November 14, 2024
November is Holocaust Education Month. It is a time to reflect on the state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jewish men, women, and children, homosexuals, persons with disabilities, political dissidents, prisoners of war and others from 1933-1945.
It is also a time to reflect on what history teaches us when we lose our way.
In these uncertain times, incidents of hate crime continue to escalate, as do attitudes of intolerance and the dissemination of misinformation. These threaten to pervade our communities, making it is essential that we stand in opposition to racism, discrimination and hate in all its forms.
Wars raging far away have real impacts here at home, especially for those with deep ties to the areas in conflict. When lives and homes are in peril, feelings of anger, resentment, and worse, the impulse to act on those feelings become evident.
How do we handle those moments? How do we teach our students to handle them? Manitoba educators have a role to play, as does their union, in the defense of marginalized members and students who face cruel and corrosive behaviour, overtly and systemically.
If you’re looking for resources for Holocaust Education Month, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights offers some excellent choices, including Canada, antisemitism and the Holocaust.
Know that MTS will not stand by when any member is targeted based on their race, religion or identity. This includes any Jewish member faced with antisemitic rhetoric or actions. Such behaviour is thoroughly unacceptable and we unequivocally condemn it.
This work is hard. We may not always get it right, but we must keep trying. We must keep talking. We must keep showing up. And we must keep working to preserve the safety and dignity of our entire membership, knowing that in its diversity we find strength, beauty, the opportunity to unite, and our collective responsibility to model a better, kinder, wiser world.
During Holocaust Education Month, we must honour this commitment and remember what has happened when we don’t.
If you are the target of hate or discrimination at work, an MTS Teacher Welfare Department staff officer is only a phone call away. You can reach the Teacher Welfare Department by phone: 204-888-7961 and Toll Free: 1-866-494-5747.
Always remember, you are not alone.
In solidarity,
Nathan Martindale, MTS president