• ​Raffi Sarkissian, founder and chair of the Sara Corning Centre for Genocide Education, will be presenting on the benefits and challenges of genocide education at an international, multidisciplinary conference titled “Understanding Atrocities: Remembering, Representing and Teaching Genocide.” The February 19–21, 2014, event is organized by the faculty of arts, faculty of teaching and learning and office of the provost of Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta.

    Sarkissian emphasized in regard to the meeting, “Genocide education is an avenue through which students can go beyond the historical facts and come to understand causes, consequences and solutions. At a time when communities are experiencing discrimination and inequality of different forms and levels all around the world, genocide education’s goal is to prevent escalating hatred  and to mend societies through education. Through it, teachers seek to inspire youth to truly work towards safeguarding the human rights for all.”

    As per its program and website, “the conference will include keynote addresses by James Waller, the Cohen Chair of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College, and author of Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing (2002); Andrea Smith, author of Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide (2005); and Christopher Powell, author of Barbaric Civilization: A Critical Sociology of Genocide (2011). [It] will also include a panel discussion on political and academic encounters with genocide, with Allan Rock, the President of the University of Ottawa and former Canadian Justice Minister, and Lloyd Axworthy, the President of the University of Winnipeg and former Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs.”
  • On November 5th, the founder and chair of the Corning Centre, Raffi Sarkissian, presented a lecture titled ‘Giving a Voice to the Voiceless- The Armenian Genocide’. The event was organized by the Institute for Global Citizenship and Equity and The School of Advancement at Centennial College as a part of the 33rd Annual Neuberger Holocaust Education Week.

    The presentation focused on the difficulties to remember, commemorate and educate in face of state sponsored denial of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish Government. With over 100 Centennial College students, faculty, staff and community members present, Sarkissian called for an end to the denial of the Armenian Genocide and the urgency to collectively commemorate past injustices and work to create a just society for all.
  • Raffi Sarkissian, Corning Centre founder and director, will be presenting at the 2013 Neuberger Holocaust Education Week. The event will take place on Tuesday, November 5, at 1:30 PM in Holy Trinity Armenian Church’s Magaros Artinian Hall (920 Progress Avenue, Toronto). The event is co-presented by the Institute for Global Citizenship and Equity and The School of Advancement at Centennial College. 

    The excerpt from the event booklet reads, “The Armenian Genocide of 1915, during which approximately 1.5 million people lost their lives, was another human tragedy of the last century. Keynote speaker Raffi Sarkissian will focus on the role of education and highlights the struggle to give voice to the voiceless—generations lost in the Armenian Genocide—and how this could be applied to the Holocaust as more survivors age. Selected materials from Centennial Library’s special collections will be on display, including items from the John and Molly Pollock Holocaust Collection.

    “Raffi Sarkissian is an educator, human rights advocate, public speaker and poet. He is Vice Principal of the A.R.S. Armenian Private School and the founder and director of the Sara Coming Centre for Genocide Education. He holds a B.A. Hons. in History, an M.Ed. from York University and a B.Ed. from Trent University. Raffi is a descendant of survivors of the Armenian Genocide.”

    The HEW 2013 event booklet can be found here.
  • The Canadian premiere of the Emmy Award-nominee documentary Orphans of the Genocide, directed by Bared Maronian, a four time regional Emmy Award winner, will take place during Toronto’s Pomegranate Film Festival at 3:00 PM on Sunday, November 10, 2013. The Sara Corning Centre for Genocide Education will have the honour of introducing the documentary. 

    The film’s description reads, “[This] Emmy-award nominee documentary commemorates the memory of the orphans of the Armenian genocide.  The film took inspiration from an article by Robert Fisk about the discovery of the Armenian orphanage in Antoura, near Beirut, Lebanon. The orphanage was intended to ‘turkify’ the orphans, based on the agenda of Ahmad Jamal Pasha. Maronian also provides a window into the lives of Canada’s Georgetown Boys.  Maronian’s short film Komitas Hairig was presented at POM V.”

    More information on the festival, including details on venues and tickets, can be found at www.pomegranatefilmfestival.com.
  • Below is a letter written on behalf of the Corning Centre in response to this recent article in the Globe and Mail. 

    Ms. Syvlia Stead,
    Public Editor
    The Globe and Mail

    Dear Ms. Sylvia Stead,

    As a Canadian organization advocating for genocide education in Canada, we were disappointed to see the recent article by Doug Saunders in the Globe and Mail, who unfortunately questions the need to identify the Armenian Genocide for what it is. We would like to add our voice to the letter sent to you by the Armenian National Committee of Canada, Armenian National Committee of Toronto, and the Armenian Community Centre of Toronto.

    In his article titled “Genocide: Is it a question worth answering?”, Mr. Saunders, on several occasions, questions whether the use of the term genocide is appropriate when referring to the Armenian case.

    On one occasion he goes as far as presenting the recognition of the Armenian Genocide as an injustice to “unambiguous” genocides such as that of the Jews and Rwandans. First and foremost, he fails to recognize the unambiguous nature of the Armenian Genocide. He then goes as far as placing guilt on the shoulders of Armenians and many others who by recognizing the Armenian Genocide apparently cause injustice to victims of “unambiguous” genocides. Lastly, he insults Jews and Rwandans by using their name in making his derogatory point. One would wonder how Holocaust survivor, novelist, professor and political activist Elie Wiesel would define the Armenian Genocide and how he would feel about being used as a pawn in this argument? Wiesel was among the 126 Holocaust scholars who signed a joint declaration affirming that the Armenian Genocide was an “incontestable historical fact” in other words “unambiguous”. In fact he has also said “Genocide kills twice, the second time by silence.” when referring to the denial of the Armenian Genocide. 

    According to the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), the leading authority on genocide scholarship, “There may be differing interpretations of genocide-how and why the Armenian Genocide happened, but to deny its factual and moral reality as genocide is not to engage in scholarship but in propaganda and efforts to absolve the perpetrator, blame the victims, and erase the ethical meaning of this history.”

    Media is often used in Canadian classrooms for a variety of reasons. For instance, articles published by your predecessor, The Globe, are often used when teaching students about eyewitness accounts and primary sources during the Armenian Genocide and the positive role media plays during international crises.  The article in question, for instance, would be used to display examples of modern day denial of genocides. Genocide scholar Gregory Stanton states, claiming that what has happened doesn’t fit the definition of genocide is one of the twelve ways to deny genocide. Mr. Saunders’ views fit under this form of denial Stanton labels “definitionalist” denial. 

    As a strong educational tool, the media has the responsibility to provide accurate and clear information and not misguided opinion presented as fact.  With this in mind, we are requesting that the Globe and Mail provide space for an article that clearly represents the newspaper’s traditional and factual reporting on this matter that dates back to the late 19th century. 

    Regards,

    Raffi Sarkissian, OCT, BEd, MEd
    Founder and Chair
    Sara Corning Centre for Genocide Education