As Holocaust education becomes compulsory in some provinces, advocates call for wider adoption

Marilyn Sinclair says she's feeling "pretty great" about Ontario's new requirement that sixth-graders learn about the Holocaust.

Sinclair, founder of Holocaust education organization Liberation 75, is responding to more than 8,000 requests for copies of a book from Grade 6 teachers across the province. Told from a child's perspective, the book recounts the real-life story of the St. Louis, a ship filled with Jewish refugees that fled Nazi Germany in 1939 and was turned away from Cuba, the U.S. and Canada.

The free books from Sinclair's organization will also come with a toolkit of teaching resources, information about a forthcoming speaker series with the author, and links to an online "book club" where educators can trade teaching strategies. 

"[The package] was our way of saying, 'Don't be scared, we're here. We're going to provide you with the resources you need,'" Sinclair said. "Teachers have a lot to teach in the curriculum. We want to make it as easy and as pleasant for them as possible." 

She stresses that the books and educational materials take an age-appropriate approach.

"We are not talking about gas chambers. We're not talking about mass genocide," she said. Instead, they will be "introducing students to the idea of what it means to be othered, what it means to be separated from parents, what it means to be treated badly in some cases, for people to stand up for you in other cases."

Sinclair is part of a dedicated chorus of educators, school officials and cultural groups across the country that has for years called on provincial governments to make learning about the Holocaust — the systemic, mass killing of six million Jews in Europe during the Second World War — a mandatory part of Canadian students' education. 

With Ontario and British Columbia moving to embed lessons about the Holocaust in the school curriculum, these advocates are now eager to get started on the implementation process. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Canada, those who hope to follow suit say they're still waiting for a similar commitment from their provincial governments.

A year after he added the topic to the Grade 6 social studies curriculum, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce this week unveiled plans to expand and build upon what students learn about the Holocaust in Grade 10 history.

Ontario's expanded curriculum component for high schoolers isn't slated to roll out until the 2025-26 school year, in order to give secondary teachers more time to boost their knowledge and confidence in tackling the subject with sensitivity, Lecce said.

The intention is to incorporate discussion of extreme political ideologies, as well as antisemitism in Canada during the 1930s and '40s and in contemporary times.

"This is about building capacity as a society to stand up against all forms of hate," Lecce said in an interview with CBC News on Thursday. "Hate that starts with the Jewish people, as history shows, never ends with the Jewish people. This is a threat to all of us."

Earlier in the week, B.C. Premier David Eby committed to make Holocaust education mandatory for his province's Grade 10 students, beginning in 2025-26.

"It is critical that when we're talking about injustices — when we're teaching kids about injustices and history in Grade 10 — that they learn about the Holocaust," Eby said at Monday's announcement.