Antisemitism Vibrates With the Rise of Islam in Canada

"I have met many educators in the Jewish Teachers Association of Peel who have experienced antisemitic harassment and bullying from students as well as a lack of understanding and support from colleagues and administrators when issues of antisemitism are not handled with the same care and concern as other forms of racism and discrimination."

"Since the terrorist attack of Oct. and the escalation of the Hamas-Israel war many Jewish staff who were already feeling unsafe with the rise of antisemitic hate, are now actually working in what we call a 'poisoned environment'. Some of their colleagues and even some principals have taken to social media, taking sides in the conflict with language that repeats propaganda and slogans that are frightening to Jews."

"Peel's Association of Jewish Educators was formed when Jewish teachers started joining forces following several incidents: a student said that Jews deserve to be in the oven, bullied Jewish students were afraid to wear their stars of David, and some Jewish teachers felt singled out and harassed by students."

"Peel's Jewish teachers woke up and realized that they too needed what the Peel board calls an Employee Support Group, the way other identity groups had."

"Non-Jewish staff argue with Jewish staff about what is and isn't antisemitism, in a way that would never be tolerated if a white person argued with a Black person or an Asian person or an Indigenous person about what or wasn't racism against their people."

Karen Mock, human rights consultant, former executive director, League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith

The Peel District School Board made headlines on Nov. 29 when a crowd of pro-Palestinian demonstrators broke up a meeting at the board’s headquarters in Mississauga. Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post

 

Peel Region, part of the Greater Toronto Area, includes Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon. The Peel Region Board of Education oversees 259 schools with about 7,500 teaching staff, and 10,000 auxiliary staff, servicing the needs of over 150,000 local community students. Of the 11,180 educators at Peel Region, 551 identify as Muslim, while Jewish educators number 137. On November 29 a crowd of pro-Palestinian demonstrators created chaos and fear when they broke up a school board meeting, loudly and violently demanding that the board express its condemnation of Israel and support for Palestinians.

The board meeting was unable to continue, given the loud chanting that drowned out attempted proceedings. When board members retreated into a locked room to reconvene the meeting, the loud horde burst into the locked room past security and continued their heckling and demands, forcing the meeting to be adjourned. 

In the follow-up to the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel, one teacher in a closed Facebook discussion group for educators with the southern Ontario Peel District School Board, gathered for a discussion over how to speak with students over the issue, openly declared "Jews are the problem". Another wrote on WhatsApp during a chat for teachers and assistants in Brampton, under the Board: "I feel bad, but then I don't feel bad because they killed so much Palestinians now it's their turn".

Following which eight teachers, not all of them Jewish, approached the media with their concerns about working at the Board; many Jewish teachers would like to transfer out of the jurisdiction over fear for their lives. None of the teachers wanted their names to be used, fearing repercussions, but emphasized that the Israel-Hamas war has placed them in harm's way in a situation where some Peel principals stoke animosity against Israel and Judaism in classrooms and through social media.

Some principals, in fact, make use of social media platforms like X and Facebook to broadcast content hateful toward Israel and Jews on feeds that are actually displayed in school foyers and over the internal public address system. Those teachers who complain have seen their distress ignored by principals and school superintendents; otherwise dismissed as Islamophobic in nature. The union is of no assistance since union officials have notoriously expressed anti-Israel views quite publicly.

As for one teacher reporting a principal whose behaviour was particularly egregious, the Peel Board is dismissive of that, too.This principal promotes her view over the school's classroom intercom and on her social media, followed by children, parents and teachers. Her X feed appears as a news ticker in the foyer of the schools. Some of her posts taken directly from Al Jazeera with the argument that Hamas did not, as proven otherwise, behead Jewish babies.

 

Islamic religious practices, passages from the Qur'an, news and world views,were broadcast by this principal over her school's public address system "offering a one-sided narrative, never mentioning Israel's right to exist or defend itself"; a situation of over a year's duration. The Jewish teacher who made a formal complaint to the Peel Board over the principal's anti-Israel, anti-Jewish postings within the school environs transferred out of the school, targeted for discipline by the principal.

"[The principal in question is] an exemplary leader who demonstrates inclusivity, compassion and care on a daily basis. Last year, her school underwent a climate review and the assessment showed that an overwhelming majority of school staff support her."

"We have reminded staff of their responsibility to ensure that we remain mindful that as we express our own pain, we do not bring further harm to others. We each carry a responsibility to be intentional and thoughtful in ensuring that our interactions contribute to safe and caring learning and working environments for all of the students we serve, their families and each of our colleagues."

"[There is] no room for influence of personal opinions or personal world views [in classrooms]."

"Peel staff have also been reminded of expectations to adhere to our Social Media Policy, and combined with the Ontario College of Teachers Advisory, these two documents provide essential guidance and establish expectations to support the professional and responsible use of social media by all PDSB staff."

Peel Board spokespeople Tiffany Gooch and Malon Edwards

One Jewish teacher who had hidden her Jewish identity for over 15 years at Peel, recently revealed her heritage when her two teenage children began to attend high school. The principal at her daughter's Peel-based school encouraged students to protest and made arrangements for space to be provided for them to create signs against Israel on school grounds. Jewish students, she said, are "hiding out with the guidance counsellors".

The principal called the teacher on days scheduling pro-Palestinian protests suggesting she keep her daughter at home, irrespective of the fact that protests occur out of school hours, beyond the parking lot. Her daughter videoed protests where students chant "we call for Jewish genocide". "Where once my kids were free about their identity, today they try to hide it", confided the teacher and mother of the two teens. Several teachers had swastikas painted outside their classrooms.

 

One principal on November 12 at Tribune Drive Public School in Brampton, noted on X that "Anti-Zionism has skyrocketed in the wake of the Israel-led genocide in Palestine." The teachers argue that this kind of messaging serves to indoctrinate students and staff. The Ontario College of Teachers claimed it planned to investigate problematic social media posts by Peel principals. Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce in June 2020 had placed Peel under supervision over concerns by members of the Black community.

Education Minister Lecce in a memo to school boards last month stated "the unfortunate rise of intolerance and antisemitic acts" have been noted, asking school boards to make certain that schools are "safe spaces" for students and staff. Which elicited a comment from one of the teachers: "I believe Minister Stephen Lecce was actually the only education minister in Canada to directly set clear expectations to schools outlined in the memo to stand up against antisemitism."

 

The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario vice-president Vickita Bhatt, a  union representative, was assigned to aid Jewish teachers. She uses Facebook to name Israel as an apartheid state. On November 9 she posted "no genocide can be justified, no apartheid can be normalized, ceasefire now", on X. "How can we synthesize the lives of people destroyed by a struggle for freedom born from colonization into a headline?", she wrote a few days later.

"The biggest problem is that the union that is supposed to stand up for the Jewish teachers is antisemitic. So, there is not going to be any help."

"And the worst is that you have union representatives who are out there trumpeting their antisemitism views publicly."

"The real crux of the problem here, and we are talking specifically about the Jewish teachers, [is] that the place where these teachers should be getting refuge and help is in the union, and there is antisemitism in the board; the union that is supposed to be supporting the teachers is where the antisemitism really stems from. They can't go to their union."

Darryl Singer, lawyer, Diamond and Diamond, Toronto

Jewish teachers say they face a “poisoned environment” at the Peel District School Board in Mississauga, Ont. Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post