sponsored by the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem including, Caledonia activists Gary & Christine McHale as well as Merlyn Kinrade and his daughter Olivia, along with Al Gretzky from the International Free Press Society; Steve Scheffer from Hamilton’s Never Again group, and Rabbi Jonathan Hausman who flew up from Boston to ride the bus with his ‘Favourite Gentile.’
At his March 21/12 Israel Truth Week Conference in London, which was held at Royal View Church (where Caledonia activist Gary McHale’s message to Christians about the evils of racism – especially anti-Semitism – and about the necessity of paying a price for their beliefs was very well received), Mark announced that the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem had offered to provide a bus to take people to Ottawa for the ceremony. Dr. Peter Marshall of the Victory International Church in Hamilton enthusiastically supported the trip and approximately half the bus’s 46 passengers were members of his 1,000-strong congregation.
As part of the Zachor Coalition Mark represented the two churches who had contributed to the success in filling a bus for the long trip to honour the 6,000,000 murdered by the Nazis.
The trip, which included Christians, Jews and others from Hamilton, London, Caledonia and Niagara, was an unqualified success. You can read more (including some international media coverage) and see photos here:
- Israel Truth Week, April 26/12: Israel Truth Week friends travel to National Holocaust Remembrance ceremony in Ottawa
- Also: The Sachem, May 01/12: DCE activist arrested in Caledonia, honoured in Ottawa (submitted by Gary McHale)
POSTED BY:
Mark Vandermaas
Editor, VoiceofCanada.ca
Founder, Israel Truth Week (IsraelTruthWeek.org)
info@voiceofcanada.ca
519.457.0709
www.VoiceofCanada.ca 
Mark, I am very glad you were honoured in Ottawa on April 23. I hope it helped to ease the discomfort of your “outrageous” arrest on April 21 (Jeff Parkinson’s arrest was also outrageous). I am also very glad that both your totally unwarranted arrest and your well-deserved honour were noted by both Moose FM on April 25 and the Sachem on May 1. I hope this publicity will help make more Canadians aware of how completely out of whack the Ontario government and OPP’s handling of the Caledonia crisis really is.
VoC REPLY: Thanks for the good thoughts,CP. It was truly a very strange week – experiencing racial justice firsthand on Saturday and being honoured for speaking out against it (not in connection with Caledonia) on Monday. Many thanks to Moose & the Sachem for running the stories. Regards, Mark