Perspectives on Racism: Anti-Racism Education Is the Key
The battle against racism and anti-Semitism will ultimately
be won through increased efforts to incorporate
multicultural, anti-racist, and human-rights education in
our schools and to start this training as early as possible.
Many school boards have race and ethnocultural equity
policies on the books, but lack of in-service training of
teachers and administrators often leaves staff powerless in
knowing how to handle incidents of racism, and may even
result in the staff being as much part of the problem as
part of the solution. There is a need for education and
awareness at every level of the educational system, from
early childhood through post-secondary, from teachers'
federations to the ministries and departments of education.
Students must be helped to standup to racism instead of
being either victims or perpetrators of harassment. Teachers
must be given the skills to identify and handle expressions
of racism and to develop a curriculum that is both pro-
active and anti-racist. We must turn Holocaust denial into
Holocaust education, and cries of 'reverse discrimination'
into advocacy for organizational change, employment, and
educational equity.
Through human-rights and anti-racism workshops, the League
has seen children's behaviour change; its Student Human
Rights Achievement Awards have demonstrated what they are
capable of understanding. Organizations are clearly
grappling with change through policy development and
implementation. The effective leadership of dedicated
principals, teachers, managers, and workers is evident. But
there has also been tremendous resistance and backlash. We
have a long way to go.
But there is room for optimism Recently the Ontario Anti-
Racism Secretariat of the Ministry of Citizenship declared
unequivocally that anti-Semitism is on its agenda. The
Secretariat is increasing its networking efforts with local
police to monitor hate-group activity, and has published the
League for Human Right's 'Combatting Hate' guidelines on
actions to be taken against racism and anti-Semitism, along
with the League's Incident Reporting Form, which is designed
to encourage groups to work together and to come forward
without fear to report racist and anti-Semitic incidents.
The Department of Immigration has recently prevented the
notorious Holocaust denier, David Irving from entering
Canada for his annual hate-promoting tour. The Solicitor-
General has issued guidelines for gathering statistics on
racially motivated crime, and policing services across
Canada are creating hate-crimes units to monitor such
crimes, assist victims appropriately, and conduct public
education in schools, on campus, and throughout communities.
The Ontario minister of education agreed to thoroughly
investigate Paul Fromm - a known white supremacist and neo-
Nazi who has hurled racial slurs against Aboriginal peoples
at public meetings, whose hero is Hitler (he has celebrated
his birthday at a meeting of the Heritage Front), and who
continues to teach history and English for the Peel Board of
Education (though he has been taken from the regular
classroom and placed in adult education). There are signs of
progress, however slow.
[Continued]
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Nizkor
© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012
This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and
to combat hatred.
Any statements or excerpts found on this site are for educational purposes only.
As part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may
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Anti-Semitism in
Canada
Realities, Remedies & Implications for Anti-Racism
Dr. Karen Mock