This morning, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) was invited to an elementary school in Maple because they had a swastika drawn on the side of their portable last week. The principal has worked with FSWC in the past – both with our workshop programs and the Tour for Humanity.  He was confident in their handling of the incident – addressing it immediately with the student body and removing the symbol - but wanted to bring in experts to speak with the students so they understood the severity and seriousness of the symbol.  He said he was shocked to find out that most of the kids couldn’t identify why the swastika was offensive.  

FSWC Director of Education Melissa spoke with the kids for an hour, discussing the historical context of the symbol along with the contemporary rise of antisemitism and racism.  Melissa ended the presentation with the message that they all had a voice and the responsibility to speak up and speak out.  There were some great questions from the students – they revealed a lot of misinformation through their questioning which gave opportunity to shift their understanding. 

The Tour for Humanity participated in the 8th annual Bruce Grey One World Festival today,  a multicultural festival aimed at elementary students across the county. It was an honour to be a part of the celebration and it was a very fun and busy day, with virtually all of the 1,800 kids present coming on board the Tour for Humanity throughout the day. FSWC Educator Elena made 15 minute presentations from 9:30 am until 2:30 pm without any breaks, such was the popularity of Tour for Humanity! Because there were many very young students present, we watched a few short videos. Elena played the Heroes video and introduced the idea that the real heroes in our world are people throughout history who have fought for human rights. Elena also played them the song about how to protect yourself online and a video of the Kid President talking about how kids have the power to take action. Although it was a little crazy at times, it was fun to have so many younger students there because they were amazed by the Tour environment.