Over more than six hours on Wednesday night, parents, rabbis and community group representatives traded fiery allegations of hate speech and antisemitism at a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustee committee meeting.
At issue was whether trustees of Canada’s largest school board would accept a new report developed by staff and community members on combatting anti-Jewish hate on campuses. The report provides about 30 recommendations stemming from consultations held with Jewish organizations, teachers and students over the past two years.
In three-minute speeches lasting until 11 p.m., some 85 community members provided their perspectives, alternating between urging members of the TDSB’s planning and priorities committee to accept or reject the report’s findings.
The report would be a key building block toward the development of the board’s strategy to address antisemitism.
Not all speakers were able to be heard on Wednesday night, so debate will continue on Thursday afternoon.
The report comes after both Toronto police and the TDSB found an increase in incidents of antisemitism citywide. In December, a North York Jewish school was shot at for the third time, causing serious concern among the local Jewish community.
TDSB speakers argue: Is anti-Zionism antisemitism?
Speakers on Wednesday night were nearly evenly split between those who urged trustees to accept the report’s findings, and those against.
About half of the speakers, including many Jewish parents of TDSB students, urged trustees not to accept the report, expressing concern about the conflation of criticism of Israel with antisemitism in one recommendation and in the consultation summary. Several of the parents said this would further endanger their children.
The recommendation asked for training for TDSB staff and trustees to “deepen their understanding” about antisemitism, “including modern manifestations such as anti-Zionism, intersectionality, and Jewish identity diversity.”
While parents raised concerns about other recommendations, including one that proposes the TDSB work with pro-Israel groups like the Canadian Centre for Jewish Affairs (CIJA), the majority of the deputations focused on the connection made in the document between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.
Several parents and community members told trustees they believed Zionism is a racist political ideology they said is rooted in the colonization of Palestine and the Palestinian people.
But other speakers pushed back forcefully against this, claiming such speech was antisemetic, racist and failed to recognize Israel as the ancestral home of the Jewish people.
One TDSB mother argued the Jewish connection to Israel is unbreakable and that today’s anti-Zionism is antisemitism “disguised.”
She claimed a friend’s child was socially ostracized at school after posting a photo of himself with the Israeli flag. The mother, and many other speakers, urged the trustees not to listen to the parents against the report, suggesting that anti-Zionist perspectives are “fringe” and not representative of the Jewish majority.
Community members and parents in the opposing camp countered that mainstream Jewish organizations have for many years “fostered fear” about speaking out about Israel, including its destructive military campaign in Gaza.
Some called the report ‘lopsided’
Many of Wednesday’s speakers also urged trustees not to accept the report on the basis that the consultation used in its development was “lopsided” and that its conclusions are flawed. They urged trustees to send the report back to staff for further consultation with a broader group of stakeholders.
The document was developed by a working group created in January 2023, ten months before Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
The group is one of several underway to develop identity-specific anti-racism strategies for the TDSB over the next several years. Other efforts include strategies to combat anti-Asian racism, homophobia and Islamophobia.
Over multiple meetings, the working group addressing antisemitism consulted with more than 35 community organizations, faith leaders, staff and students, according to the report.
Many speakers on Wednesday night, including several rabbis and representatives CIJA and B'nai Brith Canada, said the consultation was thorough, fair and accurately represents the views of the majority of Canadian Jews.
But other speakers alleged anti-Zionist Jewish voices had been sidelined in the consultations and subsequent report.
A Jewish TDSB teacher said the perspectives of educators such as himself were never “openly solicited" as part of the process. Instead, he claimed the TDSB only engaged staff who are part of the Jewish Heritage Committee (JHC) — a group of staff, educators and TDSB trustees — which some speakers alleged has a pro-Israel slant.
TorontoToday asked the TDSB for clarification about the role of the JHC — for the list of community groups consulted in the report’s development and how those groups were selected — but did not receive a response prior to publication.
Several speakers on Wednesday night also raised concern that students were predominantly consulted for the report through Jewish Student Association Meetings. One adult speaker alleged the meetings tend to be unwelcoming of anti-Zionist views.
A Hitler salute and antisemetic graffiti
In an interview with TorontoToday, Nadine Nasir, a Palestinian mother, said she worried the document’s conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism could put her son “in harm’s way.”
She said her son did a presentation in class nearly a week ago about his ancestry, in which he described how his family is indigenous to Palestine.
Nasir said she worried if the recommendations in the report were to become policy, her son’s description would be deemed antisemetic. She said this would silence her son and risk his speech being logged within the boards’ racism, bias and hate portal. (The portal is used by the TDSB to track data related to hate incidents.)
Several similarly minded Jewish parents said on Wednesday that they, too, feared their children would not be able to express important parts of their Jewish identities if the report’s recommendations became policy.
Others pushed back strongly, however, alleging antisemitism has been allowed to fester under trustees’ watch.
A TDSB parent alleged her Jewish children have been verbally assaulted at school for their identity, including being called “Israeli baby killers.” She alleged another child did a Nazi salute at her daughter, leaving her feeling scared.
On Wednesday night, TDSB trustee Alexis Dawson (Davenport and Spadina) empathized with the mother and asked whether she had reported the incident to the school’s principal.
The parent said she had, but that it had resulted in her daughter being labelled a “tattletale” by other kids, increasing the bullying she faced.
Another Jewish parent said he’s recently put his son in private school after multiple antisemetic incidents at his former public school, including alleged graffiti. He alleged four other students have also left the junior school for similar reasons.
Both parents who said their Jewish children have faced discrimination urged the board to accept the report as a step in the right direction.
Where to from here?
On Thursday night, more community members will share their perspectives with trustees before the elected representatives will be asked to vote.
Should the committee accept the report, it will go before the full TDSB board.
If accepted, TDSB staff will work to incorporate the document’s recommendations into the final addressing antisemitism strategy, set to be published next fall, according to the report.
In concluding Wednesday’s meeting, TDSB trustee Shelley Laskin (Eglinton-Lawrence and Toronto-St. Paul's) alleged there had been “Jew hatred” and antisemitism shared during the deputations, though she did not specify which comments.
“There was true harm spoken tonight,” she said. “And I need to apologize for all those who have witnessed this.”
