B.C. will make Holocaust education mandatory for high school students to combat rising hate, disinformation, and antisemitism, Premier David Eby told members of the Jewish community in Vancouver on Monday.
The province will broaden the scope of the required Grade 10 social studies curriculum to ensure that when learning about discriminatory policies and injustices in Canada and around the world, all B.C. students learn about the Holocaust, he said.
The changes will take effect in the 2025-26 school year to allow for consultation with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, the Jewish community and education partners, the province said.
“For our friends and neighbours in the Jewish community, this has been an incredibly frightening time,” said Eby in a statement. “We have seen a rise in antisemitism in B.C. following the terrorist attacks in Israel, which evokes the history of persecution of Jews.
“Combating this kind of hate begins with learning from the darkest parts of our history, so the same horrors are never repeated.”
A study commissioned last year by the Canadian charity Liberation75 said one-third of North American students surveyed believed the Holocaust was exaggerated or fabricated.
Other additions to the Grade 10 social studies curriculum are also being considered, the province said, including topics such as discrimination against the Muslim, East-Asian, Black and South-Asian communities.
The province says conversations with stakeholders will happen over the next year.
