SENATORS’ STATEMENTS — Constable Jeff Smith

Honourable senators, I’d like to share a personal story dedicated to the medical recovery of Canadian police Constable Jeff Smith.

The story begins in 1944, one year before the end of World War II. Hungary, the land of my birth, is a Nazi puppet. My mother is 10 years old and is being raised by her mother, a young widow.

One day there is a knock on the door, and the police arrest her mother for the crime of being a Jew. She is taken to a Nazi concentration camp. On that day, my 10-year-old mother loses her childhood.

I am born 10 years later. Shortly before I turn 10, my mom tells me to grow up in a hurry because she and my dad could be taken away and I’d be on my own. That conversation doesn’t necessarily end my childhood, but it does end my interest in reading books meant for children.

I begin to read about the Holocaust. I need to know how to prepare myself for what feels like the inevitability of danger.

My child’s mind begins to divide the population of this country into two parts: those who would harm me and those who would hide me.

Two weeks ago in Belleville, Ontario, a three-hour drive from where I’m standing, two local police officers rescued a Jewish congregation from a massacre. They stop a man obsessed with Jew-hatred, armed with a loaded rifle, from murdering everyone in that synagogue. Those two police officers, Jeff Smith and Michael McCurdy, are the best of Canada.

The child in me will always see them as Canadians who would hide me from harm. In this chamber, I look Canada in the eye every day. I see all of you as Jeff Smith and Michael McCurdy — Canadians. I love Canada. I love all her representatives. I love every one of you. My message to you from the child in me is thank you for hiding me, protecting me and allowing me to grow up in the greatest country on earth.

Thank you. Meegwetch.