London Free Press, Canada
Aug 13 2004

Schools join anti-hate campaign

HAILEY EISEN AND CLIFF VANDERLINDEN, Special to the Free Press

Local high school teachers are preparing to turn their students into
anti-hate activists. More than 40 teachers are taking part in a
week-long London conference, the first Gen. Romeo Dallaire Summer
Institute on Teaching Genocide and the Holocaust. The institute, one
of the first of its kind in Canada, provides educational tools to
promote tolerance and uphold human rights.

Sponsored by the Association for the Elimination of Hate, the
week-long seminar will arm teachers with ways to educate their
students in the lessons of the Holocaust and genocide.

“We don’t want the teachers to shock students, because shock wears
off,” program co-ordinator Rich Hitchens said. “What they really have
to do is provide their students with lasting moral lessons.”

Here, teachers get insight into how to teach some of the most
horrific genocides of the 20th century: from Armenia to the current
crisis in Sudan. They hope to convey to students a sense of moral
justice the youngsters can use in their neighbourhood schoolyards and
in global activism.

They will be shown how best to incorporate literature and film
resources into their lessons.

The sessions are led by university professors, community members and
military officials.

“To play Schindler’s List for 3 1/2 hours is going to take most of
the time teachers have dedicated to the unit, whereas they could show
a 28-minute documentary film that will generate three hours of
discussion,” said Amanda Grzyb.

Grzyb is a professor of genocide and Holocaust studies at the
University of Western Ontario and is giving a seminar on teaching the
Holocaust through film.

The institute’s namesake, retired Gen. Romeo Dallaire, was in London
this week to offer his support to teachers who volunteered to take
part in the program.

Dallaire led the UN coalition during the 1994 Rwanda operation, where
he defied direct orders to evacuate his troops from the troubled
region when violence escalated into full-scale genocide.

It’s estimated one million Tutsi and Hutu moderates were killed
within 100 days.

For the past three years Dallaire has been working with Canadian high
school and university students to promote awareness and action in
areas of international crises and genocide.

“My aim in this whole education process is to gel Canadian youth into
getting into an activist mentality,” Dallaire said.

“So far I’m getting a lot of positive vibes.”

The institute is the result of a co-operative effort between various
religious and ethnic communities, along with London’s Association for
the Elimination of Hate.

Organizers expect to run the conference every other year.