Dear Minister Lecce and Director Sirisko,

Over the last twelve months, students across Ontario have witnessed or been party to a growing number of antisemitic incidents in classrooms, hallways, stairwells, and online. While media outlets frequently label these incidents as isolated events or endemic solely to Toronto District School Board (TDSB), other boards across the province are not immune to the rise in anti-Jewish hate. Since September 2021, the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) has reported and/or sent home letters dealing with eleven explicit cases of antisemitism ranging from students performing the Zeig Heil salute in classes and workshops, to bathroom and stairwell vandalism depicting swastikas, Nazi caricatures, and antisemitic tropes. While many of these incidents are being addressed through an increase in Holocaust Education provided by third-party partners, boards of education fail to recognize and address:

1. The IHRA working definition of antisemitism (Ontario Bill 168 – Combating Antisemitism Act).
2. The roots of and rise of conspiracy theories and antisemitic tropes in school.
3. The hypocrisy of the BDS campaigns under the umbrella of Social Justice campaigns (Ontario Bill 202 – Standing Up Against Anti-Semitism Act).
4. Teachers and students failing to critically analyze or interrogate media and geopolitical bias.
5. The understanding of how fermenting bias posed by radical “Jewish” organizations (e.g., Independent Jewish Voices, Jewish Voices for Peace) are perpetuating nuanced or veiled racism through questioning or erasure of Jewish indigeneity from the Middle East and North African (MENA) region.
6. The rise of revisionist history and acceptance of distorted facts to fit points 1-5.

More troubling is that incidents of antisemitism and anti-Jewish hate are going unreported either by parents and students out of fear of retaliation, or because implicit acts are harder to prove antisemitic or anti-Jewish motivation. 

Statistics on reported hate crime incidents published by the Toronto Police Services and regional note that hate-motivated crimes against the Jewish community (individuals, businesses, and allies to the community) have repeatedly topped annual reports though the Jewish population falls well below other racialized and marginalized communities on the same list. Further troubling is the failure to recognize the intersectionality of the Jewish community (e.g., Mizrahi, Sephardic, etc.), who experience racism based on skin tone as well as religion.

We call on the YRDSB to:

1. Accept IHRA’s working definition of antisemitism, in alignment with Bill 168, as a lens in their development of equity policies, programs, and practices and provide system-wide training for teachers and school staff in recognizing and dismantling antisemitism and anti-Jewish hate.
2. Refuse to support or provide space (during or after school hours) to any BDS programs on school property, in alignment with Bill 202 and label it for what it is: a double standard movement that “promotes a climate of anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli speech leading to intimidation and violence”.
3. Follow through on the suggestion to install a centrally placed administrator to oversee the reporting of all anti-Jewish incidents across the board of education, in conjunction with incidents being reported in the RESOVLE system and in that capacity, to work with NESJL and community-based advocacy groups to co-create student-centric programming that reduces the marginalization of Jewish students and dismantles antisemitism and anti-Jewish hate in all its forms. 
4. To implement a litmus test, based on Natan Sharansky’s 3D’s of Antisemitism that gauges how board-produced content might be used to:
   (a) Delegitimize the State of Israel or Jewish claims of indigeneity.
   (b) Demonize the State of Israel and Jewish claims of indigeneity using antisemitic tropes, distortion, bias, and or false narratives.
   (c) Hold Israel and the Jewish people to a double standard – namely through BDS campaigns and claims that Jewish voices are contributing to anti-Palestinian racism.

We look forward to hearing from you soon and how we can work together to help create a safe and brave environment founded on equity for all students.

Sincerely, 

Parents of Jewish Learners, and the undersigned petitioners