Today was the second day that Tour for Humanity was at a Catholic Secondary School in Stratford and it was another very successful day. Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Elena taught four 75-minute workshops, two of Global Perspectives on Genocide and two Canadian Experience programs for Grade 9 Geography students and Grade 10 History students. There was very little student knowledge of any genocide aside from the Holocaust. There were a few who had heard of the Rwandan Genocide but knew very little information about it (when asked what ethnic group was involved in the conflict one student got close, guessing "the tutus and the hutis"?) This meant that the workshops were very impactful for them. While they were generally pretty quiet, they were very attentive and there were even some students taking notes. 

Elena also talked about the significance of residential schools as well as the broader attitudes towards Indigenous Canadians in the recent past. She engaged in the students in a discussion in the Genocide workshops about whether they thought the concept 'cultural genocide' should apply to residential schools. Elena was encouraged to see the intent of the teachers to continue the conversation back in class. Many students knew some background about World War II and several had grandfathers/great grandfathers who had fought for Canada during the war. The students were in the process of studying Germany in the 1930s and had just discussed the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. One student asked why the Nazis bothered making these laws when they were ultimately going to murder millions of Jews so Elena explained how important it was to establish a legal precedent before the later phase of violence. She pointed out that these laws also served as a test, a way to gauge the reaction of non-Jewish Germans to increasing persecution of Jews. 

The Tom & Anna Koffler Tolerance Training Centre was also busy today with a group of law enforcement personnel from across Ontario joining in on a Lessons in Humanity program. The program included a presentation on the history of the Holocaust with a focus on the role of law enforcement. FSWC Board of Governor Howie Meyer presented a lesson on antisemitism - then and now. All of this was followed by testimony from Holocaust survivor Max Eisen. Participants in the program all indicated the need for programs like this as their own learning about the Holocaust and antisemitism has been limited. The next Lessons in Humanity program is scheduled for February 2018. Please contact Melissa at mmikel@fswc.ca for more information.