FAST Initiatives - Choose Your Voice Educational Program

Choose Your Voice: Antisemitism in Canada

Choose Your Voice: Antisemitism in Canada is an educational program for students in Grades 6, 7 and 8 produced by Canadian Jewish Congress for FAST (Fighting Antisemitism Together), which was founded by Elizabeth and Tony Comper to help combat the rising tide of antisemitism in Canada.

FAST is a coalition of non-Jewish business and community leaders who have come together to speak out against antisemitism and to fund educational programs that encourage others to speak out. A key goal is to teach children that hatred has no place in our country, and to encourage all children to feel safe and secure to be who they are.

The Choose Your Voice resource kit is designed for teachers of students in Grades 6, 7 and 8 based on Ontario curriculum requirements. The kit gives teachers tools to help their students learn about the dangers of hatred and stereotypes, and find their voices to combat them. It encourages students not to be bystanders or perpetrators but heroes, by speaking out.

The kit contains four lesson plans, written by a team of teachers, to address prejudice. Each lesson contributes to a better understanding of the ways in which we construct stereotypes and the ways in which prejudice and misunderstanding have contributed to our past and our present in Canada.

Each lesson is accompanied by fact sheets on specific incidents related to the goals of the lesson. The kit also contains a DVD with compelling messages about the dangers of antisemitism and racism. It includes an introduction to FAST as well as four segments whose contents match each of the lessons in the kit.

This resource was designed to help educators teach these important lessons while meeting curriculum guidelines. It was designed to be flexible so that lessons can be taught individually or as a unit. The materials can also be adapted for other grades.

Below is an outline of the four lessons contained in the kit:

Lesson 1: “Bursting” the Voices of Stereotyping
This lesson is designed to teach students the concept of stereotyping, allowing them to understand how powerful and hurtful stereotyping is to everyone.

Lesson 2: Voices from the Past
This lesson focuses on episodes in Canada’s past that involved racism and antisemitism; students learn that hateful acts involve victims, bystanders and perpetrators

Lesson 3: Voices from the Present
This lesson helps students develop awareness of recent antisemitic and racist incidents, and to understand the components of a hate crime.

Lesson 4: Choose Your Voice
This lesson moves from history into action; students identify strategies for responding to prejudice and hate-filled incidents so that they can move toward a culture of peace.

For information about the Choose Your Voice Education Program, please contact:

Canadian Jewish Congress Charities Committee
National Office (Toronto)
4600 Bathurst Street, 4^th Floor
Toronto, Ontario
M2R 3V2

Tel: (416) 635-2883
Fax: (416) 635-1408

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