Today, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) hosted 45 Grade 7 students from a local Catholic school in the Tom & Anna Koffler Tolerance Training Centre. The students took part in the Digital Hate workshop. The Grade 7 teacher reached out to FSWC a few months ago due to cyberbullying issues that had arisen in the class along with experiences with false information shared through fake social media accounts that had been set up by their peers. Today’s workshop provided an overview of the power of words from both a historical and contemporary perspective. When FSWC Educator Daniella initially asked the students if words could hurt, there was some debating that physical wounds are worse. After going over Hitler’s rise to power and the use of propaganda (words) to manipulate people and incite violent acts, students quickly changed their minds.

The class was very attentive today, evidently taking in the material that was being presented. While Daniella didn’t mention the specific incidents, she made sure to include material surrounding the effects of bullying and cyberbullying. After returning from lunch the students were livelier, particularly during “digital oversharing” activities. The class was shocked to see how much information was easily obtained online. When Daniella asked the classes if they would now think more critically about what they post online, she received a chorus of “yes.”

The Tour for Humanity was back in action at a middle school in the greater Toronto area. FSWC Educator Elena taught 6 Canadian Experience workshops to the Grades 7 and 8 students and did a revised version of Simon's Story for the Grade 6 students. It was a very successful day and the Tour for Humanity programs received rave reviews from several of the teachers that brought their students, as well as a few staff members that just wanted to come and sit in on a presentation. The students themselves were also wonderful. Elena was impressed with how attentive they were throughout the program. Most of the Grades 7-8 students had read either The Diary of Anne Frank or Hana's Suitcase and had done preparation work before FSWC's visit. 

With regards to Canadian intolerance in history, Elena talked a lot about Residential Schools and the intolerance that existed in Canada in the World War II era. There were also some thoughtful questions, often reflecting the particular student's life and cultural background. One young man in Grade 7 wanted to know what was happening in China during the war, which led to another student asking about Korea during World War II. Elena spent a bit of time going over the Pacific theatre of war and talked about the Japanese plan for dominating east Asia, highlighting the ideas about racial superiority and violence against Manchuria and Nanking in China and invasion of Korea before the war.