October 11, 2024
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Adopting APR risks legitimizing fringe movements trying to manufacture racial grievances for groups that don’t have long-standing histories of oppression in Canada.

TDSB wrong to adopt ‘anti-Palestinian racism’ policy

The concept is designed to perpetuate age-old prejudices against Jews and undermine societal solidarity against antisemitism

Last week, Pe’er Krut wrote in this paper about an assembly at a Catholic high school outside Toronto in which students were subjected to a rant that presented a very one-sided view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This was bad enough because there was no opportunity for alternate perspectives to be presented.

But now adding insult to injury, the Toronto District School Board has voted to incorporate the concept of anti-Palestinian racism (APR) within its broader anti-discrimination strategy, which has the potential to shut down another avenue for debate and discussion within the education system.

Canada does not have a large Palestinian population (there are only around 4,000 people of Palestinian descent in the entire city of Toronto), or a history of tensions between Palestinians and other groups. Racism specifically targeting Palestinians is thus not a pressing issue in Canada.

Introducing a very specific term like APR is unnecessarily divisive and a distraction from more evidence-based racial inequities experienced by minority groups in Canadian society. Promoting its inclusion in anti-discrimination policies could set some concerning precedents, especially when it comes to influencing young minds.

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