Canadian Minister In Mumbai

By SHERI SHEFA, Canadian Jewish News

While Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney was on his week-long trip to Pakistan and India earlier this month, he expressed Canada’s solidarity with the victims of the Mumbai terror attacks in November and visited the Chabad House that was the scene of brutal murder.

Speaking in a teleconference call from New Delhi last week, Kenney said that among the many meetings he had with various politicians in both Pakistan and India, he met with the Pakistani prime minister, foreign minister and national security adviser to “emphasize Canada’s expectation that Pakistan would co-operate fully with Indian authorities investigating and bringing to justice any and all responsible for the Nov. 26 attacks in Mumbai.”

More than 170 people died in the attacks on hotels, tourist hot spots and the Chabad House in Mumbai, including two Canadians and nine Jews. The directors of the Chabad House, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, were among the murdered.

Kenney said he travelled to Mumbai last week to visit the Taj Mahal hotel – one of the targets in the attacks – to sign a condolence book and to meet the staff on duty when the terrorists struck.

He also spoke of his opportunity to pay his respects to the Mumbai Jewish community at the historic Blue Synagogue, where he addressed a gathering that included Canadian and German consulate representatives.

“I met the remarkably diverse Mumbai Jewish community that has a remarkable multicultural make-up,” he said.

“I gave a speech to some 100 people there expressing Canada’s solidarity with the people of India, the people of Mumbai, and particularly, the Jewish community following the terrible events of Nov. 26 to the 29th.”

Kenney added that he was also given a tour of the Chabad House by two Canadian Chabadniks, Menachem Sputz and Mendel Kessler.

“I was shown the premises, all five floors, by two remarkable young Canadian members of the Chabad movement who were dispatched to help the community in the wake of the murder of the rabbi [and his wife] during the attacks,” Kenney said.

“It was a deeply moving experience, unsettling and disturbing at the same time, to see the incredible devastation and violence that came to that house of peace and prayer, and that is something I certainly will never forget.”