High school students in Ontario will be learning more about Ukrainian history in the next few years.
Starting in the fall of 2025, the grade 10 history curriculum will include a section on the Ukrainian famine and genocide of the early 1930s.
Provincial officials say the course will outline how the famine, also known as Holodomor, was a result of totalitarian policies of the Communist Soviet Union leading to a man-made famine that killed millions of Ukrainians between 1932 and 1933.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced the changes Tuesday morning, saying the new learning will elevate Canadian values focused on embracing democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law.
“The rise of extremism, including Communism and Marxism, are direct threats to our democracy, social cohesion and values as Canadians,” said Lecce. “I am determined to strengthen education on our shared values, including by mandating learning about the horrors of state-sponsored persecution of Ukrainians in the Holodomor in Grade 10 Canadian History. This learning will help ensure students are never bystanders in the face of such horrors, understand the danger of totalitarianism and help safeguard fundamental Canadian values of freedom and democracy over communist extremism.”
Students will also learn about how extreme ideologies enabled mass-scale political repressions through widespread intimidation, arrests and imprisonment, along with the impact of this genocide on the Ukrainian community in Canada.
The provincial government is also investing $400,000 in the in the Canada-Ukraine Foundation to support the Holodomor National Awareness Tour and the Holodomor Mobile Classroom (HMC), a 40-foot mobile recreational vehicle with interactive hands-on lessons designed to engage students and assist in teaching about the famine.