Trudeau to attend events marking the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland

Holocaust survivors and relatives arrive at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony in southern Poland.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will fly to Poland next week for events marking 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

Trudeau's office says he'll be travelling Sunday to Tuesday and visiting the site of the Nazi regime's largest camp, where more than one million people were murdered during the Holocaust.

He will be travelling with Canadian Holocaust survivors and Deborah Lyons, the federal envoy for preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism.

Trudeau's office says he also will meet with other Holocaust survivors and take part in a commemorative event.

While in Poland he plans to meet with the country's president and prime minister to discuss transatlantic security and support for Ukraine — a major plank of Canada's G7 presidency.

Trudeau's office says the leaders will also discuss clean energy trade and nuclear power generation.

His office says he will also meet with unspecified international partners on "key geopolitical challenges," including Ukraine and the Middle East.

Earlier this month, the Polish government vowed to ensure that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could attend the commemorative events without facing the risk of arrest under an International Criminal Court warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2025.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press