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The vote comes after consultation with Canadian Jewish groups and students that included a review of anti-Jewish experiences at educational institutions.
By MICHAEL STARR FEBRUARY 11, 2025 18:49
View of the Toronto District School Board.
(photo credit: JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock)
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is set to vote Wednesday on a new antisemitism strategy after consultation with Canadian Jewish groups and students that included a review of anti-Jewish experiences at the educational institutions.
The Update: Affirming Jewish Identities & Addressing Antisemitism and the Combating Hate and Racism Strategy will be voted on by the TDSB planning and policy committee following criticism by groups like the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) for the school system's failure to address antisemitism and Jewish representation in their 2022 and 2023 anti-racism strategies.
According to the agenda documents, consultations with students, staff, and community groups alleged that hate crimes in antisemitism were "not taken seriously nor addressed" and impressed on the TDSB how "anti-Zionism has recently re-emerged as a contemporary form of antisemitism."
TDSB heard how, in their system, people had been criticized for wearing Jewish symbols, chants were heard that included calls for the death of Jews, and tropes and conspiracies about Jewish people were expressed. Claims of antisemitism were allegedly denied.
Jewish students and staff were allegedly excluded from social groups; there were refusals to engage with curricula related to Jewish experiences, and rejections of Jewish Heritage Month -- as well as the removal of the Israeli flag from the heritage period.
"Students reported a loss of friendships, feeling unsafe, afraid to share their Jewish identity, and that class discussions about the conflict in the Middle East are facilitated in a way that is biased and intimidating," said the report. "Jewish-identifying students reported feeling excluded from student equity meetings at their schools."
Demands of Jews and Israelis to state a position on Israel or Zionism were supposedly made, and others were reportedly labeled racist for being Zionists.
"They feel their Jewish identities are conflated with the current geopolitical conflict, rather than their personal worth as individuals," read the agenda appendix. "Many reported hiding their identities, beliefs, and opinions for fear of the impact on them should their identity become known."
Action items and priorities for the strategy included monitoring and support for schools to ensure they addressed antisemitic incidents transparently and appropriately. Another plan proposed is to provide media literacy to students to help them understand antisemitic tropes and, in the case of the staff, recognize and address them. The district would also provide support to staff members who believed that their unions and professional organizations didn't back them due to their Jewish identities or Zionist beliefs.
Much of the strategy focused on ensuring that the Canadian Jewish experience was included in the programming, including "anti-oppression and equity work" and celebration of Jewish heritage initiatives such as the themed month. Participants in the consultation period told the district that they wanted Jewish Canadian representation in the curricula beyond just the Holocaust, which the agenda proposed to do.
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There were several action items addressing anti-Zionism, including interrupting claims that Jewish or Israeli students and staff are colonizers and ensuring they felt safe in the face of "geopolitical protests."
CIJA applauds report
CIJA applauded the report on Monday as the first step and urged the board to adopt it without changes. The Canadian Jewish group said that the report affirmed that connection to a Jewish state was a core value of Jewish identity and addressed antisemitism "disguised as political discourse."
CIJA Ontario Vice President Michelle Stock said in a statement that the report also detained antisemitic experiences that highlighted "the urgent need for a stronger, more inclusive approach to combating hate, ensuring Jewish students and staff feel safe, respected, and heard.”
"There is still much work to be done, especially in ensuring effective and timely responses to antisemitic incidents," said Stock. "Jewish students and families must have confidence that their concerns will be taken seriously and addressed swiftly.”
Toronto Palestinian Families called the potential update "dangerous" and organized a letter campaign to TDSB trustees with progressive Jewish groups.
The groups said on Instagram on Monday that the update "protects Zionism under the guise of anti-racism, equates it with antisemitism and seeks to silence criticism of Israel. This will cause harm to students, staff, and families across the board district, including those who identify as Jewish and Palestinian."
The Toronto groups asserted that the strategy threatened freedom of speech by excluding some Palestinian and Jewish voices and risking treating political expression as threatening behavior.
The update included consultations with non-mainstream Jewish organizations who critiqued their counterparts for conflating antisemitism with anti-Israel sentiment.
As part of the TDSB's anti-racism strategies, it plans to develop a strategy for anti-Palestinian racism for the 2025-2026 school year.
Antisemitism in schools in Canada
Antisemitism issues have been reported in the school system before the escalation following the October 7 Massacre. In 2021, CIJA said that materials circulated to TDSB educators included antisemitic and pro-terrorist content. A TDSB report also detailed a rise in antisemitism and other discrimination in the schools from 2018-2020.
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