March of the Living
March of the LivingFlash 90

The director of March of the Living Canada was among those appointed to the Order of Canada.

Eli Rubenstein, who is also the spiritual leader of Congregation Habonim Toronto, told CBC News he teaches students about the Holocaust to fight intolerance and to “provide universal lessons.”

"[Students] say it's not just about fighting antisemitism and hate towards Jews, [it's] about fighting all forms of racism and injustice," said Rubenstein, whose mother was a Holocaust survivor and whose grandfather’s shtetl in Poland was nearly completely wiped out.

Rubenstein believes it is important to take student to meet with survivor and to visit Holocaust sites.

"The students embrace the survivors … and they've committed to transmitting the memory of the survivors to the next generation," he said. "In every generation there's going to be forces of evil that rise up and try to get history to repeat itself.”

He recalled that after a speech he gave in Montreal, a survivor came over to tell him: "Please make sure our stories are never forgotten."

He added that he often tells students that “ the only lesson you get out of this is that no human is more human than another human.”