十五位加拿大中學歷史老師和教育界人士，連同多倫多史維會五位志願人士，由王裕佳醫生帶領下于2006年7月9日大清早出發到上海，南京，北京和哈爾濱，展開爲期兩星期的亞洲二戰史實考察之旅。
 

過去兩年，加拿大史維會安排了五十多名加拿大中學大學歷史老師教授和教育界界人士到中國考察。回到加拿大後，他們對亞洲人民在二戰的史實已經有一定的認識。經過史維會和多位教育界人士的努力，加拿大卑詩省和安省的教育部，已經把二次世界大戰亞洲史實列入加中學課程。
 

這次行程與上兩年有兩個不同之處。 第一，為了讓更多的加拿老師能親身見證和體驗這段史實，卑詩省和安省會均組織個別考察團。第二，我們第一次到哈爾濱參觀日軍侵華時建立的生化武器總部「731部隊」的遺跡。
 

加拿大史維會希望能陸續把二戰時亞洲其他受害的國家和地區如香港，馬來西亞，菲律審, 新加坡，韓國等地列入行程，讓加拿大其他省份，甚至是美國和亞洲以外的歷史老師，有機會認識二戰發生在亞洲地區的史實。
 

這次的團員其中一位是來自加拿大的62嵗猶太裔歷史老師，她在南京與81嵗的慰安婦見面。兩位分別在二次世界大戰猶太人大屠殺和南京大屠殺死裏逃生的女人，她們的會面，象徵着當我們正視史實，我們就能忘記並原諒。最重要就是讓年輕的一代，借此正視戰爭的殘忍，珍惜和平的寶貴。

有關詳情，請致電 416-567-2210向劉女士查詢。
 

Media Release - Study Tour 2006

Markham history teacher, Holocaust Survivor among 15 educators travelling to China to meet Survivors of the Rape of Nanking

Peace and Reconciliation Tour July 9-24, 2006

A frail 81 year old Chinese elder and 62 year old Canadian Jewish teacher live worlds apart but are forever bonded by the experience of surviving the worst of inhumanity. Julia Beck of Toronto is travelling 11,000 km to meet Nee Cui Ping of Nanking this July to bear witness to her story of survival of the Rape of Nanking at the hand of Japanese occupiers. Julia is one of 15 Canadian educators travelling to China on a Peace and Reconciliation Study Tour and to learn more about an almost forgotten part of World War II history. Another teacher, Eugene Koh, teaches students global citizenship and human rights and wants to preserve this part of Asian history.

Julia and Eugene, along with the others, will meet Nee Cui Ping who still remembers the atrocities her family suffered at the hands of the Japanese. Ping recalls: “When Japanese troops entered Nanking on December 13, 1937, I was only 12. My father went to the river to get water for cooking, a Japanese patrol spotted shot him in the chest and then in the stomach. Seeing my father fall down, my mother rushed to him. She was shot dead before she even reached her dying husband. I fell unconscious. When I gained consciousness, I saw the Japanese had bayoneted my grandfather in his head, with blood and brains splattering out. After watching such a horrible scene I lost my consciousness again”.

When Nee Cui Ping woke up she discovered she was orphaned, having lost eight family members that terrible day to senseless military brutality.

Eugene Koh is very passionate about this part of history. “Before I made a presentation about the Nanking Massacre at my school, no body had even heard about it. Now, I can hear the stories firsthand from the people who were the victims and survived.”

The Peace and Reconciliation Tour will happen from July 9-24, 2006 and take teachers to Unit 731 in Harbin which was a secret military medical unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that researched biological warfare and other topics through human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The Canada Association for Learning & Preserving the History of WWII in Asia was established in Toronto to foster a greater understanding of World War II Asian history among educators and students in the West. The objective of the study tour is to enhance teachers’ knowledge and understanding of the cultural and historical background of China during the Asia-Pacific War and to facilitate teachers’ personal brush with this chapter of history through meeting survivors, visiting museums and historical sites.