BCTAA files human rights (discrimination) complaint vs BCTF for antisemitism
BC Teachers Against Antisemitism is dedicated to fighting antisemitism in our education system – whether we encounter it in our districts, our classrooms or even in our union.
In July, our lawyer, Paul Pulver of Pulver Crawford Munroe LLP, filed a human rights complaint on behalf of teachers who have witnessed and experienced dozens of antisemitic and discriminatory acts. These acts have occurred only because these teachers are Jewish, or because they support Jews and Israel and oppose Hamas and its October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks.
There are too many examples to list, but they include the BCTF donating $50,000 to UNWRA, an organization whose employees participated in and supported the attacks, and later held Israeli hostages; issuing “anti-racism” training materials that do not even mention antisemitism, but link to antisemitic materials including a poster that states “Zionists F*ck Off; rejecting the development of a Holocaust Education and Antisemitism Educators association, which was designed to counter the troubling rise in antisemitism; and instead, promoting and supporting the Anti-Oppression Educators Collective, which published virulently antisemitic materials and made presentations with Samidoun, a terrorist entity as recognized by the Government of Canada.
Some of the media stories at the time the human rights complaint was filed: