Every two weeks, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto emails Activist Update’ newsletter, The Catalyst. The newsletter highlights three current policy issues pressing upon local concern, inviting community members to get involved, to take action seeking official accountability in relation to any or all of the issues.
This week, the newsletter arrived in the email inbox with the subject title: “Education is the key to fighting antisemitism”. The first of the three items in the newsletter related to that subject. It dealt with the recently released federal report commissioned for Ambassador Deborah Lyons confirming that “antisemitism is a systemic problem in Ontario’s public education system. Jewish students are being harassed, excluded, and dehumanized—by their peers and, in some cases, by their teachers.”
The newsletter urged readers to take action with respect to the issue to help convince Queen’s Park of its urgency. It prescribes different ways readers may do so.
For our purposes, it is important to note that it is no longer controversial or doubtful in any respect, indeed, if it ever was, that lay and professional community officials agree that Jews cannot rid the antisemite of his or her antisemitism. That important, though difficult task falls to the antisemite. Jews, however, can and must protect themselves and society itself from the haters of Jews.
The newsletter refers to education in the broad sense as it applies throughout our society. It calls upon the stewards of our public educational system to ensure, without cavil or excuse, the public school system is a safe learning space for Jewish children too. The hater of Jews must be prevented from propounding their hatred, and wherever it exists, the hatred must be entirely expunged.
Though the task is straightforward, it is not easy. Even so, individuals and institutions entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining the province’s educational system must not shirk their responsibility. We already have mounting evidence in cities where Jewish parents consider public schools no longer safe for their children. (See last week’s update. The Hamilton Jewish community is planning to open a Jewish high school in 2026.)
In a recent interview with the Canadian Jewish News, Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, Deborah Lyons, explained, in part, why she stepped down from her position three months early. She was very open.
“[D]uring this period, these last two years, I’ve been really quite amazed and often become quite despondent and despairing about the fact that it was hard to get people to speak up, to speak with clarity, to speak with conviction about what we were seeing happening here on Canadian soil. Yes, there are all kinds of issues with what’s happening in the Middle East, and we should be directing ourselves to those issues as well. But if we can’t deal with what’s happening in a growing hatred on our own soil, what does that say about us? Not just as leaders, by the way, but as everyday citizens. It was a constant discussion with people about, ‘Why are you not standing up? Why are you not saying something?”
Ms. Lyons words were sincere and brave. But to the Jewish community, alas, the information she shared did not surprise. Civil society – especially our elected leadership – has failed in standing resolutely against the various manifestations of hatred against Jews. Civil society has thus failed itself.
But the term “education” referred to as the key to fighting antisemitism in the title of the UJA social action missive also means Jewish education, education of Jewish children in Jewish schools.
We will write more on that in next week’s update.
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GAJE’s legal team will appear before the Court of Appeal at 10:00 on November 21, 2025 to argue that the Divisional Court was wrong to reverse Judge Papageorgiou’s decision and to then dismiss our application. As we noted last week, “it is shameful that GAJE must plead for the right to a hearing on the merits of our application for fair educational funding in the year 2025, some 30 years after the Supreme Court’s decision in 1996 that enabled the province’s approach to educational funding.
If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com
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Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
August 1, 2025
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 