Rochelle Wilner President	Frank Dimant Chief Executive Officer	Prof. Stephen Scheinberg National Chair

Holocaust Education in Canada

A Review and Analysis of Curriculum, Policies,
Programs and Teacher Training

Definition, Data Collection and Responses

¤ THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD "HOLOCAUST"

In preparing the questionnaires for the survey of Holocaust Education in Canada it became apparent that it was important to define the word "Holocaust" to clarify the information that was sought. There has been discussion in both academia and the lay world about the word "Holocaust" and in particular its use as referring to a specific event in history, namely the destruction of European Jews during the period of the Nazi Reich in Germany. In the 1948 Israeli Declaration of Independence, the word "Holocaust" (Shoah) was used to describe the destruction of European Jewry: “Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe …”

Through the 1960s and 70s the word "Holocaust" came to be used more and more exclusively in relation to the Nazi policies of mass murder of the Jews of Europe. The focus on the "Holocaust" as the catastrophic event of Jewish history was in part triggered by American journalist, Hannah Arendt, and her description of the trial of Adolph Eichmann, Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963). The word continued to grow in popularity as a referrent to the destruction of the Jews during World War II, when used by such notable writers as Elie Wiesel and Emil Fackenhim. Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem Israel, also continued to use the word Holocaust in its English publications throughout the 1960s. (Today Yad Vashem is known for disseminating information about the Holocaust through its International School for Holocaust Studies as well as its publications known as Yad Vashem Studies that examine issues in Holocaust research.) The North American NBC production, The Holocaust, (mini series, 1978) which focused on the treatment of the Jews under the Nazis, reached an audience of millions. The "Holocaust" came to denote specifically the Nazi Holocaust, i.e. the destruction of the Jews of Europe.

The definition that appeared at the top of our questionnaire was taken from the 1998 Holocaust Memorial Day Act of the Ontario Legislature (see Appendix for complete questionnaire).

The Holocaust refers to a specific event in history, namely the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by the Nazis and their collaborators between 1933-1945.

Bill 66 An Act to proclaim Holocaust Memorial Day — Yom ha-Shoah in Ontario (October, 1998)

Ontario was the first province in Canada to pass this Act. The Holocaust Memorial Day Act has now been passed by each of the other nine provinces (Quebec, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Manitoba, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan). Each of the different provincial Acts defines the Holocaust as “the annihilation of European Jewry by the Nazis and their collaborators between 1933 and 1945.”

The Canadian provinces also acknowledged the extensiveness of the destruction of other groups, as well as the impact of genocide on the history of the twentieth century. For example, Alberta’s Act is known as the Holocaust Remembrance Day and Genocide Remembrance Act. Each of the provincial Acts recognize the persecution of European Jews, as well as the significant impact of the Nazi polices against other minority groups. The following excerpt from the Holocaust Memorial Day Act of Prince Edward Island is common to each provincial Act:

Whereas six million Jewish Holocaust victims were murdered, and many others were murdered because of physical or mental disability, race, religion, political belief, or sexual orientation;

Holocaust Memorial Day Act,
Prince Edward Island, December 1999.

¤ DATA COLLECTION

Canada was among the more than forty countries invited to attend the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, A Conference on Education, Remembrance and Research in January 2000. The Canadian delegation consisted of scholars, survivors, government and non-government representatives. The League for Human Right’s National Director, and the senior Vice-President of B’nai Brith Canada who was the Chair of the Holocaust and Hope program, participated in the official Canadian delegation. Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Laureate, was the Honorary Chairman, and Professor Yehuda Bauer from the International Centre for Holocaust Studies Yad Vashem in Jerusalem was the academic adviser. The conference included seminars, films and cultural activities as well as exhibitions. Canada's delegates contributed to the discussion on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research with their international colleagues on such topics as facing Holocaust denial in society including on the Internet, and facts about the current state of Holocaust education. Information from the conference was used to formulate the design and process of data collection for the current study.

An announcement was sent in March 2000 to more than 2500 school principals across Canada stating that B’nai Brith Canada was conducting a study on Holocaust Education in Canada and asking that they describe relevant projects, courses and curricula in their schools (see Appendix). A more extensive questionnaire was sent two months later to 430 Directors of Boards of Education across the country (the total number of Boards as listed in the Canadian Education Association Handbook, 1999 (See list of Respondents in Appendix). At the same time, each of the provincial Ministries/Departments of Education received a letter that described the project and asked that the relevant curriculum documents be submitted. Personal contacts were made to Universities and Faculties of Education requesting curriculum documents, and to key educators that were known to be involved in Holocaust Education. The latter group was identified by the researchers through personal contacts with individuals involved in Holocaust education who then identified others whom they knew to be active in this area. To identify resources in the community questionnaires were sent to Holocaust Centres and/or Jewish Centres requesting information about their Holocaust education programs. Additional information was gleaned through follow-up phone calls.

Past participants of B’nai Brith Canada’s Holocaust and Hope Educators Study Tour were asked to help in identifying persons, places and programs that have enhanced Holocaust Education in Canada, as well as to describe their own efforts in this area. A newsletter was sent to 70 "Holocaust and Hope" participants announcing the project and asking them to describe Holocaust curriculum and policies that currently exist in their provinces and in their school boards. "Holocaust and Hope" participants include teachers and educators involved in elementary and secondary levels as well as university, some now centrally located in boards or Ministries, and from cities across Canada.

A project co-ordinator and student intern were hired to compile the data and draft the report, in keeping with the terms of the grant from the Department of the Canadian Heritage, Multiculturalism Programs.

¤ RESPONSES RECEIVED

Ministries/Departments of Education from all ten provinces and one territory responded to our request for information on curriculum and/or policies concerning Holocaust education. Three Ministries sent teacher guides for teaching the Holocaust (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British Columbia); five ministries sent curriculum materials for the Social Studies/World Issues program (Saskatchewan, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario — which also sent curriculum materials for English, the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities — and Quebec); two provinces and one territory sent letters describing their education policies (Prince Edward Island, Manitoba and Yukon).

Curriculum documents received from the Ministries of Education were assessed by four evaluative criteria: 1) was the word "Holocaust" included? 2) Were there related words included in the documents, for example, final solution, genocide, Nazi, antisemitism, concentration camps, survivors, Nuremberg? 3) Did the Holocaust appear as a separate unit or central idea or event? 4) Were questions, activities and/or readings related to the Holocaust included? The content was not evaluated.

Forty-five universities provided undergraduate calendars. Courses that were listed by course title or course description that named the Holocaust were easily identified. However, courses described as Seminars or Selected Topics, or Independent Reading and Research for example, usually did not specify what topic was being covered. Wherever it was possible to make personal contacts, the researchers tried to confirm the information in the calendars and to explore what other subjects or courses on Holocaust education were included in the university’s curriculum. Follow-up phone calls revealed that some of the courses on the Holocaust that were listed in the calendars were not being offered due to retirement or faculty changes or funding issues. Information on summer courses was not included, although phone inquiries indicated that in some universities courses on the Holocaust were taught in the university’s summer sessions.

Seventy-two out of 430 (16%) school boards across Canada responded to the questionnaire that was mailed to school boards in the summer and fall, 2000. This is considered a fair response rate in survey research. The respondents included Superintendents, Directors of Education, Directors of Curriculum, Multicultural Co-ordinators, Consultants, Department Heads, principals and classroom teachers. A number of school boards sent copies of the questionnaire to individuals they knew were teaching or involved in the area of Holocaust education or whom they knew had incorporated information on the subject into the curriculum.

The majority of school boards that responded to the survey (50/72 or 69%) reported that Holocaust education is included in their schools’ curriculum. Respondents who said that the Holocaust was not included in the school curriculum (22/72 or 30%) nonetheless agreed that there were opportunities for including Holocaust education as part of an integrated curriculum such as novel studies. Forty-four Boards reported that teaching about the Holocaust was included in the Social Studies or History curriculum. A small number of boards (3), particularly those involved with students in younger grades (grades 5, 6, 7, 8), reported that the Holocaust was taught only in Language Arts studies. 15/50 (30%) of respondents who said that the Holocaust was part of the curriculum included Holocaust education as part of Religious Studies.

Just seven of the total number of respondents from schools and school boards described having a Yom Hashoah-Holocaust Memorial Day program. Other activities included making use of community speakers to enhance the Holocaust education program in the schools. Seventeen boards across Canada said that they included guest speakers, in particular survivors, as part of their Holocaust education program. Most often these were boards that were close to Jewish Community Centres or Holocaust Memorial Centres and were able to take advantage of the resources offered through such centres. While there were variations among each of the schools and school boards, most respondents said that they were spending two to five hours on their Holocaust units.

Eighteen Jewish Community /Education Centres responded to inquiries about Holocaust Education programs. Additional information was gleaned from published sources. There are three major Holocaust Education Centres in Canada: in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver respectively. While Montreal’s Centre was established in 1976 and Toronto’s in 1985, a number of the community programs in Holocaust education are newly established. Among these are Vancouver’s Holocaust Education Centre founded in 1994; the Freeman Family Holocaust Education Centre in Winnipeg opened in 1999; and the Holocaust Resource Centre in London, Ontario was recently established (2000). Ottawa’s Jewish Community Council is planning its first Holocaust Awareness Week starting in November 2001. The emphasis of the Jewish Centres is on educating the community about the Holocaust and includes: community outreach to schools in the area; providing guest speakers where possible; planning community programs for Holocaust Memorial Day and/or Holocaust Education Week; and acting as a resource centre for materials such as texts and videos.

Of the 70 questionnaires that were mailed to past "Holocaust and Hope" participants (from 1986-2000) we received completed questionnaires and documents from 34 (48%) (see Appendix: Respondents). Participants include classroom teachers as well as several individuals who have gone on to work as Educational Consultants, Curriculum Co-ordinators/Consultants for the Ministry of Education, Directors of Education, Department Heads, University Course Directors, and Directors of Holocaust Centres. All past "Holocaust and Hope" participants continue to contribute to Holocaust education, including many who are retired but make guest presentations and conduct workshops regularly.

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