LESSONS IN TOLERANCE
By Kristin Morency, The Suburban
The Suburban, Canada
March 1 2007
The Tolerance Caravan has officially made its mark on the English
school system.
The interactive program that tries to raise awareness about
discrimination and human rights, has been visiting French high schools
for more a decade throughout Quebec.
Now, thanks to a hefty donation from private donors, Caravan animators
from the Tolerance Foundation last fall translated the program and
in January began the English-school circuit.
According to its website, the Tolerance Foundation was created in
1996 to support the United Nations Year of Tolerance, with a goal
"to continue fighting against stereotypes, prejudice, harassment,
and violence, which are the manifestations of intolerance that many
people face on a daily basis."
"The program is the exact same, but we had to do all the translations
…," explained animator Veronique Laloix.
"We started approaching schools in September, trying to sell the
project to English schools. But they had nothing to see …, so
[it took a few months]."
The Caravan, which remains in each school for about two weeks, has
so far visited Loyola High School in N.D.G. and Lester B. Pearson
High School in the East End. In the West Island, it’s been at John
Rennie High School in Pointe Claire since Feb. 19, and will remain
there until March 2.
The display, set up in an empty classroom in the school, includes
two flat screen televisions, and large panels with photographs and
details about major 20th century genocides, the Quebec charter of
human rights, and definitions for prejudism and discrimination.
At John Rennie, the program is open to students from grades 9 to 11.
Visits are per class (there are about three each day), and last an
hour each.
According to Laloix, she and another animator discuss various concepts
related to tolerance with the students, interspersed with 10-minute
video interviews with people who have been discriminated against due
to age, sexual orientation, skin colour and gender, among other things.
At the end of the presentation, the animators point out how
discrimination based on prejudiced notions can lead to mass murder,
citing genocides (such as the Armenian and Rwandan genocides) as
examples, and show a short film that summarizes six genocides of the
20th century.
When students ask how they can eradicate their prejudices, Laloix
says they are told to keep their prejudiced thoughts to themselves.
"After that, we tell them to get a more critical mind and an actual
opinion, to ask questions to different people about [their prejudice]
or read books and watch different television channels," she Laloix.
She said undoing prejudices is all about "building a critical mind,"
and said travelling is a good way to meet different people and learn
about different cultures.
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