OP-ED: Teachers, trustees push Jew hatred in Ontario classrooms unchecked
Sue Ann Levy writes, "A just-released study validates what I’ve been writing about since Oct. 7/23–namely that Jew hatred has been a growing cancer within Ontario school boards."
By Sue-Ann Levy
A just-released study on anti-Semitism in Ontario’s schools validates what I’ve been writing about since Oct. 7/23–namely that Jew hatred has been a growing cancer within Ontario school boards.
The Toronto District School Board — where teachers' unions are rife with anti-Semites, DEI verges on a religion and far too many schools have permitted rallies and fundraisers for Gaza — is by far the worst.
The survey—commissioned by Canada’s special envoy on Combatting Antisemitism — shows that the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) was the focus of nearly 40% of the anti-Semitic incidents studied during the 16 months between 10/7 and January 2025.
The survey was conducted by Professor Robert Brym, a sociologist at the University of Toronto.
When the number of incidents at the Ottawa-Carleton and York Region boards was included, it brought that number up to 75% of all occurrences reported.
Some 60% of all incidents occurred in the Toronto area.
A total of 599 Jewish parents reported 781 anti-Semitic occurrences during that period.
As I discovered during my own anecdotal reports on such anti-Semitic incidents, the schools and school boards regularly turned a blind eye to the Jew hatred.
The survey showed that in 49% of the cases, school administrators did not investigate the complaints and another 9% claimed the incidents were not anti-Semitic.
In a mere 6% of the cases, school authorities took punitive actions against the perpetrators.
In some cases, parents did not report an incident for fear it would become public and their kids would be subjected to increased harassment or bullying.
”The picture illustrates … the manner and degree to which some teachers and school administrators in Ontario disrespect, exclude and devalue Jewish children, not just by doing little to prevent, stop and punish antisemitic actions but also by initiating actions that make Jewish students feel unsafe and unwanted,” the survey report says.
It is interesting to note that despite how so many Zionist haters tried to convince themselves at the outset they just hated Israel and not Jews, there appears to be little distinction between that anymore.
The survey found that 40% of anti-Semitic incidents in the province’s school boards involved negative statements about Jews, including Holocaust denial and comments such as “Jews are vermin.”
Another 60% targeted Israel —in several cases making students feel like they’re personally responsible for what is happening with the Israeli-Hamas conflict.
Some 16% of incidents involved teachers or school-sanctioned activities expressing an anti-Jewish point of view.
For example some teachers reportedly wore shirts emblazoned with the slogan, “from the river to the sea.”
Jacob Barghout, the VP at Humberside Collegiate Institute, was pictured in this year’s yearbook wearing a keffiyeh, which went unchecked.
Etobicoke School of the Arts hosted a fundraiser for Gaza on school property in early May of this year.
Who can forget the field trip turned anti-Israel hate fest of last September, completely whitewashed in a report submitted to the ministry by DEI activist and former education ministry equity lead Patrick Case.
Several school trustees wore keffiyehs to school board meetings and teachers invited speakers to talk about the Israel-Palestine conflict from a radical pro-Palestinian point of view.
That too was sanctioned even though education minister Paul Calandra has warned against geopolitics in classrooms.
But again, who is surprised, considering Ontario teachers' unions — and most especially those which represent Toronto teachers — are rife with anti-Semitic activity.
For example, Elementary Teachers Federation VP Nigel Bariffe, known for his virulent anti-Semitic views, invited self-loathing Jewish, radical left U.S. consultant Tim Wise to speak to 100 elementary educators in April.
His talk was full of the predictable anti-Semitic anti-white tropes.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the TDSB has long been a hotbed of anti-Semitism, which has only grown in the past two years.
I saw it in 2021 when I exposed the anti-Israel manuals put together by a then-member of the TDSB equity unit, Javier DaVila.
It took forever for the school board brass to deal with this employee. A petition endeavouring to sanction me was put together by the teachers' unions and freely floated through the system, with no reaction from the board.
I can only imagine how difficult it has been for Jewish students and teachers in the board during the past two years.
It is little wonder that one in eight parents who responded to this survey moved their children to a different school, often moving their places of residence to do so.
Nearly 39% chose to put their kids in Jewish private schools.
One can only hope that with the recent takeover of the board by the education ministry that new rules and policies to remove geopolitics from the classroom will be taken seriously at long last.
I’m thrilled that the radical left trustees on the board can no longer spread their hate, at least not for now.
Our entire system of Education has become laughable and a farce.
An Indoctrination system YES...
Education .. Not so much if at all.
And as per usual in Canada where are our Politicians on the subject.
Where indeed???
We have "hate" laws, why not enforce them, if you are a visible minority they are used , if you promoted NAZI propaganda/doctrine you were charged. You may promote the genocide of any jewish person or country in our educational institutions or by demonstrations in our streets but "honk"your horns in the streets of Ottawa protesting COVID related issues you are arrested and charged, bank accounts frozen etc. Why, there is no political will to enforce these hate statues nor equal application of law enforcement of these laws.