Today, Tour for Humanity spent the day at a high school in Oshawa presenting both the Canadian Experience and Global Perspectives workshops to Grades 9-11 students. The contact teacher booked the Canadian Experience workshop specifically with the goal of broadening the students' horizons outside of their own socio-economic problems and to help them understand Canada's past injustices. Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Daniella knew this going into the first workshop, and while the students were quiet, it was obvious material was having an impact. 

Daniella was impressed with the level of knowledge demonstrated by students from both of the Grade 10 history classes, especially given that the semester has just started. After discussing the Holocaust at length, but before transitioning to antisemitism in Canadian history, one student raised his hand and said he had heard the phrase, "one Jew too many" in regards to Canadian history, and wanted to know if this was true. Daniella said that yes, the general policy was "none is too many" and then told the class the story of how the SS St. Louis was turned away by the Canadian government. 

The Grade 11 World Issues class saw the Global Perspectives workshop, and once the group opened up they spent an additional 15 minutes asking questions. They were particularly interested in the treatment of Jewish prisoners in the concentration camps. Daniella discussed the different jobs that people were given, with an emphasis on the fact that daily life did not resemble a job in the traditional sense. One student questioned the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and whether the story was true. Daniella explained that while many of the scenes involving the camp were accurate, the relationship between the two boys was fiction and would never have occurred. This led to questions surrounding escaping from the camps. Daniella discussed instances where prisoners were able to escape, but she made sure the class understood that it was not a common occurrence, although many people tried. One student shared a personal story that her mother had told her about how her great-grandparents, who were living in Holland, hid their Jewish neighbours on their rural farm. 

Students were asking questions about survivor testimony, so Daniella encouraged the class that if they ever had the opportunity that they should listen to a survivor speak. Another student asked if there was a list of survivors in the greater Toronto area - at which point Daniella asked the class to take out their cell phones and pull up www.neverforgetme.ca, FSWC's collection of survivor testimony. She explained about the website and the survivors. As the class was leaving Daniella heard a group of students ask their teacher if they could watch a few of the survivor videos in class. 

During the lunch break the Tour for Humanity was visited by the school principal and a colleague at the board office. They were both extremely impressed with the bus and its message, exclaiming multiple times that the material ties into the curriculum so well and that it was so important for students to see the workshops.