TDSB rejects finding that trustee breached code of conduct in criticizing antisemitic materials

A Toronto District School Board logo is seen on a sign in front of a high school in Toronto, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Toronto District School Board trustees have voted to reject the finding of a report that one of their fellow trustees breached the code of conduct by speaking out in a 'discriminatory' way against a packet of information distributed to some teachers which in part included links to websites promoting antisemitism and terrorism.

The complaint against Ward 5 Trustee Alexandra Lulka goes back to May when she discovered that a staff member serving as a student equity program advisor with the TDSB had used an opt-in email distribution list on gender-based violence to send out an information package for teachers about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The package of resources and articles for the classroom went out to about 1,700 people who regularly receive the mailouts and was meant to provide a Palestinian-centered view of the conflict.

After the mailouts were distributed, Lulka, who is Jewish, posted a statement on Twitter and Facebook expressing concern about some of the content and demanded an investigation.

“I was deeply disturbed to recently discover that virulently anti-Israel and even antisemitic materials were distributed to TDSB teachers through an opt-in list by a TDSB employee,” she wrote.

“I was outraged to discover that some of this material justifies suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism. This is reprehensible. These materials were provided by an employee from the TDSB equity department, the very department that should be countering antisemitism and violence, not fanning the flames.”

She said she would work “to ensure that none of these hateful materials ever see the inside of a TDSB classroom.”

After receiving formal complaints against Lulka for the post, the integrity commissioner hired an independent human rights investigator to carry out a month-long probe of the tweet.

The investigator conducted interviews and reviewed some resources in the mailouts, but did not include a review of all the linked materials as the integrity commissioner had asked, according to her report.

The integrity commissioner, leaning on the analysis of the independent investigator, eventually found that Lulka’s Twitter statement “fell within the TDSB definition of being discriminatory” in a 50-page report released this week.  

The investigator hired by the integrity commissioner found that the effects of Lulka’s comments could be considered discriminatory because they might “perpetuate harmful anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian tropes by tying generally pro-Palestinian discourse to antisemitism and violence.”

The investigator reasoned that “equating pro-Palestinian materials with support or justification for suicide bombings and terrorism similarly may perpetuate the dangerous and harmful stereotype which views Muslims, and particularly Palestinian Muslims, ‘as violent, aggressive, threatening, supportive of terrorism and engaged in a 'clash of civilizations.'’”

The report found no problem with most of the content included in the package.

But while the TDSB human rights office (HRO) concluded that much of the material in the mailout was not antisemitic, it did find that a number of links were "problematic and could be reasonably considered to contain antisemitic materials and seen to be contributing to antisemitism.”

A review by the HRO found that the material at some of the links dismissed the connection of Jewish people to the land and notes that suicide bombings are a legitimate means of resistance.

The HRO also found that “some of the materials contained in the links support the use  of  violence  and  terrorism  against  Israeli  Jews;  specifically,  including  a  link  to  the website of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (a group that is currently on Canada’s Listed Terrorist Entities).”

The HRO concluded that "only three" resources shared in the package "could reasonably be considered to contain anti-semitic material, references, or allusions."

However the integrity commissioner expressed concern in the report “that the HRO has a very limited view of the definition of antisemitism, an incorrect definition of certain terms in the Jewish narrative, including ‘Zionist’, which is painted incorrectly and pejoratively.”

She noted that even if the mailing list was opt-in, teachers and students “should not be required to read through patently antisemitic materials, even if those are found in a subset of the materials in a link that is constantly being updated.”

Ultimately, the report found that Lulka “is no more an Islamophobe than the staff person (who sent the mailout) is anti-Semitic.”

The integrity commissioner cleared Lulka of two out of the three complaints brought against her over the tweet, but recommended censure for the finding of discrimination for having characterized the whole package of materials in a negative way.

At a board meeting Wednesday evening, the trustees rejected the commissioner's finding that Lulka breached the TDSB's Code of Conduct by a vote of 10-7.

The report drew mixed response ahead of the vote.

Jewish groups slammed the censure recommendation in the report.

“It is astonishingly unreasonable to compel a Jewish trustee calling out Jew-hatred to also highlight positive elements in the resources,” Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Vice-President Noah Shack said in a statement released Tuesday. “The recommendation to censure her for not doing so is misguided and must be rejected. Punishing Trustee Lulka is contrary to the values of an educational institution purporting to engender learning and mutual respect.”

He also called for “unequivocal condemnation” for any board staff who promote material that may support antisemitism or terrorism.

Meanwhile in a statement on Twitter, the National Council of Canadian Muslims urged its members to lobby their trustees for a censure.

“The findings raise a number of serious concerns about anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia,” the group said.

In a statement to CP24 earlier in the week, TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird said hate has no place at the school board in any form.

“Hate in all its forms, including antisemitism, has no place at the Toronto District School Board and staff continue to develop resources and professional learning to confront it,” Bird said. “Trustees will consider the recommendations of the Integrity Commissioner – an independent third party who investigates code of conduct complaints – during the next regular board meeting.”