Today the Tour for Humanity visited its first summer camp of the summer. We were at Upper Canada College (UCC) and had the pleasure of working with their Horizons summer program. This is an initiative that brings students together from across diverse neighbourhoods throughout the greater Toronto area. All of the students, ages 12-14, are gifted and handpicked by UCC to provide opportunities to young people who do not have the financial resources to attend UCC's regular school program.  As a result it was a really special day and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Elena was very blown away by the attentiveness and engagement exhibited by the students, particularly since there were tons of different programs with kids doing all sort of activities right outside of where the Tour for Humanity was parked.  

Elena taught three workshops on The Canadian Experience and tied in a brief discussion of hate crimes in Canada today. We talked about the bystander effect and the importance of protecting Canadian Democratic values.  Several students had been born in other countries (or their parents had been) - there was a definite appreciation expressed by students for many of the rights and freedoms Elena discussed. One young woman said that one of the main reasons her parents wanted to come to Canada was so that she would have better educational opportunities. There were, unsurprisingly, also some very interesting comments and questions throughout the day on the Holocaust, World War II and Canadian History. Elena made an off-hand comment that the Nazis made a grave strategic error when they invaded Russia and opened up the Eastern Front and one young man wanted to know why it was a "mistake." Elena used maps to show the students the significance of Russia's large border as well as the fact that Germany was in no way prepared to fight through the Russian winter. Elena told them to imagine being a soldier without a coat or boots in weather like we have here in the Canadian winter.  Several different students also asked why Hitler and the Nazis hated Jewish people, and why others were willing to accept it. Elena talked about the history of antisemitism in Europe and the fact that Jewish people had been one of the only visible minorities in many European countries for hundreds of years. Elena also explained the fact that people who are experiencing hardship often look for reasons why life is hard, and unfortunately it's fairly common for people to blame outsiders or single out a scapegoat for complicated situations like the Great Depression.