The official website of Quebec’s National Assembly has issued a petition to make the study of genocide compulsory in Quebec high schools.
The Petition text reads:
Considering that racial and cultural intolerance and discrimination are the preconditions associated with the beginnings of genocide, defined as the systematic destruction of a racial, ethnic or cultural group;
Considering that education is the key to recognizing and preventing discrimination and acts of hate amongst our youth, and that knowledge of genocides is essential to preventing such acts in the future;
Considering that significant numbers of Quebec students have no knowledge of genocides, past or present, including the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, Rwandan genocide, and the cultural genocide of our First Nations;
Considering that the study of genocide is not currently a mandatory part of the high school curriculum in Quebec, and that the Foundation for the Compulsory Study of Genocide in Schools is able to provide such a course to be implemented in the schools;
We, the undersigned, ask that the National Assembly and the Minister of Education, Higher Education and Research Act to make the study of genocide compulsory in all Quebec high schools as a means to creating a tolerant and peaceful society which is accepting of all cultures and religions.
The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.
The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.
Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.
The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, the Italian Chamber of Deputies, majority of U.S. states, parliaments of Greece, Cyprus, Argentina, Belgium and Wales, National Council of Switzerland, Chamber of Commons of Canada, Polish Sejm, Vatican, European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.