Oral Delegation to the Toronto District School Board, Program and School Services Committee, June 5, 2024
Thank you for this opportunity to address the Program and School Services committee of the TDSB on the update of the Combatting Hate and Racism: Student Learning Strategy.
My name is Simon Glass. I am a TDSB parent, a Jew, a member of the Jewish Faculty Network, and a professor at OCAD University. In my own practice, I examine Jewish history in the 20th century including the Holocaust with references to Hebrew scripture, liturgy, and mysticism.
I urge the committee to recognize that to speak against Zionism and the actions or ideologies of the state of Israel is not antisemitic. As you know, many Jewish people today oppose the actions of the state of Israel in its theft of land, long history of discrimination against Palestinians, and what has become understood as plausibly genocide. But Jewish opposition to Zionism has a history as long as Zionism itself. While Jewish people have themselves experienced discrimination, oppression, and genocide, I join other members of the Jewish community in asserting that "Never Again" means never again for anyone. The International Holocaust Remembrance Association's definition of antisemitism troublingly associates anti-Zionism with antisemitism. I urge the TDSB to disavow the IHRA's definition and to instead seek partnership with progressive community groups such as Toronto Jewish Families and Toronto Palestinian Families to develop definitions and policies for moving forward and that build equity and social justice for all.
I appreciate that anti-Palestinian racism is now named in the TDSB Combatting Hate and Racism Strategy. I would urge you to include anti-Palestinian racism in Board's equity policy as well to ensure that the strategy is well supported by policy. As well, the Board should publicly affirm that TDSB students and staff will be free to support Palestinian human rights and criticize the state of Israel. It is not antisemitic to do so.
The silence of the TDSB in the face of the horrors that are being committed in Gaza and have been ongoing especially in the last eight months has done immeasurable harm to Palestinians and their families. The TDSB needs to acknowledge this.
Please recognize that as with Black Lives Matter, Truth and Reconciliation, and other equity seeking movements, an understanding of history is central to combatting racism. I urge you to teach our children Palestinian history, including the Nakba of 1948 in which around three-quarters of a million Palestinian Arabs were forced from their homes and around 15,000 killed.
The other night, knowing that I was about to make this delegation, my eight year old daughter, now in grade 2, asked me, "so, could I expect to learn about Palestinian history at school in the future?" I hope to be able to answer in the affirmative soon.
Simon Glass, 2024