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The Conservative government has made another significant move in a series of rapid-fire announcements intended to recognize historical wrongs and commemorate shameful chapters in Canadian history.

A spokesman for Jason Kenney, the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity, confirmed yesterday that the Conservative government's "historical recognition programs" will include funding to commemorate the "St. Louis incident."

In 1939, more than 900 Jewish refugees fled Nazi Germany on the steamship St. Louis, bound for Latin America. However, no country in the region would accept them. Both the United States and Canada also rejected the ship's passengers. In the end, the St. Louis returned to Europe just as war broke out. It is estimated that at least a third of the passengers were ultimately killed by German forces.

Canada's rejection of the St. Louis became a lasting example of the country's anti-Semitic immigration policies of the 1930s and 1940s.

The government will designate a portion of its historical recognition program grant money to commemorate the St. Louis incident.

The announcement is the latest in a series. Last weekend, Mr. Kenney announced the government will commemorate the rejection of the Komagata Maru ship in 1914, which contained more than 350 would-be immigrants from India.

The government also announced earlier this month it will provide a grant of $10-million to support initiatives related to the First World War internment of Ukrainians and other Eastern Europeans.

A day earlier, the government announced $5-million in grants to commemorate the Chinese head tax and other immigration restrictions imposed on Chinese-Canadians. More such announcements are also expected in the near future.

Previous governments had tried to set tight limits on what historical acts warrant apologies, in part because of the potential liability such apologies would carry. By issuing grants for commemoration, the Conservative government may well sidestep that issue altogether.

Still, in the two years between when the programs were first made public and this month's announcements, the government has had to carefully consult myriad groups about what sort of acknowledgment they expected and what they would ultimately get.

In all, the government has set aside about $29-million for such programs. The largest portion is earmarked for First World War internment victims, a group predominantly made up of Ukrainian-Canadians, but which also includes other Canadians of Eastern European ethnicity.

Another $5-million is reserved for commemorating restrictions against Chinese-Canadians.

Some critics have accused the government of being politically motivated in announcing the commemorations. The announcements come at a time of heightened speculation about an election, and some of the groups affected by the announcement - such as Ukrainian-Canadians - make up significant portions of the population in competitive ridings.

Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, who last month introduced a private member's motion calling for an official apology for the Komagata Maru incident, questioned the government's motives in deciding to now acknowledge it.

"In consideration of how sensitive and important this issue is, I find the announcement to be nothing more than a political game that the Conservative government is playing," Ms. Dhalla said in a statement yesterday.