Toronto Jewish groups call for adoption of TDSB report on antisemitism

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A coalition of Toronto Jewish advocacy groups, alongside students and parents, is recommending that the Toronto District School Board move ahead with a plan to combat rising antisemitism in Toronto schools.

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A press release put out by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) urges the board’s policy and planning committee to receive the report, Affirming Jewish Identities and Addressing Antisemitism and the Combatting Hate and Racism Strategy, “in full without changes,” and to “move it forward for approval by the Board of Trustees to advance the development of a full antisemitism strategy without delay.”

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“The published findings are a step forward in addressing the alarming rise in antisemitic incidents in schools,” the CIJA says. “Rooted in the lived experiences of Jewish Canadians and diverse community groups that participated in months of consultations, this document reflects the concerns and priorities of our community and allows us to see ourselves in the recommended actions.”

The CIJA was joined in its call by the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and the Toronto Holocaust Museum, as well as parents and students.

Dara Solomon, executive director of the Toronto Holocaust Museum and Ontario Jewish Archives, said in a statement: “As a TDSB parent and executive director … I strongly support the acceptance of this report. It reflects a deep understanding of the challenges facing Jewish students and teachers in the TDSB and outlines thoughtful, strategic approaches to address them. Providing students, educators, administrators, and trustees with meaningful education about Jewish history and identity will strengthen their ability to respond to the current moment with knowledge, sensitivity, and compassion.”

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The press release also quoted Cole Fisher, a TDSB student, who said: “This report is an important step in ensuring that Jewish students like me can exist safely in our schools.”

Recommendations in the report include: ensuring that anti-oppression and equity work includes Jewish voices and experiences; monitoring and supporting schools in responding to antisemitic incidents; maintaining a Jewish-identifying Equity Coach position and Jewish-identifying staff at middle and senior management levels; ensuring that curriculum content extends beyond the Holocaust; and providing professional learning for staff to deepen their understanding of antisemitism.

The Board has indicated it plans to meet with community groups and internal departments through the spring, with an aim to publish the final antisemitism work plan this fall.

In a virtual meeting Wednesday to discuss the report, the Toronto Star quoted TDSB educator Jemila Pirbhai as among those who said the report would censor students’ ability to openly discuss topics such as colonialism, Zionism and genocide.

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Pirbhai asked the board to refer the report back to staff to cast a wider net to include more diverse Jewish voices, asking: “How can we teach our students to think critically and dialogue, if you don’t allow all of them the space to voice their truths?”

But Michelle Stock, CIJA’s Ontario vice-president, told the National Post that the meeting, which lasted more than seven hours before being recessed until the following day, was “very stacked with anti-Zionist groups, and it was a very clear campaign … that was very orchestrated.”

She added: “Many of us on the call had to listen to blatant antisemitism rhetoric without any TDSB intervention or calling for some degree of decorum.”

That sentiment was echoed by Shelley Laskin, a TDSB trustee since 2010. She closed out the meeting by stating: “I appreciate that this has been a very difficult evening for many, and it’s not because we heard diverse voices, and we heard form people who had a variety of opinions. It’s because there was true harm spoken tonight.”

She continued: “There was antisemitism, there was Jew-hatred, and I need to apologize for all those who have witnessed this. This is not acceptable. No form of hate within deputations is acceptable. And I feel compelled to have said, this has caused great harm to many of us who have been listening for hours. And it needed to be said.”

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Per the Star, a statement from Toronto Palestinian Families, Toronto Jewish Families, Independent Jewish Voices Toronto and the Jews Say No to Genocide Coalition called on the TDSB to protect free speech and reject “a blatant attempt to silence criticism of Israeli policies by falsely equating any criticism of the state of Israel with antisemitism, thereby endangering Palestinian students and stifling free speech within Toronto schools.”

However, last December, 19 mainstream Jewish groups including B’Nai Brith Canada, the Tafsik Organization and the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation said the Jews Say No coalition represented “an egregious distortion of Jewish values and a calculated attempt to hijack Jewish identity to serve a hateful anti-Zionist and antisemitic agenda.”

This was after that group stormed the lobby of Ottawa’s Confederation Building, which houses MPs’ offices, in protest against continued attacks by Israel on Gaza in the wake of the October 7 attack by Hamas.

The Combating Hate and Racism: Student Learning Strategy was first introduced by the TDSB in March 2022, with an updated framework released in March 2023. In addition to antisemitism, it lays out a plan to combat anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, ableism, anti-Asian racism, homophobia and transphobia.

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Among its findings was concern that “anti-Zionism has recently re-emerged as a contemporary form of antisemitism; criticism of Israel in schools can sometimes be rooted in antisemitic beliefs, particularly when it involves blaming Jewish individuals collectively for the circumstances in the Middle East or when it is accompanied by antisemitic slogans, images, physical intimidation and comparisons to the Holocaust.”

Stock praised the report for noting that “any conversation that is anti-Zionist and accuses us (Jews) of being Zionist, and that being bad, is inherently antisemitic.”

She also lauded the report’s use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which has also been adopted by the government of Canada, calling it “a very clear acknowledgement of what we have been saying for a very long time.”

However, she noted that the report must still go to the full board for approval, and the board could choose to accept it in whole, in part or not at all. “It is very likely that the trustees could vote against receiving the report,” she said.

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