Today was the Tour for Humanity’s last day on the road before the holiday break and it was an excellent end to a very busy and successful fall semester. Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Elena was at a public school in Ajax and taught 6 Canadian Experience workshops to the Grades 7 and 8 students. Although there was lots of excitement in the air due to the upcoming holiday break (and the fact that it was dress like a snowman day at the school), Elena found the students very respectful and attentive once they settled in and watched the Never Again video clip about the Holocaust. 

The school was very diverse with students from many different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Elena, consequently, had several interesting questions about how black people were treated by the Nazis and how the idea of race used by the Third Reich fit in with our current understanding of race and racism. A couple of students couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea that top Nazis like Hitler didn’t even represent the ideals of the German race themselves but Elena tried to explain that it was more of a fantasy for the German nation than a personal goal about how they themselves looked. Elena talked a little bit about the racism and social Darwinism (application of Darwin’s theory of evolution to the idea that some races are more “fit” than others) that was widely believed among top medical researchers of the time. 

The topic of eugenics and scientific racism came up again when we turned our attention towards Canadian history. One student expressed shock that people in the government in Canada came up with the plan to get rid of Indigenous cultures through brainwashing children. The student asked, “How could they be so evil?” so Elena felt the need to describe the kinds of ideas that informed the residential school policy’s development. Many people within the Canadian (and American) governments believed in social Darwinism and they often talked about the “fact” that Native cultures were “naturally dying out” due to competition with European Christian cultures. Most probably didn’t see themselves as personally causing the decline of Aboriginal culture in Canada at all, rather they thought it was a process that was inevitable and potentially beneficial IF kids were brought into the European education system. Meanwhile, the government and school officials were blind to the fact that they were promoting self-hatred and familial/cultural breakdown through their policies.