It has been more than three months that the Supreme Court of Canada has had on its desk GAJE’s application pleading that the court set aside the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision dismissing our case.
We hope the extent of this waiting period augers well for our hoped-for outcome. Hope and the force it can stir within the heart are not to be underestimated.
Nor are the resolute belief in the justice of our cause and the cause of its justice.
Matthew Lau, ad adjunct scholar at the Fraser Institute, published an op-ed essay this week in the National Post that shines high voltage lighting on merely one aspect of that justice. He was commenting on a report delivered at a staff meeting of the York Regional District School Board (YRDSB) that posited the jaw-dropping assertion (the truth of which the author refused to discuss) that “[T]he institution of education is an instrumental tool for maintaining and furthering the ideology of white supremacy.”
Lau points to recent data to show that there is simply no evidence to support the white supremacy theory when one examines the educational outcomes of the diverse student populations from various school boards, including the YRDSB.
However, Lau uses the proposition – whether true or not – to make more deeply compelling observations about the state of the educational system in Ontario.
“For the sake of argument, suppose that statement is true and educational institutions in Ontario really are tools for “furthering the ideology of white supremacy.” How best could we dismantle these racist institutions? The answer is easy: school choice. In B.C, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Quebec – but not Ontario – the provincial governments partially fund independent schools, making them more affordable to more families. Ontario should follow suit.
“Allowing greater choice would help remedy the unfairness of Ontario’s current system, which effectively traps many families in government-run schools because those wishing to leave must pay for their children’s education twice – once through taxes, and again for independent school tuition…”.
On the other hand, what if the statement is untrue, and Ontario’s educational system is not a tool for furthering white supremacy? In that case, parents still urgently need more school choice, so families can escape a system that engages in radical politics and wrongly tells children that the education system is racist against minorities to the benefit of the white population.”
Lau does not enter into a discussion on the merits of the suspect ‘white supremacy’ thesis. Rather, he makes the more cutting observation about Ontario’s educational system that arises from the very appearance, let alone, touting of the thesis at the YRDSB. The system is outdated and serves very poorly the families of the province.
Lau’s conclusion is as powerful as it is plainly obvious. “The reality is that Ontario families that want to choose schools outside their local government-run school have zero support from the provincial government. Some students genuinely experience discrimination or bullying. Others might be fed up with the activist rhetoric seeping into the classroom. Others may simply want a different academic approach. Whatever their reasons, Ontario families – like families in other provinces – should have more access to alternatives to the government-run school system.”
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Lau pleads for offering Ontario families more choice in the education of their children. This would work to the educational benefit of all Ontario families and to the overall educational system. Of course, it also makes the system fairer for all Ontario’s children.
GAJE pleads that by preferring – today, in 2026 – to entirely fund the education of the children of one religion exclusively, the government of Ontario offends the provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Of course, providing educational funding, on an equal basis to the children of the Jewish community and to other denominational or non-denominational minority communities, would also make the system fairer for all Ontario’s children.
And so, GAJE believes resolutely in the justice of our cause (fairness) and in the cause of its justice (equal treatment according to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms).
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If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit to achieve fairness in educational funding, 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 Thank you, in advance, for considering doing so.
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Shabbat shalom
Chag Samayach
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education
October 2, 2026
