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Effort to abolish Armenian Genocide curriculum in Toronto failed
July 28, 2014 - 14:04 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - An effort by Canadian Turks to abolish curriculum on
the Armenian Genocide in Toronto schools has failed, with education
officials saying that the genocide will continue to be taught for
years to come, Rudaw reports.
Canadian Turks earlier this year submitted over 2,200 signatures from
an online petition calling for the Armenian genocide module to be
removed from the Toronto District School Board's educational
curriculum.
The petition demanded that Canada's largest school board remove any
references to the Armenian genocide on the basis that it
"unremittingly discredits one community's narrative over the other"
and "adversely affects the students with Turkish and Turkic
heritages."
The Armenian Genocide has been taught since 2008 in a secondary school
course called Genocide and Crimes again Humanity.
The district told Rudaw that the class "is offered in some of our high
schools where there is enough interest'' and is "in line with not only
the Canadian government but scholars who have looked into this
specific issue."
The Toronto District School Board "has no intention to have it removed
in the years ahead," a district spokesperson said.
Toronto is the largest and one of the most diverse school districts in
Canada, serving approximately 232,000 students, including
international students, in almost 600 schools.
The online petition was the latest attempt by Turkish Canadians to
counter recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
The Federation of Turkish Canadian Associations, which championed the
online petition and tried to stop the Armenian genocide curriculum
from being introduced in 2008, also in April lobbied against a
monument recognizing the Armenian genocide in Toronto.
The petition garnered 2,255 signatures from around the world. The
Federation of Turkish Canadian Associations reports that there are
50,000 Canadians of Turkish origin.
Robert Kouyoumdjian, head of the political chapter at the Armenian
National Committee of Canada, lobbied for the Toronto district's
Armenian genocide curriculum. Frank Chalk, director of the Montreal
Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, endorsed it,
according to Rudaw.
The online petition was launched by Turkish parents of students
attending Toronto schools who stated in the petition that they were
"deeply concerned about the negative impact of the current curriculum
module on 'Armenian Genocide,'" claiming it "would often result in
ridiculing, intimidating, and bullying of our innocent children while
causing injury to them physically and psychologically."
However, Jim Karygiannis, a former MP based in Toronto, told Rudaw
there is no evidence of Turkish children having been intimidated at
schools. He said teaching high school students about the Armenian and
other genocides could help prevent future atrocities.
Karygiannis also warned that removing references to the Armenian
genocide from textbooks could call into question curricula from other
genocides, such as the Holocaust, the Ukrainian famine and genocide
from 1932-1933, the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and the 1980s Anfal
genocidal campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan.
"You can't change history, and history should not be altered. We
should learn from history and move forward so we don't make the
mistakes again," Karygiannis said.
A Kurdish attorney based in Toronto, Hadyat Nazami, wrote a letter to
Change.org officials, expressing serious concerns about the petition,
which he deemed hate speech. In his letter, Nazami described the
Turks' petition as "essentially demanding that books and school
curriculum be censored, in line with the one century old official
ideology of the Turkish state to deny Armenian genocide ever took
place in that country."
Nazami's vocal opposition has led to discussions among scholars and
NGOs about adequate measures to protect freedom of speech while paying
respect to the sufferings of survivors.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/181135/
From: Baghdasarian
July 28, 2014 - 14:04 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - An effort by Canadian Turks to abolish curriculum on
the Armenian Genocide in Toronto schools has failed, with education
officials saying that the genocide will continue to be taught for
years to come, Rudaw reports.
Canadian Turks earlier this year submitted over 2,200 signatures from
an online petition calling for the Armenian genocide module to be
removed from the Toronto District School Board's educational
curriculum.
The petition demanded that Canada's largest school board remove any
references to the Armenian genocide on the basis that it
"unremittingly discredits one community's narrative over the other"
and "adversely affects the students with Turkish and Turkic
heritages."
The Armenian Genocide has been taught since 2008 in a secondary school
course called Genocide and Crimes again Humanity.
The district told Rudaw that the class "is offered in some of our high
schools where there is enough interest'' and is "in line with not only
the Canadian government but scholars who have looked into this
specific issue."
The Toronto District School Board "has no intention to have it removed
in the years ahead," a district spokesperson said.
Toronto is the largest and one of the most diverse school districts in
Canada, serving approximately 232,000 students, including
international students, in almost 600 schools.
The online petition was the latest attempt by Turkish Canadians to
counter recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
The Federation of Turkish Canadian Associations, which championed the
online petition and tried to stop the Armenian genocide curriculum
from being introduced in 2008, also in April lobbied against a
monument recognizing the Armenian genocide in Toronto.
The petition garnered 2,255 signatures from around the world. The
Federation of Turkish Canadian Associations reports that there are
50,000 Canadians of Turkish origin.
Robert Kouyoumdjian, head of the political chapter at the Armenian
National Committee of Canada, lobbied for the Toronto district's
Armenian genocide curriculum. Frank Chalk, director of the Montreal
Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, endorsed it,
according to Rudaw.
The online petition was launched by Turkish parents of students
attending Toronto schools who stated in the petition that they were
"deeply concerned about the negative impact of the current curriculum
module on 'Armenian Genocide,'" claiming it "would often result in
ridiculing, intimidating, and bullying of our innocent children while
causing injury to them physically and psychologically."
However, Jim Karygiannis, a former MP based in Toronto, told Rudaw
there is no evidence of Turkish children having been intimidated at
schools. He said teaching high school students about the Armenian and
other genocides could help prevent future atrocities.
Karygiannis also warned that removing references to the Armenian
genocide from textbooks could call into question curricula from other
genocides, such as the Holocaust, the Ukrainian famine and genocide
from 1932-1933, the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and the 1980s Anfal
genocidal campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan.
"You can't change history, and history should not be altered. We
should learn from history and move forward so we don't make the
mistakes again," Karygiannis said.
A Kurdish attorney based in Toronto, Hadyat Nazami, wrote a letter to
Change.org officials, expressing serious concerns about the petition,
which he deemed hate speech. In his letter, Nazami described the
Turks' petition as "essentially demanding that books and school
curriculum be censored, in line with the one century old official
ideology of the Turkish state to deny Armenian genocide ever took
place in that country."
Nazami's vocal opposition has led to discussions among scholars and
NGOs about adequate measures to protect freedom of speech while paying
respect to the sufferings of survivors.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/181135/
From: Baghdasarian