submitted by UCDSB
“Every Holocaust survivor’s story is a love story…the love of life, family and freedom,”— this is the powerful message that students from North Grenville District High School heard from Andy Rèti. Rèti is a child survivor of the Holocaust and was a guest speaker at the school in late October to help provide some context to students for the upcoming UCDSB Holocaust Education Week.
For the first year ever, the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) will be recognizing UCDSB Holocaust Education Week from November 27 to December 1. This initiative is in response to Grade 6 curriculum changes by the Ministry of Education, the UCDSB’s ongoing efforts to ensure that students see themselves in the curriculum, and aligns with the Ministry’s recent announcement that expanded Holocaust education will be mandatory for Grade 10 students starting in 2025.
The UCDSB has formed a strategic partnership with the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) for Holocaust education and has shared quality resources with educators to enhance their classroom teachings.
Additionally, the UCDSB will be welcoming the Tour for Humanity to 10 secondary schools this year. The Tour for Humanity is a 30-seat, wheelchair-accessible, technologically advanced, mobile human rights education classroom. This is a resource organized and staffed by the FSWC that teaches students and educators about the Holocaust, genocide and Canada’s human rights history through a variety of workshops. This is the third year that the Tour for Humanity will be visiting UCDSB schools.
“Although we are having our first Holocaust Education Week this year, the UCDSB believes human rights education from all aspects needs to happen all year long, not just in designated weeks or months. This partnership with the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center has allowed us to do that and enhance Holocaust education across our system for all students,” says Dan McRae, Principal of Equity and Inclusion.
The dates for the Tour for Humanity are as follows:
November 6 – Gananoque Secondary School
November 7 – Brockville Collegiate Institute
November 8 – Perth and District Collegiate Institute
November 9 – Almonte District High School
November 10 – North Grenville District High School
November 13- North Dundas District High School
November 14 – Seaway District High School
November 15 – Vankleek Hill Collegiate Institute
November 16 – Rockland District High School
November 17 – Cornwall Collegiate Vocational School
Workshops are held from 8:05 – 11:15 a.m. and 12:10 – 2:05 p.m.
This could be a much more effective lesson if we were brave enough to talk about our own halocaust. When Europe invaded North America in 1492 it was the begining of a purposeful elimination of First Nations people to allow for the colonization of the lands they stole. Canada recently had a truth and reconcilliation process to begin to acknowledge the role that our ancestors played in the genocide.
Now that we had a chance to start to teach our children how Canada was really settled we back away from our responsibility and focus on Hitler’s terrible legacy instead of on our own.