• The Corning Centre had the honour of introducing Bared Maronian’s inspiring and powerful documentary, Women of 1915 for the second time at Hamazkayin Toronto Pomegranate Film Festival Committee’s special encore presentation in benefit of the A.R.S. Armenian School annual Telethon on Saturday, February 25. Corning Centre Founder and Chair Raffi Sarkissian introduced the film stating “The documentary you are about to see is very unique as was Bared Maronian’s previous documentary, Orphans of the Genocide. Both left audiences worldwide with knowledge they would not have otherwise come across and a high level of curiosity, prompting one to dig deeper and learn more. Bared’s creations embody every aspect of an excellent documentary. Therefore, it is no coincidence that he has received many honours and awards.”

    At the event, the Corning Centre’s Director of Finance, Paul Ternamian, presented the Speak Out contest to the audience and invited the awardees to stage. Director Bared Maronian joined the Corning Centre on stage to present the awardees with their certificates and awards. On the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, among its several initiatives, the Corning Centre held an Essay and Creative Writing Contest called Speak Out. The contest was open to all senior level high school students in Ontario, awarding a first place prize in each category of $500 and a runner prize of $100.

    This year’s winners represented two schools from two school boards. Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute in the Waterloo Region District School Board and Sir Allan Macnab Secondary in the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. 

    The students who won this year were fortunate to have had exemplary teachers who attended the event, both of whom have worked with the Corning Centre in the past. The Corning Centre recognized the two outstanding Ontario teachers for their commitment to genocide education, Erin Ledlow from Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute in the Waterloo Region District School Board and Deborah Brown from Sir Allan Macnab Secondary in the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. The two teachers received a copy of Aram Adjemian’s “A Call From Armenia: Canada’s Response to the Armenian Genocide” and Bared Maronian’s two films on DVD “Orphans of the Genocide” and “Women of 1915”.

    The Corning Centre awarded prizes to their students whose works were chosen for first and second places for the centre’s Speak Out Contest, held on the occasion of the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide. Congratulations to the winners of the essay contest, Gabriella Zepeda Ayala (first place) and Nate Skeen (second place) and the winners of the creative writing contest, Casey Monkelbaan (first place) and Lareb Zahra (second place).

    We want to congratulate all the winners and participants and thank teachers for their continued support and dedication to Genocide Education. Paul Ternamian concluded the award ceremony by stating “Education is the most effective means to equip every new generation with the knowledge and skills needed to become positive contributors in society and agents of change. The grade 11 Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity Course has been doing just this thanks to dedicated teachers like Erin and Deborah.”

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    We are excited to announce the publication of Understanding Atrocities: Remembering, Representing, and Teaching Genocide, edited by Scott W. Murray and published by the University of Calgary Press. The book includes a chapter by Corning Centre Founder and Chair Raffi Sarkissian.

    “Understanding Atrocities is a wide-ranging collection of essays bridging scholarly and community-based efforts to understand and respond to the global, transhistorical problem of genocide. The essays in this volume investigate how evolving, contemporary views on mass atrocity frame and complicate the possibilities for the understanding and prevention of genocide.” It is published as part of the Arts in Action series, which “focuses on illuminating, promoting, or demonstrating the fundamental significance of the arts, humanities, and social sciences to public well-being and contemporary society.”

    Murray, the editor of the book, is associate professor of history in the department of humanities at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta.

    Sarkissian’s chapter, titled “Benefits and Challenges of Genocide Education: A Case Study of the Armenian Genocide,” explores the benefits of genocide education and the challenges faced when advocating for its implementation. It uses the Armenian Genocide as a case study. An exploration of the history of genocide curricula helps to contextualize the issue. The chapter examines the Toronto District School Board’s efforts to develop and implement Canada’s very first high school senior-level course dedicated to genocide education. A review is also given of Holocaust education in the United States, which was a catalyst for the implementation of curricula on other genocides in the US. The focus of the chapter is primarily the Armenian Genocide and the challenges involved in teaching about it due to the policy of denial pursued by the government of Turkey.

    Understanding Atrocities can be preordered through Amazon. For more information, click here.

    ​Sarkissian holds a BA Hons. in history and an MEd from York University and a BEd from Trent University. He holds principal’s qualifications and teaching certifications in the primary, intermediate, and senior divisions.
    He has conducted extensive research in the field of genocide and human rights education and serves as a board member of the Armenian Legal Centre for Justice and Human Rights. He is vice-principal of ARS Armenian Private School in Toronto and an occasional, part-time professor in the department of General Education and Liberal Studies at Centennial College. He has over 15 years of experience in leadership positions in Canadian-Armenian organizations.

    Please refer to the table of contents below for information on the list of contributors and topics.
    1. Atrocity and Proto-Genocide in Sri Lanka
    Christopher Powell and Amarnath Amarasingam
    2. Finding Global Justice Locally at Sites of Atrocity: The Case for the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center and Cemetery
    Laura Beth Cohen
    3. Troubling History, Troubling Law: The Question of Indigenous Genocide in Canada
    Adam Muller
    4. The Benefits and Challenges of Genocide Education: A Case Study of the Armenian Genocide
    Raffi Sarkissian
    5. “We Charge Genocide”: A Historical Petition All but Forgotten and Unknown
    Steven Leonard Jacobs
    6. “A Tragedy to be Sure”: Heteropatriarchy, Historical Amnesia, and Housing Crises in Northern Ontario
    Travis Hay, Kristin Burnett, and Lori Chambers
    7. Remembering Them All: Including and Excluding Atrocity Crime Victims
    Andrew R. Basso
    8. Helping Children Understand Atrocities: Developing and Implementing an Undergraduate Course Titled War and Genocide in Children’s Literature
    Sarah Minslow
    9. Thinking About Nazi Atrocities Without Thinking About Nazi Atrocities: Limited Thinking as Legacy in Schlink’s The Reader
    Lorraine Markotic
    10. Atrocity, Banality and Jouissance in Performance
    Donia Mounsef

  • Exhibition: ”The Forty Days of Musa Dagh: Testament of the Resistance at the Heart of the Armenian Genocide”

    Following three months of struggle and resistance against the Ottoman army, 4,500 Armenians from the villages of Musa Dagh (Turkey) were saved by the French.

    July 1, 2017, marks Canada’s 150th birthday and the 94th anniversary of the arrival of the first 46 Armenian genocide orphans at Georgetown, Ontario. A group of 50 were collected from the London, UK-based Armenian Refugees (Lord Mayor’s) Fund Orphanage in Corfu, Greece, and traveled via Marseilles to Cherbourg, France. Four were held back for several weeks, with the rest continuing on to Quebec City. Taking a train through Quebec and Ontario, they finally arrived at Georgetown on what was then called Dominion Day. The project was a milestone in the history of a country that has prided itself for its humanitarian record.