The Tour for Humanity spent the day at a Markham high school where Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Elena presented the Genocide workshop to 5 Grade 10 and 11 classes. The high school students were attentively engaged in Elena's presentations and willingly opened up to share their thoughts and insights. When Elena asked one class if they knew of any genocides besides the Holocaust, one student mentioned the violence in the Congo. One curious student asked about Ghengis Khan and the killing by the Mongolian Empire which pleasantly took Elena by surprise as this is not a commonly known topic by students. All classes were familiar with the cultural genocide that took place through the residential school system in Canada. 

Elena discussed the historical significance of antisemitism and the Holocaust and also focused on the genocide in Rwanda. She also spoke about the Armenian genocide in Turkey and one class perked up when she slipped in a pop culture reference that the Kardashian's great-great grandparents escaped Turkey before the genocide began in the early 1900s. 

The students were also very interested to learn that the term "genocide" didn't exist until the mid 1940s  and that it wasn't until after World War II that the idea of universal human rights became an important topic in the newly formed United Nations. Elena also did a great job tying genocide to life today - she emphasized the need to be cognizant of patterns and actions that are the blocks upon which genocide is built. By explaining how classification, discrimination, dehumanization, etc. led to the Holocaust, the students really understood that they need to be aware of what's going on in society around them and that progression to murder and genocide doesn't just occur randomly out of the blue.