Amid a rise in antisemitism in Canada, the Ontario government is expanding education on the significance of the Holocaust for students in Grade 10.
The province said it will be investing $650,000 in community partnerships that will provide resources for students and educator training for expanded learning. The new education model, expected to be in place by September 2025, will build on the current Grade 10 history curriculum by explicitly linking the Holocaust to extreme political ideologies, including fascism, antisemitism in Canada in the 1930s and 1940s, and the contemporary impacts of rising antisemitism.
“Our government is decisively combatting the rise of antisemitism and hate in all its forms,” said Minister of Education Stephen Lecce in a news release. “By including new mandatory learning in Holocaust education in elementary and secondary schools, we are ensuring students are never bystanders in the face of hate and division. We will ensure that ‘Never Again’ is our legacy to the next generation, as we safeguard and promote those fundamental Canadian values of democracy, freedom, civility and respect.”
According to the province, an annual audit of antisemitism in 2022 logged 2,769 incidents, which is among the highest rates of hate crimes ever recorded in Canada.
As well, a survey conducted by Liberation75 showed that one in three teens in Canada and the United States think the Holocaust was fabricated, exaggerated, or are unsure it actually happened.
