LINZ, Austria - Canada is set to become a member of an international task force dedicated to keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive.
The Task Force for International Co-operation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research announced at meetings in Austria on Wednesday that Ottawa was being given liaison country status in the body.
That is seen as an intermediary step to full membership next year in the 25-country organization that includes Israel, the United States, Austria and Germany.
The task force was started in 1998 to co-ordinate national and international efforts to encourage political and social leaders to support Holocaust education, remembrance and research.
Jason Kenney, secretary of state for multiculturalism, describes the task force as a critically important educational and human rights platform.
"Canada is a champion of human dignity and we think it is critically important to be engaged in efforts to educate future generations about the Holocaust,'' Kenney said by telephone from Ottawa ahead of Wednesday's development in the Austrian city of Linz, where the task force met for a twice-annual plenary session.
Austria is currently holds the group's rotating chairmanship.
Canada's move toward full membership was lauded by the United States, one of the task force's founding members.
"This is a very positive event, we're delighted Canada is joining and we want to work with them on their projects and we look forward to them becoming a full-fledged member in a short amount of time,'' Ambassador J. Christian Kennedy, the U.S. State Department's special envoy for holocaust issues, said on the sidelines of the meeting.
Mark Weitzman of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in New York noted that Canada has a strong infrastructure of Holocaust-related organizations.
"We think that they and the international community can benefit from the exchange of information between the diplomats, the experts and so on, and we're very much looking forward to continuing to work with them,'' Weitzman said.
"We welcome this government's policy in joining the international community in dealing with this issue.''
The task force is open to all countries committed to the declaration of the 2000 Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust.
Among other things, the declaration states the Holocaust fundamentally challenged the foundations of civilization and that its magnitude must forever be seared in collective memory. Applying for membership is a multi-step process.
Among other things, it promotes teaching about Nazi atrocities at all education levels and encourages the opening of Holocaust-related archives. It also contributes to the funding of projects.
The United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Organization for the Security and Co-operation in Europe are permanent observers.
