Joel Ceausu – The Suburban LJI Reporter

The province’s largest school board has adopted a resolution calling for the Quebec government to make Holocaust education compulsory in elementary and high schools.

The English Montreal School Board says the province of Ontario introduced mandatory Holocaust learning for the first time in elementary schools this fall, and repeated studies across jurisdictions demonstrate that when Holocaust education is provided, hate crimes and incidents against Jews decrease significantly, along with those targeting other racial and religious minorities.

The EMSB cites B’nai Brith Canada’s figures which documented 722 antisemitic incidents in Quebec last year. The board meanwhile has initiated its own Holocaust Education Program, including guest speakers and visits to the Montreal Holocaust Museum and says the current public high school History curriculum offers opportunities to discuss the Holocaust.

“As Holocaust survivors age and pass away,” reads the motion, “it is more important than ever that the education system play an increasingly important role.”

The motion, passed unanimously, asks Quebec’s education ministry “to make Holocaust education compulsory in elementary and high schools and that the Ministry consults the Ontario curriculum and mandate the Conseil Supérieur de l’Éducation and other stakeholders to determine how best to introduce this new curriculum and ensure teacher training.”

The motion refers to the pedagogical guide produced by the Montreal-based Foundation for Genocide Education, which could give Quebec teachers access to the educational tool to support them in a sometimes difficult and challenging task of studying genocides in the classroom.

As reported in The Suburban last week, Montreal city councillor Sonny Moroz is urging the borough of Cote des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grace to adopt a similar resolution and will press for Montreal city council to follow suit.