One has to wonder if the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has a death wish. At a time when the Minister of Education, Paul Calandra, is pondering the future of both school boards and elected trustees, the TDSB keeps stepping into mud puddles.
The latest episode had one of the board’s high schools, Earl Haig Secondary School in North York, playing the Canadian national anthem in Arabic on the same day as Jewish students were in mourning over the barbaric massacre of Jews and other nationals two years ago on October 7th.
By law, schools are required to start each school day with the national anthem, either in French or English. Playing it in Arabic is not only against the law, but it also brings new meaning to the phrase “tone deaf.”
Calandra quite understandably, blew a gasket, at first refusing to accept the school’s excuse that it was a mistake.
“It’s hard to believe that no one recognized the significance of this day where the world recognizes the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack perpetrated against the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” he said.
“This further underscores that school boards should be focused on creating safe learning environments for all students, never at the expense of one community over another,” he said.
Jewish students who attend the school and their parents, were understandably upset over the incident. For a school culture that these days likes to focus on “safe spaces” for students and frequently bends over backwards to ensure that no one student feels threatened or uncomfortable, it is hard to imagine that no one thought this was a bad idea.
By the end of the week, the school board was saying that the playing of the anthem was “inadvertent” and school principal, Steve Yee wrote to parents, calling it “an unfortunate incident” and offering an apology and support to Jewish students at the school.
Calandra was prepared to accept the conclusion of the school board’s investigation into the matter that it was a mistake and the principal’s apology that he was not aware that the anthem was going to be played that day.
“I think now we can, hopefully move on…let’s create an environment that brings people together and not one that divides people,” Calandra said.
Unfortunately, things did not stop there. A few days later, the National Post revealed that the TDSB had hired a consultant to conduct an Arabic calligraphy workshop for over 2,000 students. While some may, understandably question the value of the topic as part of the curriculum in the first place, it turned out that this particular consultant frequently uses her calligraphic art to express strong anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiments.
When the school board realized the problems this could cause, they cancelled the scheduled session before it took place. Superintendent John Currie emailed parents to notify them of the decision. A school spokesperson told the Post that “after a review of social media content that we don’t believe is in line with TDSB policies and procedures, the calligraphy workshop was cancelled for today.”
So brownie points to the board for recognizing the problem, but one wonders what kind of vetting takes place when hiring people to stand in front of students. In the words of one Jewish parent, whose children had been scheduled to participate in the session, “there was nothing hidden, someone either didn’t check this person or (they) did but didn’t think anything of it.”
Either way, it is a problem. Since the decision, the consultant has been busy trying to get parents to lodge complaints of anti-Palestinian racism against the board.
Teaching students to understand and respect other cultures is part of a good education. But turning sessions into political diatribes against a people and their right to exist is not.
Whatever decision Calandra comes to regarding the future of school boards, he needs to make it soon, so parents can be confident that the people in charge of their children can be trusted.
Janet Ecker is a former Ontario Finance Minister, Minister of Education, Minister of Community and Social Services and Government House Leader in the governments of Premier Mike Harris and Premier Ernie Eves. After her political career, she served as the founding CEO of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance, a public-private partnership dedicated to building Toronto region into an international financial centre. She currently sits on a number of corporate and non-profit boards, agencies and advisory committees.
Ms. Ecker received the Order of Canada for her public service contributions and was recognized as one of the “Most Influential People in the World’s Financial Centres” by Financial Centres International. She also received a “Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award” from the Women’s Executive Network and the Richard Ivey School of Business, among other awards. She is also one of the founders of Equal Voice, a national, multi-partisan organization working to elect more women.
