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Toronto District School Board trustees voted Wednesday to include “anti-Palestinian racism” in their broader strategy to combat discrimination within Canada’s largest public school district.
The vote was carried by a 15-to-7 margin and went ahead despite objections from hundreds of Jewish parents and community members, including Larry Maher, a parent of TDSB students, who said the “adoption of anti-Palestinian racism is going to enable those to weaponize against anyone that practices Judaism and or supports Israel. Regardless of ethnicity or religion.”
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The TDSB’s anti-discrimination strategy tackles a variety of different prejudices, including anti-Indigenous sentiment, Islamophobia and antisemitism. But, the inclusion of anti-Palestinian prejudice came after pressure from students and community members, says a staff report.
So far, the concept of “anti-Palestinian racism” is ill-defined. Ryan Bird, a spokesman for the TDSB, said there isn’t a “specific definition,” but that the board is being guided by the Ontario Human Rights Code on how best to approach the task.
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This has led to concern among Toronto’s Jewish community. Many members fear that the inclusion of such a sentiment into anti-discrimination policies would limit support for Israel and condemnation of the Jewish state’s enemies.
When the concept was first debated on June 5, delegates, some of them representatives of anti-Zionist Jewish organizations, were largely supportive of the idea. But opponents of the concept did not get a chance to speak out, although trustees were still accepting written submissions.
TDSB trustee Patrick Nunziata, who represents Ward 3, Etobicoke-Lakeshore, was one of the seven members to oppose the motion.
“Given the amount of response and traffic I had received on this issue I felt that voting in favour of this would create too much liability for TDSB,” he told National Post in a statement.
“Although I am not an expert on this conflict, I listened to and felt the agitation, pain and fear this caused for my colleagues and many of our stakeholders, I have both a fiduciary responsibility and moral obligation to oppose this unnecessary and hurtful grandstanding. I voted to send this back to staff for further work, we need to revise this so all groups feel comfortable.”
Jewish organization B’nai Brith has also opposed the motion, urging TDSB to “not implement the report’s recommendation on anti-Palestinian racism in their anti-racism strategy.”
“TDSB must prioritize the fight against antisemitism and make decisions that do not compromise the well-being of their Jewish students,” the organization posted on X.
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National Post has contacted TDSB and trustees for additional comment.
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