Peace by Chocolate & Peter Munk

Peter Munk

Peter Munk is a Canadian who made a fortune in gold mining and is now a philanthropist. This week he made the extraordinary donation of $100 million to a cancer centre in Toronto, a gift which will exceed the $75 million he has already contributed to this centre and other charitable organizations. Munk made a heartfelt speech at the presentation during which he thanked Canada for the welcome and opportunity provided to his family in the 1940's when they emigrated from Hungary:

 “When you thank me for what I’ve done for Toronto, and you thank me for what I can do for this community, it doesn’t begin to express my immense gratitude for what this country has done for me and my family.You opened the door. You gave us everything,”

Most of us aren't able to recall that some in Canada were reluctant to accept post WWII Hungarian immigrants, particularly in the 1950's because they were essentially political refugees, fleeing the Soviets after the 1956 revolt. What if they brought their conflict with them? I don't know why the Munk family left Hungary, but they have prospered here and given back.



Hadhad family

In the past few days we've also been hearing again about a Syrian refugee family, the Hadhads, who have become established in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. They lost their home and their family business,a chocolate factory, was destroyed before they fled to a refugee camp and eventually to Canada. Their sponsoring community helped them to open a small chocolate shop and now they have expanded into new facilities, the reason for the renewed interest. They are now employing locals and hope to expand from ten to twenty workers.

They are bonafide taxpayers in Canada, and they made a contribution to the relief funds for those affected by the Fort McMurray fire last year. And they came up with a fabulous name for their enterprise, Peace by Chocolate!

I've mentioned that some of the families sponsored in our area have already established small businesses and a couple is selling up a storm at the Belleville Farmer's Market.

These are wonderful stories of the importance of immigrants to our economy, but also to how we create our national fabric. In a time when exclusive nationalism is on the rise in many parts of the world we can resist the fear of the stranger which is a blight in every generation. We can celebrate the gift of hospitality, which is an important part of many faith traditions, including Christianity.