Mr. Ted McMeekin (Ancaster–Dundas–Flamborough–Aldershot): “First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the socialists, and the trade unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”

I was privileged, along with many other community leaders, to on Sunday evening attend the Asper Foundation human rights and Holocaust studies graduation program at Temple Anshe Sholom, where 57 Hamilton high school students in a cross-cultural program stood to pledge to envision a world without racism and imagine a world without hate. I want to say thanks to the UJA Federation of Hamilton, to the Asper Foundation, and to Madeleine Levy, the inspirational chair of this exciting studies program.

It’s important that our young people learn about the atrocities of the past and also the importance of standing up for human rights. When I watched the 57 people on Sunday evening, I looked out at them and I knew they were the very best reason for hope that our world knows.