Manitoba mandates Holocaust education

Starting in September, schools in Manitoba must teach students about the Holocaust. Previously, a recommendation was made that education would become mandatory for grades six, nine, and eleven.

“We in the Jewish community had been asking for a mandating curriculum for 50 years,” said Belle Jarniewski, the executive director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada.

Manitoba becomes the sixth province to mandate Holocaust studies in secondary schools. The curriculum, developed by the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, will provide teachers with the resources to cover a range of topics.

“Who jews are, our history, including our history in Manitoba and in Canada. To talk about anti-semitism historically, which without that terrible, could not have resulted in the murder of six million Jewish men, women, and children. And also about anti-semitism in Canada,” Jarniewski explained.

B’nai Brith’s annual audit showed 6,219 cases of hatred targetting the Jewish community in 2024 – the highest mark since the audit began in 1982.

“I have always believed that education is the answer. I’m looking forward to hopefully changing what is happening around us.”

Jarniewski says with kids and teens turning to social media for their information, it’s easy to convince them to hate Jewish people or other minorities.

“It’s so important to teach history in schools so people can understand and not be so quick to accept anything that they see,” said Jarniewski.

The Manitoba director of B’nai B’rith flags another challenge – the aging of Holocaust survivors.

“When people were saying the Holocaust did not really happen, we could invite a survivor to come and speak to a school, but that option becomes less and less available to us, so Holocaust education becomes extremely important,” said Ruth Ashrafi, the regional director of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, B’nai Brith Canada.

Teachers from across the province will have a chance to get their first look at the new curriculum on May 13 during a professional development day.