Today, the Tour for Humanity was in Toronto at a middle school. The school reflects Toronto's rich, cultural diversity and we heard from many Jewish, Albanian, Trinidadian and Chinese students throughout the day. This was our first time at this school and we were very lucky to have an advocate in FSWC Member Tamara Stieber who arranged for our visit. Tamara and her husband joined us for the 2nd workshop of the day and stayed behind for a few minutes to get some photos of the kids in front of the bus and to thank FSWC for the work we do.  Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Elena taught 6 sessions of Simon's Story to Grades 4,5 and 6 students. The school wanted all kids in each grade to see the program. There were lots of great comments and questions from students and as usual, Simon Wiesenthal's life story was fascinating. The students asked a lot of questions about Mr. Wiesenthal's life during and after the war. 

Students brought up examples of antisemitism and racism, including the Holocaust, slavery, Residential Schools, and segregation in America's history with African Americans being forced to sit at the back of the bus, use different bathrooms, etc. When Elena asked students to give an example of a stereotype, one young man gave the example of boys hating pink because it's a 'girl's' colour. 

One word that stumped a lot of kids was antisemitism. When Elena asked students if they could define it, she got a lot of confused answers including hatred of women, hatred of Africans and hatred of Canadians. Elena explained that it was a unique form of hatred against Jewish people and used the definition as a segue into talking about Simon Wiesenthal's experiences during the Holocaust. Even the youngest students had some awareness about the Holocaust and the fact that Jewish people have been targeted with violence many times throughout European history.  Elena also pointed out that antisemitism still exists today, as do other forms of hatred. A lot of kids were familiar with the Holocaust through a unit they do in Grade 5, while several of the Jewish students shared personal family stories of great-grandparents and other relatives that survived the violence.