Today, Tour for Humanity made its first stop in Clinton, Ontario, 45 minutes northwest of Stratford. Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Elena taught four workshops, two of the Canadian Experience and two of Global Perspectives on Genocide to students from the World Religions class and Grade 10 History. The workshops were very well-received by students and teachers alike. As we so often find, many of the students had some knowledge of the Holocaust. When talking about the definition of genocide, Elena mentioned the barbarity of medical experiments performed on inmates in Auschwitz. One student asked what kind of experiments were performed and Elena let another student answer the question and he gave a very thorough run-down of the activities of Mengele against twins and other prisoners. 

We often find that most students have little knowledge about genocides in addition to the Holocaust and that was certainly the case for many of Thursday’s students. Even so, Elena was very pleased that they were openly asking questions about particular events (high school kids can be very shy when it comes to this presentation). One group in particular wanted to talk more about the genocide in Cambodia. This discussion was sparked by one student who observed a young boy casually holding an automatic rifle during the video component of the workshop. Elena spoke with the group about the frequent use of children in conflicts in general and made the connection between these trends and hate crimes in Canada in the 21st century. This obviously violates the commonly-held belief that children should be allowed to maintain their innocence and have a safe environment in which to learn and grow, but this is a part of the crime of war. Children become old men before their time and are often both the victims and perpetrators of violence in different conflict scenarios. 

There wasn’t a lot of knowledge about the residential school system and Canada’s own cultural genocide against Indigenous people and so Elena spent time with each group discussing the concept and why it applies in the context of the government and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs in particular. We also talked about Truth and Reconciliation and the fact that there are a lot of positive changes happening even though there is still lots of work to be done.