Holodomor Teaching Unit
to be Prepared
By Alex Chumak
Actually, you can take on “City Hall” and win. In this case,
instead of city hall it was the Toronto District School Board. On September 10,
2008, the Program and School Services Committee unanimously approved that a secondary
curriculum teaching guide and curriculum resource materials on the Holodomor be
developed for use in September 2009, and that this guide be made available to
every secondary school at that time.
To reach this formidable conclusion was no easy
task. The Holodomor Committee at the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (Toronto
Branch) initiated the process to include the Holodomor in the school board’s
curriculum in January 2008, with the majority of its work being done in the
Summer/Fall 2008.
The term Holodomor is based on two Ukrainian
words: holod- hunger, starvation, famine and moryty – to induce
suffering, to kill. The Holodomor was an act of genocide against the Ukrainian
people committed by the Soviet Communist Regime in 1932-1933. The consequences
of the Holodomor are staggering. It is estimated that 7 to 10 million innocent
people perished. Over 3,000,000 of its victims were children. Not only does the
Holodomor meet the Geneva Convention’s definition of genocide, but also it was
the only genocide that was executed in peace time.
When the UCC Holodomor Committee initially
started the process to include this genocide into the Board’s Course of
Studies, it was met with indifference and an ostensible lack of initiative.
Staff and Trustees seemed to be disinterested.
The Committee was neither discouraged nor willing
to give up. It provided the Trustees and staff with historically accurate
information and continued to lobby the Board in a methodical and professional
manner.
When asked why the change occurred, Gerry
Connelly, the Director of the Toronto District School Board in an interview
said that “initially there was little understanding about the Holodomor. We
needed further information and on the strength of our own research, coupled
with the Ukrainian Community’s input, we had to include the Holodomor in our
curriculum”.
Andriy Melnyk, a driving force of the Holodomor
Committee and a retired school principal was delighted, saying “I am impressed
with the co-ordinated efforts of UCC Holodomor Committee (Toronto Branch) and
the Ukrainian community. The Board made
a 180 degree turnaround since the Trustees realised it was the right thing to
do” (to include the Holodomor in the curriculum).
The recommendation of the Program and School
Services Committee with respect to the inclusion of the Holodomor in the
curriculum will go to the full Board in late September. Since both staff and
students support its inclusion, it can be safely stated that it will be
approved by the full Board.
Once approved, it will be turned over to Systems
Superintendent Christopher Usih for implementation. In an interview, Usih
stated that the Board has an established process in developing new curricula.
Steps have to be taken to meet (Ministry of Education) expectations and that
the Holodomor be presented in a historical and factual manner. The material
will be vetted by historians and our own staff”. He also indicated that the
Ukrainian Community can submit resources which will be considered when the
writing occurs.
Once the curriculum is completed and vetted,
teachers will have an opportunity to go through a training and information
session on how to use the Holodomor Unit.
Roman Kordiuk, a teacher of almost 40 years’
experience in
Valentina Kuryliw, a retired Head of History with
the TDSB, and a curriculum writer on Holodomor issues was equally enthusiastic
“I’m happy, this is the first step to have information on the Holodomor
accessible to the World History and Civics courses.”
Although two milestones have been reached by the
Toronto Board – to recognize the fourth Friday in November as Holodomor
Recognition Day in Schools, and presently, to prepare a teaching unit on the
Holodomor, the work of the Ukrainian community is not finished.
The Holodomor Committee of the UCC (Toronto
Branch) must ensure that the teaching unit is both historically accurate and
unbiased. It must continue to be a watch-dog while the Board is preparing this
unit.
Alex Chumak is a former Toronto School Board Trustee