Commentary On Jan. 24, 1939, Liberal MP Pierre Gauthier issued a statement on what was then the intensifying plight of the Jewish people under Nazi rule. With remarkable callousness, he downplayed the need for Canada to do something about it, particularly regarding the question of accepting refugees, citing the country’s economic interests. It is an astonishing document. “No doubt the systematic persecution endured by the Jewish race in Germany and Austria is bound to move us to pity, but precisely, the dominion government does not want this problem to grow into the question of sentiment,” Gauthier wrote. “Both wisdom and properly understood charity require the government to look first after the well-being of our Canadian population.” In June that year, the MS St. Louis and its 907 Jewish refugees seeking a safe haven from the dangerous situation in Europe were denied entry to Canada. Stories of how Canadian public figures around …