M-T
The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, May 17,1984 - Page 3
ll^d-National
By
TAMMYKAROL EDMONTON-
An Alberta government committee on racism has completed the first section of a 4-part report on education in the province and sonle of its findings criticize current Government policies.
The 20-page interim first report, released May4, deals with private education in Alberta and recommends that private schools be part of the public education system.
"If they meet minimum requirements such as certified teachers and c u r r i c u 1 u m, s c h o o 1 boards must accept
them," said Susan Holt, a coordinator for the committee on racism's office in Edmonton.
"Thos the Calga^ Hebrew iDay School should be accepted within the public schpdl system and it will be op to the minister of education to adopt our reconunen-datipn," she added.
The Calgaiy Hebrew Day School ends its contract with the Calgaiy Board of Education next month and as of September it wiU be afiSliated with the Catholic School Board [CJN Nov. 17].
The committee was established last suihmer following the Keegstra affair (Keegstra was
FRANK 114SI^
PORT HAWKESBURY, N.S;:—. ■■
A Jewish wife niairied to a Christian hnsband were the speaiiers at at onique and moving re-membr^ce of tte Holo-caast ceremony held here recently in Ihe chapel of St. Maxy> Convent.
Claude I. Taylor
to get
MONTREAL —
Claude I. Taylor, president and chief executive officer of Air Canada, is the 1984 recipient of the B'nai B'rith Award of Merit, it was announced last week by B'nai B'rith Canada.
The official presentation will be made at a dinner dance on June 21 at the Bonaventurer Westin Hotel. J
Taylor will receive the award ' 'in recognition of his outstanding contribution in support of Canadian industry and in helping to shape the social fabric of the coiii-m unity at large," according to a BJBC press release. Taylor commenced his career with Air Canada in 1949 and was appointed to his present post in 1976.
Previous recipients of the Award of Merit include : Laurent Beaiid-oin, president and chief executive pfficer, Bombardier Inc.; Philippe de Gaspe Beaubieh, presi^ dent, Telemedia Communications; WilTiam I. M. Turner, Jfr., Consolidated Bathurst; Jean Beffveau, Club de Hockey Canadien Inc.; Jacques Courtois, Stike-mari, Elliott, Tamaki, Mercier.Robb; Reginald K. Groome, Hilton Canada.
It was an extraordinary service on two scores;
It was the first Christian commeinoration of the Holocaust ever conducted on Cape Breton Island.
It was also the result of individual rather than official initiatives from either the Christian or Jewish communities.
The service was created by Sister Ellen Donovan of St. Mary's Convent from materials made available by the National Council of Christians and Jews.
Guest speakers were a married couple from Orangedale, NS — John Gardner, a Christian, and Jo Ann, who is Jewish.
Sister Ellen told the small gathering she had been inspired to organize the service as a result of a recent visit to Jerusalem, where she had been profoundly affected by the Yad Vashem.
Jo Ann Gardner spoke of growing up in a non-Jewish environment, where anti-semitic remarks made her feel ashamed of her Jewish-:ness. ,^;;
"Subtly but surely, all throughout my childhood, I had received the message... . that there was something wrong
with being Jewish," she said.
Eight years agOr when she began to study the Holocaust, said Jo Ann, she gradually began to recover what had almost slipped beyond her grasp — her cherished Jewish heritage.
Minister
relations
She gave credit to three people who helped her make that difficult journey back to Judaism: Rev. James Parkes; an Anglican miniister who has pioneered locally the study of Jewish-Christian relations; Malcolm Hay, a Scottish-Catholic historian; and her husband, John, who urged her to study the Holocaust story.
"These people did not diminish nor negate their Christianity by es-pdusirig the Jewish cause, nor by their efforts to understand Ju-
daism, "she said.
"On the contrary, they are true Christians. Their insights and compassion have taught me to appreciate the; bond between all people of good faith."
John Gardiner told the group thai the Holocaust story had led hlm to study antl-seinitism and the relationship between Jewish and Christian cultures.
"The Holocaust is not just the history of the Jews," he said."There is much more to Jewish history than can be understood by looking only at Hitler's murder camps."
In a moving personal testimony, he concluded:
"I have a doubled — Christian and Jewish --vision of life, of the past and present. My knowledge and understanding are wider and deeper. I am less ignorant than I was."
And his wife, he said, had given him another
:gift.
"Thirty years ago, I loved one Jew/^ he said. '^Because of that love and what it led to — the study of Jewishness, histoid, Christianity--^ I have come to caro for all Jews. And I am all the richer for it."
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charged with teaching his anti-semitic views in an Eckville, Alta. classroom) and one of its mandates is to recommend to the minister of education ways in which to foster greater tolerance and respect for human rights in the education system.
Since falh the Committee on Tolerance and Understanding has been traveling across Alberta to hear briefs from some 150 individuals and groups including the B'nai B'rith League for Human Rights in Calgary and the Edmonton Jewish Community Council (CJN Jan. 12).
Ron Ghitter, a Calgary lawyer, former Conservative ML A, and a member of the Jewish community, is chairman of the committee.
One of the key recommendations in the com-, mittee's interim first re-
port is to cease grants for fundamentalist Christian private schools whose teachings condemn Islam and other rieligions.
According to the report, the government should also be more firm in kicking out "illegal schools" (most of which were established oh a religious basis) and do notfollow a government-approved curriculum or use certified teachers.
Hie report stresses ths^t the government should cat off grants to private schools,^ except for those affiliated with local boards of edncation and agree to abide by certain basic standards and canricolnm guide-' lines. This proposal, it is expected, will be welcomed by several alternate religions schools in Calgary which were recently forced but of ^ the pnblic school system.
Holt said that the second portion of the committee's report, set for release in June, will deal \yith education of native children in Alberta.
The third portion will centre around curriculum and professionalism in Alberta schools and will focus on what's , being taught in the classroom.
Holocaust studies and resource material available to teach about the Holocaust are expected to be examined in the third portion of the report,; according to Holt.
The third section is to be released in September and the last segment should be ready by October, Holt said.
Section 4 will deal with intercultural education and the need for trade fairs and cultural days to complement standard teaching.
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