Students learn about country's troubled past, Tour for Humanity makes stop in Kitchener

Teaching the next generation about our past in hopes of a better future is the Tour for Humanity's goal as it made a stop in Kitchener on Wednesday.

Grade 6 students at St. Josephine Bakhita Catholic Elementary School had a much different classroom backdrop – the inside of a bus.

The mobile education centre, operated by the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, takes students on a trip back in time – one of a troubled past.

"This essentially begins with an overview of the Holocaust through the story of our namesake, Simon Wiesenthal," said Daniella Lurion, director of the Tour for Humanity.

Since its launch in 2013, the tour has visited more than 1,200 schools across the country with the hopes of teaching young students about the Holocaust and Canada's human rights history.

"We begin with a history of slavery … residential schools, Indigenous Peoples … the Chinese head tax … antisemitism … hate crimes today and how it all comes together," said Lurion, listing some of the topics covered.

The goal is to learn from our wrongdoings and make sure they aren't repeated.

"All these different stories in our past are not meant to make these kids ashamed to be Canadian. It's actually the opposite. It's meant to make us grateful for the rights and freedoms that we have here today," Lurion said.

The workshops are accompanied by trigger warnings, given some of the material can be startling. That's especially the case for students who may have family members that suffered through moments of the country's, or world's, dark past.

Some of the teachings did come as a surprise to some students too.

"I didn't know that Canada had slavery back then, like 120 years ago. I also didn't know that people had to get boarded on a train to camps and they were murdered," said Nathan, a Grade 6 student.

"The residential schools – I have explored a bit on this top and I know that students, the kids, were treated very unfairly," said another Grade 6 student, Deepali. "One thing I was shocked by is that the kids were killed - they were murdered."

Despite the heavy content, students say they left the bus feeling thankful for the Canada they live in today.

While there is much more work to be done, they feel confident they can help lead the way.