WARMINGTON: TDSB accepts report on antisemitism in schools but damage already done

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In the end, the Toronto District School Board accepted the report on how to deal with antisemitism in its schools.

Getting there, however, was bumpy.

After two days of difficult deputations, many of which fell below standards of decency, the board late Thursday passed the motion to accept the Affirming Jewish Identities and Addressing Antisemitism report by a count of 13 votes for and five against.

There are a lot of hard feelings that have come out of this ugly process.

B’nai Brith Canada director of research and advocacy Richard Robertson, who attended the Wednesday session, is asking Ontario’s Education Ministry to investigate the board’s chair who B’nai Brith feel “completely failed to enforce the TDSB’s own rules around decorum” and “neglected to intervene when speakers invoked antisemitic tropes, demonized Zionists, and trafficked in disinformation.”

One of the five who said no to this report was none other than chair Neethan Shan. The trustee has so far not responded to a request for comment from the Toronto Sun regarding concerns about the process raised by Jewish advocacy organizations.

“We are relieved that the TDSB’s Planning and Priorities Committee voted to receive the antisemitism report without amendment,” said a joint statement from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Toronto Holocaust Museum, and Allies for a Strong Canada.

“This meaningful report reflected diverse stakeholders and voices from the community sharing their encounters with antisemitism. We thank the trustees who voted to receive it, and we will work with them and other public officials as partners in advancing real, results-driven measures to combat antisemitism and protect our shared Canadian values.”

It shouldn’t have been this hard and it would have been better if it had had been accepted unanimously.

But it’s a start. It’s needed because there are issues there.

This is evident from a social media post by journalist Dahlia Kurtz about a youth who testified in a different hearing on his experiences at a TDSB school.

“During my five years at CH Best (Middle School at Finch and Dufferin), I have been targeted and marginalized by antisemitism,” he said. “On multiple occasions, people have thrown money at me and said, ‘Go get it, Jew.’ I have had other students give me the Hitler salute, I have been sent Holocaust denial memes on Snapchat, I was told, ‘You should have been told you should have been gassed with your ancestors Jew, and free Palestine, kill Israel.'”

He also testified that “there are two staff members since Oct. 7 (2023) who have worn keffiyehs, they have also worn hateful shirts with the map of Israel with a watermelon, also known as the Palestinian flag colours superimposed on them. They had artwork on their doors and yellow, green and black with pro-Hamas propaganda on them.”

Said the teen: “I thought that schools were supposed to be politically neutral and safe for everyone. Another staff member at school said while Hamas represents something negative for me, other students could see Hamas as liberators and freedom fighters, I remind you all that Hamas has been listed here in Canada as a terrorist organization since 2002.”

I remember back in 2018 when a female student of Muslim faith described being followed to school by a man who he said cut the hijab from her head. There was instant reaction of outrage from political leaders, who were rightfully horrified by this kind of Islamophobic assault – of course they didn’t realize that, once it was investigated by Toronto Police, it was determined to be untrue.

The girl was taken at her word and none of those who side with her can be admonished because they were merely trying to do right by her. No kid should face religious or any discrimination or persecution at school.

This case of what was said to this Jewish boy and what he faced also needs investigation. I take him at his word with what he presented and feel the TDSB would be wise to dive in and take a look at it. I sent a request into TDSB director of education Clayton La Touche, who just started in his new role this week. So far there has been no comment.

A lot got broken here. Now it is necessary to try to repair the damage.

VOTE COUNT

Voted Yes (For) – 13 Votes
Trustee Aarts
Trustee Dawson
Trustee Ehrhardt
Trustee Hastings
Trustee Li
Trustee Luka Rotman
Trustee MacLean
Trustee King
Trustee Laskin
Trustee Pei
Trustee Rajwani
Trustee Nunziata
Trustee Williams

Voted No (Against) – 5 Votes
Trustee Patel
Trustee Shan
Trustee de Dovitiis
Trustee Ghous
Trustee Rajkulasingham

Absent (3)
Trustee Hassan
Trustee Sriskandarajah
Trustee Wong

jwarmington@postmedia.com