Rise of Marxism a ‘Threat to Our Democracy,’ Says Ont. Education Minister in Adding Holodomor Education to Schools

Stephen Lecce says learning about the Ukrainian famine will help ensure students never become bystanders in the face of ‘communist extremism.’

Ontario Minister of Education Stephen speaks at a press conference in Toronto on Aug. 22, 2019. The Canadian Press/Christopher Katsarov

The government of Ontario is making lessons on the Holodomor famine under Soviet rule mandatory for grade 10 students, with the education minister saying knowing this history will help students safeguard against “communist extremism.”

“The rise of extremism, including Communism and Marxism, are direct threats to our democracy, social cohesion and values as Canadians,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in a statement on Nov. 28.

“This learning will help ensure students are never bystanders in the face of such horrors, understand the danger of totalitarianism and help safeguard fundamental Canadian values of freedom and democracy over communist extremism.”

The Holodomor, which translated from Ukrainian means “death from hunger,” was caused by Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin’s collectivization of farms. It took an estimated 4 million lives between 1932 and 1933.

Canada recognized the Holodomor as “an act of genocide” in 2008, declaring the fourth Saturday in November as Holodomor Memorial Day.

“It is recognized that information about the Ukrainian Famine and Genocide of 1932–33 was suppressed, distorted or destroyed by Soviet authorities,” the act declaring Holodomor as a genocide reads. “Canada, as a party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of December 9, 1948, condemns all genocides.”

The Ontario Ministry of Education says the new addition to the Grade 10 Canadian History curriculum will ensure that students can learn from history and be aware of the “adverse consequences of extreme political ideologies like those from Stalin’s totalitarian communist regime.”

“Students will also learn about how extreme ideologies enabled mass-scale political repressions through widespread intimidation, arrests and imprisonment, along with the impact of this genocide on the Ukrainian community in Canada,” the ministry said in a statement.

The government said it is also providing a grant of $400,000 to the Canada-Ukraine Foundation to support the Holodomor National Awareness Tour and the Holodomor Mobile Classroom (HMC). The HMC is a 40-foot mobile recreational vehicle equipped with hands-on lessons about the deadly famine.

The announcement comes on the heels of an earlier initiative introduced this month to add education on the Holocaust under Nazi Germany for grade 6 and grade 10 students.