‍

Today, the Tour for Humanity spent another lovely day in the Sault Ste. Marie area. Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Elena was at a High School with the bus, which is actually a good 50 minutes outside of Sault Ste. Marie and 45 minutes from the nearest gas station. Elena said what it lacked in commercialism, it made up for in beautiful scenery (and Mennonites!) and FSWC was very warmly received in the morning by the Principal. Elena taught 7 workshops in total to Grades 7,8 and 10 students, all on the Canadian Experience.  In this workshop, students learn about a variety of difficult topics in Canadian history including slavery, the Indian Residential Schools System, the voyage of the SS St. Louis and the systemic internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Following a review of the past, current issues including cyber bullying and modern-day examples of intolerance are examined and discussed.

As has been the case over the past few days, students here were very knowledgeable about Canadian intolerance, particularly towards Aboriginal Canadians. We had a very interesting discussion about the fact that medical experiments were performed on children in residential schools because one young woman had written a paper on the subject. Many of the students at this school were also aware of the history of Algoma University as the site of Shingwauk Residential School and many students had visited.

Elena was also pleasantly surprised with the degree of knowledge many of the students had about the Holocaust. They all knew that Jewish people were targeted with genocide by the Nazis. In fact, some students were surprised to learn that any Jewish people had survived the Holocaust so Elena made sure to talk about the vibrant Jewish communities across the world that have rebuilt and thrived.The Grade 7 students were very knowledgeable because they had recently finished reading one of several choices of Holocaust literature (ie. Diary of Anne Frank, Hiding  Edith, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Book Thief, etc.). Elena made a contribution to their collection with Holocaust survivor Max Eisen’s, “By Chance Alone”, which they were very thankful to receive. The Grade 10 History teacher had actually been on March of the Living with Max and Elena talked about how important it is for students to hear directly from survivors like Max. The teacher also informed Elena that there was a Holocaust Survivor who lived near the school, in a small village; however, this survivor does not speak about their experiences. Elena finished the workshop by putting up a link for FSWC’s website www.neverforgetme.ca and told the students to check out all of the survivor testimonies.