Two New Armenian Genocide Resources Online

On the occasion of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, the Corning Centre has published two new resources and accompanying activities for educators. As we enter April, known widely as Genocide Awareness Month and the month during which the Armenian Genocide is officially commemorated (April 24), these resources will assist educators in teaching this history in their classrooms.

Historical Thinking Concepts: The Georgetown Armenian Boys provides teachers with three concise readings about international and Canadian aid for the victims to the Armenian Genocide and about the Georgetown Armenian Boys. These readings are followed by several primary and secondary sources that provide students with insight into what Canadians were reading during the 1910s and 1920s and into the lives of the Georgetown Boys, the latter through articles from a newsletter they produced themselves, Ararat Monthly. The teacher’s resource guides students in using this booklet through the lens of the Historical Thinking Concepts.

Canada and the Armenian Genocide examines this genocide and its consequences, Canadian assistance before during and after the Genocide and issues related to collective commemoration. The discussion questions in the teacher’s resource allows students to go beyond the text and understand the deeper issues and concepts related to the Armenian Genocide, allowing them to utilize the information in this booklet to its full capacity.

The teacher’s guides for the above resources can be found in our Online Lesson Portal.

These two resources, coupled with the Corning Centre’s 100 Voices Project and the lesson on upstander Armin Wegner, provide a strong set of materials all developed on the occasion of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide.

On this occasion, Raffi Sarkissian, chair of the Corning Centre, stressed, “We encourage educators to use these resources in April and in future academic years to strengthen student knowledge on genocide and its grave consequences and also to help them find their voices and the means and places for making themselves heard on the issues they care about. After all, two of the strongest messages of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide are the importance of international movements dedicated to preventing genocides and the individual roles each of us can play as upstanders.”