Ontario government introducing Grade 6 Holocaust education requirement in 2023

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce makes an announcement in Toronto on Wednesday, January 12, 2022.The Ontario government says it is introducing a mandatory learning requirement on Holocaust education in the province's Grade 6 curriculum to be implemented in September 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

The Ontario government says it is introducing a mandatory learning requirement on Holocaust education to the province's Grade 6 curriculum.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce says the requirement is part of reforms to help young students understand the significance of the Holocaust and combat what the government says is rising antisemitism in schools.

Lecce says his ministry will also work with the Ontario College of Teachers to develop professional learning for teachers so they can further support Holocaust education efforts.

The province says the Grade 6 learning requirement on Holocaust education will be implemented in September 2023.

A similar requirement is currently part of the Grade 10 Canadian history curriculum.

"We are taking action to counter antisemitism and hate, because those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it," Lecce wrote in a statement Wednesday.

The province says that more than 50 incidents involving antisemitic hate symbols have taken place in the Toronto District School Board in the 2021-22 school year alone.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2022.