Ontario expands Holocaust education for high school students

Ontario’s mandatory Holocaust education is expanding in the province’s high schools.

Starting in September 2025, Grade 10 students will take an expanded learning course the government says will focus on extreme political ideologies such as fascism, as well as both historic and modern-day antisemitism.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in a statement that the course is part of the government’s commitment to combat the rise of antisemitism and hate.

“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,” Lecce said in a statement.

Last year the government introduced mandatory learning on the Holocaust for Grade 6 elementary students. Similar education was included in the Grade 10 Canadian history curriculum; however it focused mostly on how the Holocaust impacted Canadian society and human rights.

The province will also spend $650,000 on community partnerships such as the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies to create an “Antisemitism Classroom Toolkit.” Other community partnerships include those with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Liberation75, the Canadian Society for Yad Veshem and the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s Holocaust Museum.

New course guidelines will be ready by 2025, officials say.

British Columbia has also pledged to expand Holocaust education by 2025.