Michelle Glied-Goldstein says her late father Bill Glied, a Holocaust survivor, would be “heartbroken” to see the current spate of antisemitic incidents in Toronto schools.
“It truly is gut-wrenching,” said Glied-Goldstein, who runs an organization called Carrying Testimony to share the stories of Holocaust survivors.
“I definitely feel like there is a lot more of it in the last few years and probably in the last two years in particular.”
Michelle Glied-Goldstein, left, and her father Bill Glied pose in a picture in 2016. Bill Glied, who survived Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps, died in 2017. His daughter Michelle captured his stories on video, and shares them with students in schools around Ontario to teach them about the Holocaust. (Shoy Pictures)
In Toronto, Glied-Goldstein is part of the school board’s response to this disturbing trend, and will be speaking to thousands of students in the schools where the incidents occurred, sharing her late father’s story through a presentation and a video interview with him.
But experts say what seems to be a rise of antisemitism in schools is not limited to Toronto, or the last month — and suggest a lack of education is part of the problem.
‘Not just a Toronto problem’
In Markham, Ont., Marilyn Sinclair founded Liberation75, a global organization dedicating to commemorating the liberation of concentration camps.
“This is not just a Toronto problem,” said Sinclair, who is regularly in touch with Holocaust awareness organizations across the country.
“They all tell the same stories that they have antisemitism in all of their schools. They have swastikas painted on the walls of the schools. The Nazi imagery has gone out of control within the schools.”
Ottawa Grade 12 student Talia Freedhoff wrote about experiencing antisemitism in schools. (Talia Freedhoff)
Talia Freedhoff agrees with that. The Grade 12 student in Ottawa recently wrote an article for the Canadian Jewish News about her experiences moving to a public school after attending a Jewish private school. She says she’s experienced insensitivity to the needs of Jewish students, with teachers scheduling tests or assignments on major Jewish holidays, and has heard from other Jewish students about overt antisemitism.
“I’ve heard of people who had swastikas drawn on school supplies,” said Freedhoff. “I’ve heard a lot of really bad things … like money being thrown at Jewish students because they are Jewish.”
What was the Holocaust?
During the Second World War, the German Nazi regime persecuted and murdered approximately six million Jewish people throughout Europe. Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration or extermination camps to be killed with poison gas or subjected to forced labour. Some of the camps were also used for other groups persecuted by the Nazis such as Roma, homosexuals and political opponents. You can learn more about the largest of the Nazi death camps here: Life after Auschwitz.
‘They said I should go back to the gas chamber’
Antisemitism in schools is something Winnipeg father Ron East and his son Shai know well.
Shai says the bullying for being Jewish started when he was only in Grade 7, with a tap on the back from another student.
Winnipeg teenager Shai East, left, and his father Ron. Shai says he had to endure several antisemitic attacks when he was in Grades 7 and 8. Ron East says the administration of his son’s school promised to protect him but did nothing. (CBC)
“He just told me that I was weird and freakish for being Jewish. He told me that he knows that we control the world and that we eat babies and a bunch of other lies that really hurt my feelings.”
It didn’t end there. The following year, he says, he was accosted by four boys with an antisemitic slur.
“They started calling me names. They said I should go back to the gas chamber, that I’m a k—.”
Shai’s father Ron complained to the administration. He said he was reassured but ultimately, nothing was done. Then, the pandemic started and schools went online. By the fall of 2020, Shai was off to high school.
Ron East says what happened to his son speaks to a broader problem within the school ecosystem.
“You wonder, where’s the education piece for this particular student who is there guarding at the door, watching those students? Where are the parents seeing what they’re seeing on social media, talking with their students? Where are those teachers educating them?”
Lack of education, online images to blame
Indeed, experts say a lack of education on the harms of antisemitism and the history of the Holocaust is at the root of these problems in schools.
Sinclair’s Liberation75 organization published a report last month in which they interviewed 3600 students in Grades 6 to 12. Only two-thirds of the students surveyed said the Holocaust happened and six million Jewish people were killed. Of the others:
10 per cent said the Holocaust was exaggerated or may have been fabricated.
23 per cent were unsure what to answer.
Sinclair thinks the apparent uptick in school incidents of antisemitism in the last two years is no coincidence. Over that period, students have spent more time than ever online because of the pandemic, not only learning virtually, but also going on social media platforms, video game chat sites, and so on.
“I think the temptation is to say that these students are somehow bad students or come from bad families. I don’t believe that at all. I believe that the students are online. They’re seeing Nazi imagery. They’re seeing the Nazi salutes and they’re being provocative.”
Marilyn Sinclair is the founder of the organization Liberation75. Started to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of concentration camps, the Markham, Ont.-based foundation also provides Holocaust education for schools and families. (Doug Husby/CBC)
She says that Nazi imagery is more commonly seen in the news reports too, which makes it look more “normalized” in the eyes of the children, who may not understand the context.
“When the ‘Freedom convoy’ was happening and that one Nazi flag was being flown in Ottawa? That image was shown over and over again in social media. The kids see it. They don’t know what to make of it.”
Though no one keeps statistics on antisemitic incidents in Canadian schools in particular, the latest B’Nai Brith Canada audit found an 18 per cent increase in recorded antisemitic incidents in 2020 compared to the year before.
Education for students and teachers
The solution, experts say, lies in education, for students, teachers and school administrators . Student Talia Freedhoff would like to see teachers better equipped on how to spot and respond to antisemitism they might see in class.
“I think that generally it is a lack of awareness because antisemitism is so hard to spot in comparison to a lot of other forms of hatred. And so, you know, often people just don’t know that it’s that bad.”
Holocaust educators Marilyn Sinclair and Michelle Glied-Goldstein would like to see learning about the Holocaust mandated within the curriculum, something they say is not currently the case in any province or territory.
In this 2016 photo, the late Bill Glied is seen visiting the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where he was once a prisoner. Much of Glied’s family perished in the camps, but his Canadian-born daughter Michelle continues to talk to students about his life. (Shoy Pictures)
In the meantime, Glied-Goldstein is happy to share her father’s story with as many schools as will have her, a story of how a young boy’s happy childhood was forever upended by hate.
She says she wants students to understand that the horror of the Holocaust started with exclusion, words and symbols, like the ones they’re seeing within their schools.
“We always say it starts with words, but it never ends there.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
