High-school course on genocide draws protests
KATE HAMMER
>From Friday’s Globe and Mail
June 13, 2008 at 5:15 AM EDT
A high-school course on genocide that has raised loud protests from
ethnic groups, one for being included and one for being excluded from
the core curriculum, was unanimously approved by the Toronto District
School Board last night.
About 50 protesters waved Turkish flags and picket signs outside the
school board’s North York offices, objecting to the inclusion of the
Armenian genocide as one of the course’s three core case
studies. Meanwhile, a group of Ukrainian-Canadians sat in the board
meeting’s audience in support of an effort to have the Holodomor, the
1932-33 Ukrainian genocide, included as a core case study.
"I think some of the effect and the goodness of the curriculum has
been distracted by the controversy that has surrounded it," said
school trustee Gerri Gershon, who introduced the idea of a genocide
course after she visited Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. "It’s
so important that our students understand history in all its bad
forms."
The board passed some minor amendments aimed at bolstering the profile
of the Holodomor in the curriculum, including a mandatory statement
that crimes against humanity not used as one of the three core case
studies were not of lesser importance than those that were, and that
other atrocities could be included as case studies.
Peter Sochan, a Ukrainian-Canadian who attended the meeting, said that
the amendments were helpful, but he was disappointed that the
Holodomor wasn’t a core case study.
"It’s important the these events not be forgotten," he said.
Board members expressed hope that the new course would help to promote
cross-cultural understanding and awareness of the dangers of
stereotyping and prejudice. But Turkish protesters said they feared
the curriculum would be corrosive to Toronto’s multicultural fabric
because it engaged in "hate politics" by including an event that isn’t
recognized by the United Nations as a genocide.
"This is really disappointing" said Mehmet Bor, vice-president of the
Federation of Canadian Turkish Associations.
"They pretend that they made the right choice, but I think they’ve
planted seeds of hate in Canada
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