More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
When Dr. Agnes Klein took the podium at the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa, there was silence.
Klein, who says she never thought of herself as a survivor, was just three years old when the war broke out. She survived the Holocaust by hiding on a farm in Romania.
"My husband was a concentration camp survivor and he never wanted to speak of his experiences. However, current circumstances and increasing hate have forced me and have made me and induced me to speak out," Dr. Klein said.
In an emotional and powerful speech at an International Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Ottawa, Klein stressed the importance of remembering the millions of victims murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War and underscored the need to stand up against antisemitism and hate.
"As long as we remember their names, they continue to be alive in some ways because it reminds us that those were people who loved and lost, contributed to society, were generous, courageous and resilient," she said.
On Jan. 27, 78 years ago, Soviet troops liberated the most notorious concentration camp -- Auschwitz-Birkenau. While roughly 7,000 prisonners were liberated that day, over 1.1 million people, the vast mostly Jews, were murdered by the Nazis there. Across the world, Jan. 27 has been designated International Holocaust Rememberance Day.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also among the speakers. He urged Canadians not to be complacent and to call out hatred whenever they come across it. Acts of hateful and antisemitic rhetoric, he said, are coming from "dark corners of our society."
“Hate is being amplified online and on other platforms and so we cannot and must not be complacent," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the event. "All Canadians, especially those of us here who are leaders, need to stand up and call it out plainly and loudly.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poililevre also encouraged Canadians to call out “utterances of hatred and antisemitism.”
“When we do that, and only then will we live up to the privilege and the honour it is for us to live here as Canadians.”
According to Statistics Canada, the number of police-reported hate crimes increased by 27 per cent in 2021, with an increase in hate crimes targeting the Jewish community went up 47 per cent.
Lisa Levitan, whose grandfather survived a concentration camp, is an advocate for the global End Jew Hatred campaign. The grassroots movement says it aims to eliminate Jew hatred through peaceful action and education.
"He instilled in me the importance of ensuring that we remember, that we never forget the horrors," she said. "It is our duty as the next generation to make sure we remember."
A teacher in Ottawa, Levitan says antisemitism has become too common in schools and "that's a problem we need to end."
"The fact that it is resurfacing to such immense levels ... is unacceptable."
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”