Jewish teachers launch human rights complaint accusing B.C. teachers union of fostering antisemitism

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A group of Jewish teachers has filed a human-rights complaint against its own union, accusing the BC Teachers’ Federation of fostering antisemitism by marginalizing Jewish and Zionist perspectives in union activities and workplaces.

Paul Pulver, a labour and employment lawyer representing BC Teachers Against Antisemitism, said Tuesday the discrimination faced by the teachers is making it challenging for them to do their jobs and to work with their union.

Mr. Pulver said the complaint documents more than 25 instances of antisemitic discrimination that were caused or enabled by the BCTF. He declined to share the complaint filed with the BC Human Rights Tribunal until the tribunal approves its release to the public.

But he said, among the complaints, is the union president’s mid-March decision to send members anti-racism training resources that do not include any reference to antisemitism, though they include references to other groups. As well, the complaint notes, the material provided by the union links to antisemitic teaching resources, including a link to a group that offers posters advocating for Palestine, one of which is a drawing that included offensive language about Zionists.

“The misconduct of the BCTF’s leaders has caused its members to suffer so much trauma and fear that they’re unable to enjoy their career, participate in union affairs, or meet their health and safety needs. They have been intimidated and shamed by their colleagues, and feel threatened with the loss of their jobs,” Mr. Pulver said in a statement announcing the complaint.

The statement said the union has “ostracized” the teachers because they’re Jewish or because they hold “currently unpopular views” about Jews, Israel and Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks. The teachers are not named, saying they fear retribution.

“I don’t think there are any teachers within this group who would have difficulty with legitimate criticism of Israel in respect of its political or military decisions,” Mr. Pulver said.

“Where the difficulty lies … is when it goes beyond that and into antisemitic conduct, which unfortunately is what these teachers feel they’re witnessing now.”

The complaint comes in the wake of the union’s decision last month to deny specialist recognition to the Holocaust and Antisemitism Educators Association (HAEA), making it ineligible for funding for curriculum development.

The BCTF provides funding to 31 such associations, including the Anti-Oppression Educators Collective (AOEC), which advocates against racism and includes pro-Palestinian educational resources. The link to the offensive poster is included on the AOEC’s website.

The union group that made the funding decision, the Provincial Specialist Association Council, said the aims of the HAEA could be satisfied by existing specialty associations, including the AOEC.

But Jewish groups were outraged, noting social-media posts by the group. Among the AOEC’s activities was a workshop in April called “Teaching for Palestine,” designed to “guide educators through the complexities of teaching, organizing and advocating for Palestinian human rights and equality within classrooms and schools.”

The AOEC took down its website and social-media feeds last month. But they were reinstated recently. In an online newsletter dated Saturday, the group said it took the information down temporarily because its organizers felt “singled out and targeted by individuals affiliated with pro-Israel lobby groups.”

The group said it had been unfairly characterized as antisemitic and that organizers of the group, who are predominantly women of colour, felt threatened after the media coverage.

In the newsletter, the group said the provincial NDP government’s decision to make Holocaust education mandatory ignored the fact that Holocaust education has long been taught in the school system. In contrast, the group said, there is a lack of education about the Nakba “and subsequent genocides of the Palestinian people.” The Nakba, Arabic for “catastrophe,” refers to the 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what today is Israel before and during the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948.

A request for comment to the organizers of the AOEC was not returned. In its newsletter, the AOEC said the group “will not be engaging with corporate media.”

Rich Overgaard, a spokesperson for the BCTF, said the union values the critical role of the Human Rights Tribunal in upholding the BC Human Rights Code and out of respect for this process, as well as any members who may be involved, the union will not comment before the tribunal has reviewed the matter.

With a report from The Canadian Press