Nearly one in six antisemitic incidents in Toronto schools are initiated or approved by a teacher or occur in a school-sanctioned activity, a shocking Canadian government report revealed.
The report, commissioned by the office of the Special Envoy for Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism, details the endemic antisemitism in Ontario’s K-12 Schools.
The federal government wanted to collate all previous anecdotal and undocumented reports of antisemitism in K-12 education into one survey to obtain a clearer picture of the situation.
The report is based on a survey of 599 Jewish parents and their reports of 781 antisemitic incidents in Ontario K-12 schools. Antisemitic incidents are defined as those that parents and their children consider antisemitic. At least 10% of Ontario’s approximately 30,000 Jewish school-age children experienced the antisemitic incidents detailed in the report.
It found that there is a significant disconnect between the desire of Ontario schools to ensure that all students feel respected, included, and valued, and the treatment of their Jewish students.
The findings of the report
The report found that 40% of antisemitic incidents involved Nazi salutes, assertions that Hitler should have finished the job, and other Nazi- and/or Hitler-related content. Surprisingly, fewer than 60% of antisemitic incidents refer to Israel or the Israel-Hamas War.
However, among the anti-Israel responses, more than 14% held Jewish school children personally responsible for aspects of the Israel-Hamas War. The report gives an example of a 9th-grade boy who, in September 2024, was accused by a classmate of being a “terrorist, rapist, and baby killer.
About 30% of incidents involved physical antisemitism, either assault (6.2%), vandalism (14.9%), or aggressive hand gestures, such as throat slitting motions (10%). Spoken harassment, such as insults, expressions of hatred, and incitement to violence, was the second most common antisemitic attack.
The majority of antisemitic incidents took place in English-language public schools (over two-thirds), and nearly one-fifth were directed at Jewish private schools. Fourteen percent of incidents occurred in French, Catholic, and non-Jewish private schools.
Also shockingly, nearly three-quarters of antisemitic incidents took place in institutions under the Toronto District School Board, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, and the York Region District School Board.
In terms of response to antisemitic incidents, 49% of antisemitic incidents reported to school authorities were not investigated, and in 9% of cases, school authorities denied the incident was antisemitic or recommended that the victim be removed from the school permanently or attend school virtually.
The school punished the perpetrator or provided counseling for the targeted child in less than a third of cases.
As a result of the incidents, 16% of parents moved their children to another school, the majority to Jewish schools.
Nearly 82% of reported incidents took place in metropolitan Toronto (61%) and metropolitan Ottawa (21%), Ontario’s major Jewish population centers.
Responses to the report
FOLLOWING THE publication of the report, Josh Landau, director of government relations at the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said: “This federal report makes one thing clear: The status quo for Ontario Jewish students is unsustainable and unacceptable.”
“It’s no coincidence that Toronto and Ottawa-Carleton school boards – two of the boards the Ford Government placed under supervision – are also some of the most hostile environments for Jewish students and teachers.”
He called for the provincial government to accelerate the implementation of the recently delayed expanded mandatory Holocaust curriculum to address the troubling lack of understanding and ongoing dehumanization of Jews.
He also urged the government to mandate that school boards adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.
“The government must act to implement robust, system-wide reforms that will ensure schools are safe and inclusive for all students, including those targeted because of their Jewish identity.”
Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy for B’nai Brith Canada, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that he was “disturbed, not shocked,” by the findings. The results of the report also align with B’nai Brith Canada’s 2024 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents.
“It just clarifies what we have heard from teachers, students, and parents over the last few years, that antisemitism in schools is systemic.”
He noted that schools in the greater Toronto area are a particular flashpoint for antisemitism.
He urged the Education Ministry in Ontario to immediately implement training so that all teachers have a proper understanding of antisemitism and how to stop it from propagating in their schools.
Robertson added that the finding that less than 60% of the antisemitism was related to Israel was not unexpected, adding that antisemitism may be provoked by the geopolitical environment, but that antisemitism in all its forms has been the day-to-day reality of Canadian Jews for quite some time.
He also noted that the two main school boards mentioned in the report – the Toronto District School Board and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board – have already been taken over and their powers stripped by the Education Ministry due to flagrant violations.
They are now under the administration of supervisory boards, which Robertson hopes will aid in combating Jew hatred.
“It will be a missed opportunity if the supervisors don’t take this opportunity to confront antisemitism.
“The report must serve as a wake-up call.”