Many respondents could not seem to recall crucial details. For example, 76 percent said they were familiar with Anne Frank, but only 23 percent of Canadians said the Holocaust took place in the Netherlands, where she lived. (Less than 25 percent of Dutch Jews survived the Holocaust, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.) And just 23 percent of Canadians said they were familiar with Elie Wiesel, who described Auschwitz in his memoir “Night” and won the Nobel Peace Prize.

The study did include some heartening points: 85 percent of respondents said it was important to keep teaching about the Holocaust so that it does not happen again. Ms. Azrieli said that focusing on older high school students, who have more maturity and knowledge to understand the Holocaust in historical context, was most effective. Her foundation will focus on providing educational resources and teacher support.

Education about the Holocaust involves crucial lessons about civic responsibility and action in the face of atrocities, but it can be challenging for even the most experienced educators because it raises difficult questions, Ms. Azrieli said. And it is all the more urgent as the number of Holocaust survivors dwindles, because they are the most powerful narrators of their experiences, she added.

Most people who directly survived concentration camps or ghettos are now in their 80s or 90s, Mr. Schneider said. His organization uses a broader definition of survivor, including anyone who fled, or was hidden or rescued as a child, which includes more people in their 70s.

Using that broader definition, the number of Holocaust survivors has fallen to about 400,000, Mr. Schneider said. About 80,000 of those survivors live in the United States, and about 10,000 in Canada.

Canada inaugurated its first national Holocaust monument in Ottawa in 2017, though its opening was marred by the realization that a plaque placed outside failed to mention Jews or anti-Semitism. The plaque was replaced.