GAJE has reported upon the increasing enrolment this year throughout the day school system in our community. No analysis has been released linking this increase in enrollment to the wide-spread perception that some public schools are inhospitable – sometimes even hostile – environments for Jewish students.

Last week, November 28, Ellin Bessner of The CJN reported upon a disturbing situation in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board concerning one of the Board’s trustees. The situation involved overt anti-Israel as well as anti-Jewish behaviour. Some people took objection and acted to declare such behaviour objectionable and out of bounds and to try to prevent such behaviour from recurring. 

The report in The CJN and related public school educational stories can be accessed at:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-cjn-daily-with-ellin-bessner/id1565571997?i=1000678507892

“Donna Blackburn, a long-serving trustee on the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, has been formally censured by her peers and must take antisemitism training. The vote came on Nov. 26, following an official complaint accusing Blackburn of using slurs about Jews being powerful bullies. While the OCDSB stopped short of suspending Blackburn outright, as others in similar situations have been, Jewish leaders are applauding the school board’s somewhat unexpected stand against antisemitism. The OCDSB has long been accused of treating Jewish students and staff differently than other equity-seeking groups. In this latest example, Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth, a trustee on the board, lodged a complaint this summer after a dispute over the Capital Pride Parade. She and Blackburn, a long supporter of the parade, clashed when the school board pulled out of the event after organizers openly supported the Palestinian cause, blamed Israel for a “genocide” in Gaza, said Israel was pinkwashing the war, and called for a boycott of sponsors who were Zionists.”

(Bessner recorded local Ottawa Jewish reactions on the November 28 podcast, The CJN Daily, to the anti-Jewish manifestations occurring in the public school system there.)

•••

The reason GAJE calls attention to this development in the public school system in Ottawa is because it bespeaks an important change in the circumstances of the Jewish community of Ontario – specifically in relation to the education of Jewish children in Ontario – since the era before and including 1996 when the Supreme Court decided the Adler case.

It bears repeating that the Adler decision did not preclude Ontario from funding other denominational schools beside the Catholic schools. Nor did the decision preclude Ontario from funding any independent schools in the province. But the province has steadfastly, resolutely, stubbornly and unfairly refused to even permit the discussion about fairness in educational funding in this province.

Queen’s Park continues to refuse the possibility of funding fairness even in the face of the wide surge, since October 7, 2023, in many public schools of aggressive, abusive, highly intimidating anti-Jewish hatred directed to Jewish students.

This documented open hostility to Jewish students in public schools is a significant, worrisome, door-knocking change in the circumstances of public education from the days of 1996 when the Supreme Court decreed that it was legal for Ontario to fully fund only Catholic schools to the exclusion of all other denominations or other independent schools.

This change in circumstances is deeply alarming. As mentioned above, it stands to reason that parents are withdrawing their children from public schools to find an alternative educational home. But not all Jewish communities have access to local Jewish day schools. For example, there is no Jewish day high school in Ottawa.

We appeal to Queen’s Park to show it cares truly – in the core, citizen-building realm of education – for all the children of the province. We appeal to Queen’s Park to bring fairness for the benefit all Ontario children in the public funding of their respective educations.

In a very real sense, when they champion anti-Israel and anti-Jewish behaviour, some public schools and their school board enablers, betray their sacred duty to the boys and girls of our in their charge and they betray the province itself.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

December 6, 2024

Last week, GAJE reported the observation by Melissa Rivkin, the director of day school strategy at the Seattle-based Samis Foundation that “strong Jewish day school education provides youngsters with a foundation that gives them the wherewithal – knowledge, identity, and confidence – in the future, to take up the task of defending civil western society.”

Defending civil western society – along with Israel, Judaism and Jews – has become the chief priority and preoccupation of our community, and, one can add of communities throughout the West, since October 7, 2023.

But it helps to have allies.

The Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy, a Calgary-based, think tank, is indeed an ally of all Canadians who treasure the rule of law in this country that is founded upon democracy’s truest value: respect for the inherent dignity of all human life.

Earlier this month, GAJE published a personal letter from Mark Milke, the Foundation’s president. The letter was entitled, An attack on all of us: Why the Aristotle Foundation will not be silent on antisemitism. It is inspiring and deeply affecting like the grasp of a hand that reaches out to pull you up after a fall.

This week the Aristotle Foundation published a documentary entitled “Why Canadians Should Support Israel.” It is an important 18-minute statement that warrants wide distribution and wider viewing.

The following are the introductory explanatory remarks that accompanied the documentary in the email GAJE received from the Foundation.

“Canadians have often fought autocracies, tyrannies, and supported a free, flourishing world. Now our liberal democratic allies in Israel are facing their own existential threat. This past week, the International Criminal Court even issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister, this after civilian casualties in Gaza. Except those are a direct result of the war Hamas started on October 7, 2023. 

“Israelis face what Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and others faced in the Second World War: A genocidal ideology intent on exterminating others. Bizarrely, since October 7, 2023, proper moral blame and proper reasoning for the tragedy of civilian deaths has been turned upside-down and inside-out. 

“You’ve heard the accusations: Israel is the colonizing, warmongering state. Both “sides” in the Israeli-Hamas conflict are somehow equal in blame. This is ghastly wrong. 

“There are excellent reasons for Canadians to support Israel. There are solid reasons to blame Hamas, Hezbollah, and the genocidal regime in Iran for the civilian deaths ever since in Gaza and in Lebanon.  

“Our latest documentary film explores the wrongheaded accusations against Israel and her people. This documentary also exposes the radicals in Canada. Recall the recent “protest” in Vancouver where “Death to Israel” and “Death to Canada” were chanted. 

“Don’t think for a moment the two are not linked. The attacks on Israel are already metastasizing worldwide. They are not only anti-Jewish and anti-Israel, but anti-West, anti-Canada, and frankly, anti-Enlightenment and anti-civilization. 

“That’s why you need to watch “Why Canadians Should Support Israel” and share it far and wide. This is the most important documentary we have ever produced.” 

To the above description GAJE adds: this is a most important documentary for all who care for the permanent, secure future of democracy.

Along with the “knowledge, identity, and confidence” related to living Jewishly that flow from a day school education, this documentary by the Aristotle Foundation, is another arrow in the quiver that we carry near our hearts in the vital task of “defending civil western society.”

(Why Canadians Should Support Israel can be accessed on the website of The Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy.)

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

November 29, 2024

GAJE was formed for the sole purpose of trying to help make Jewish day school education more affordable for the majority of young Jewish families in Ontario.

Though not the only way of fostering comprehensive Jewish literacy, life-long identity, and permanent connection to the Jewish people, Jewish day school education is indeed considered the best way.

In the wake of the ugly – and shocking – ascendance of anti-Jewish-anti-Israel hatred after October 7, 2023, day school education has proven its worth in other important ways as well. Day school graduates have demonstrated a strong, self-identifying sense of self that enables them to stand their ground, literally and metaphorically, against the purveyors of hate and abuse. As we have seen and read and heard these past 13 months, some of those purveyors have been intimidating and threatening.

Melissa Rivkin, the director of day school strategy at the Seattle-based Samis Foundation, has written an op-ed/case study that highlights the strength and courage of one day school graduate in particular, Hannah Nash, who stood tall and strong in a difficult situation recently at the University of Washington. Entitled, Jewish day schools: Building leaders, not just students, the Rivlin article appeared last week on eJP’s web site. The purpose of the op-ed is clear from its very title.

Rivlin writes that a strong Jewish day school education provides youngsters with a foundation that gives them the wherewithal – knowledge, identity, and confidence – in the future, to take up the task of defending civil western society.

Rivlin sets the scene of Hannah’s “defining moment”.

“No one could have predicted that Jewish students like Hannah would one day face intense antisemitism on college campuses. As a student at the University of Washington, Hannah experienced firsthand the surge of hostility toward Jews and Israelis especially, following the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Campus protests calling for the destruction of Israel, antisemitic graffiti and blood libel against Israel as a country and Jews as a people made her feel unsafe. But she drew on her Jewish day school foundation to give her the strength to speak up when it mattered most.”

The meeting where Hannah spoke became a flashpoint after a year of rising antisemitism on the University of Washington campus. What should have been an orderly public comment period quickly descended into chaos. As Hannah and other Jewish community members..attempted to speak, they were shouted down by protestors. The disruption was so extreme that the regents were forced to shut down the meeting entirely, and protestors took over the room. In the midst of an intimidating uproar, Hannah, who was the only student who was there to testify, stood her ground, displaying uncommon calm and courage in a challenging moment.”

“…Hannah’s presence at that meeting wasn’t just a personal victory—it was part of a larger story that became a rallying point for the entire Jewish community in Greater Seattle. …What started as a chaotic, disruptive meeting turned into a powerful, unified response that no one could ignore. Hannah’s courage in stepping forward to testify made it impossible for university leadership to ignore or deny the reality of Jewish student experiences. Her calm and strength in the face of intense provocation exemplifies the kind of Jewish leadership we have seen demonstrated by Jewish day school students nationwide in this moment.”

Hannah’s story is the jumping off point for Rivlin’s praise for day schools. Obviously, not all day school graduates show the pluck and determination that Hannah did. Individual character and nature play a determinative role in deciding when – if at all – to move away from the shoreline, into the deeper waters of the battle to defend Jews and Israel and to preserve western values and western society. Rivlin’s point however, is that in the best of instances, day school education provides the substantive wherewithal for willing individuals to swim confidently in that deep end where the turbulent waters are rising.

The Rivlin article is available at:

Jewish day schools: Building leaders, not just students

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

November 22, 2024

A strong case can be made for the proposition that the four most important words of modern Jewish history are: “We have not yet lost our hope.” (“Od loh avdah tikvateinu.”) Those words are not merely a roadside instruction for GAJE. They are the driving force that inspires our efforts to bring end the discrimination in educational funding in Ontario. They need to be because the wheels of justice are turning exceedingly slowly.

A brief summary of the timeline of the GAJE lawsuit tells the story.

In February 2025, three years will have elapsed since GAJE brought an application in court to compel the Government of Ontario to act fairly, without preference to only one religion, in its educational funding. Yet even today, even after almost three years, we are still not even in the “batter’s box” able to swing at the government’s legal pitches on the merits of our case.

The government responded to our February 2022 application by attempting to have it thrown out of court. In August 2023, one and a half years later, Judge Eugenia Papageorgiou rendered a 46-page decision that refused to agree with the government. She decided that GAJE’s case is worthy of proceeding to a full airing because it raises important legal, constitutional and societal issues.

Rather than accept Judge Papageorgiou’s decision, the government persisted in trying to have GAJE’s application tossed out of court. Queen’s Park was (and is) unwilling to allow a comprehensive legal discussion to bring forward the best possible educational funding policy for Ontarians for this day and age.

On September 10 of this year, a three-member panel of the Divisional Court agreed with the Province of Ontario. Our case was dismissed. Now, GAJE must receive the permission of the Court of Appeal to set aside the Divisional Court’s ruling.

GAJE brought a motion for leave to appeal. Our legal team filed our legal factum at the end of October. We now await the response of the government. After it is filed in the next weeks, we will await hearing whether the Court of Appeal will have granted us leave to appeal the Divisional Court’s decision that dismissed our case.

GAJE believes that the case is strong. It follows legal precedent. We also believe that the case is important for the people of Ontario. It raises matters of wide general interest and public policy importance.

As our legal team asserts, the issues in GAJE’s case “involve legal concepts of constitutional interpretation, as well as the scope of freedom of religion and the right to be treated equally before and under the law.”

Is equal treatment in education a meaningful value in Ontario in 2024? GAJE asserts that it must be.

If it is, should the Constitution of Canada not acknowledge it?  Should the Constitution of Canada not operate in a manner consistent with that value, in a manner that demonstrates the full embrace of equality for everyone?

How can it be appropriate that a constitutional provision enacted in 1867 specifically to protect minority education rights in Ontario and in Quebec, is now being wielded by the Government of Ontario to deny minority educational rights in 2024? It is not.

Does the fact that Quebec abandoned the constitutional provision some years ago, not cast Ontario’s obstinate refusal to end the discrimination in educational funding in an inexplicably unjust and unkind light? It does.

Our fervent hope is that the Court of Appeal will agree with GAJE to grant us the right to appear in the batter’s box, in a subsequent hearing, to argue the case on its merits.

Though the wheels turn exceedingly slowly, we have not lost hope. Nor will we ever.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

November 15, 2024

The Canadian Handbook on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism

Now in its second year, the campaign against Israel and Jews continues on the streets and public spaces of Canada. But Jews and increasingly, non-Jewish champions of civil, democratic society are fighting back. This is not only a source of inspiration for our community but it also represents a substantive deployment of forces for democracy. We know – enlightened society knows – that antisemitism is dangerous to Jews, of course, and also to everyone who values freedom and humanity.

 The Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism (ALCCA) is at the vanguard of those champions. This week ALCCA advised that the Government of Canada has just released The Canadian Handbook on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism.

The handbook is intended to guide anti-racism policies and codes of conduct at schools and universities, to educate and to inform those who design DEI programs in and outside government agencies, and promote greater understanding regarding antisemitism in law enforcement circles across the country. It was developed in partnership with the Office of the Special Envoy for Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, Deborah Lyons.

In the communication from the ALCCA, Alliance chair, Mark Sandler, elaborated upon the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism itself and upon the significance of the federal government’s handbook.

GAJE reproduces Sandler’s correspondence (below). It is an excellent mini-primer for GAJE supporters about the IHRA document and how the handbook can benefit the fight against antisemitism, i.e., the fight to protect and preserve democratic values.

•••

“The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) is an intergovernmental organization with 35 Member Countries and 9 Observer Countries that was founded in 1998 by former Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson to address issues related to the Holocaust and genocide of the Roma. The IHRA definition is the most authoritative and comprehensive definition in the world today. It has been adopted by 42 other countries, and many others, including Canadian provinces, cities, towns and townships listed in the handbook.

Key moments:

• In 2019, the Government of Canada adopted the non-legally binding IHRA definition as part of its anti-racism strategy.
• In 2021, the Government committed itself to “continue to enhance the adoption and implementation of the working definition.”
• In 2022, the Government undertook that it would develop and publish this handbook. The Prime Minister indicated that the handbook will “support the adoption, understanding, and practical use of the [IHRA] definition across Canada.”
• And now in 2024, the Government has released the Canadian Handbook on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism.

“The publication of the handbook represents an important step – but only a step – in combatting antisemitism across the country:

• The handbook is only meaningful if it is used to guide anti-racism policies and codes of conduct at schools and universities.
• It is only meaningful if it educates and informs those who design DEI programs in our private and public institutions.
• It is only meaningful if it is utilized to promote greater understanding in law enforcement circles of the scourge of antisemitism, and its modern manifestations.

“Make no mistake – its adoption and use will be bitterly attacked because it recognizes the right of Jewish self-determination. And because it explains that modern antisemitism is often manifested by demonizing Israel – through denying its very existence and legitimacy, and by demonizing all Zionists, without distinction, including 91% of Canadian Jews who support Jewish self-determination in Israel.

“The campaign against the IHRA definition is largely based on the false claim that the definition immunizes Israel from criticism, and as such, is invalid, even racist. The handbook exposes that this is untrue. The working definition is clear that criticism of Israel, its policies and practices is not antisemitic. Israel is not immune – nor should it be – from the same types of criticism levelled against any country. But the definition’s opponents are unencumbered by the facts.

“I commend Deborah Lyons, the Government of Canada, and many others responsible for the publication of this handbook. Our community and allies must now commit to promoting its use to combat antisemitism across the country.”

••• 

GAJE assiduously follows, supports and applauds ALCCA’s moral leadership. GAJE also commends the federal government for fulfilling its promise to provide a handbook for the appropriate application of the IHRA’s definition of antisemitism.

The handbook can be downloaded at:

https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/canada-holocaust/antisemitism/handbook-definition-antisemitism.html?utm_campaign=pch-pch-special-envoy-lyons-24-25&utm_medium=smo&utm_source=lnkn&utm_content=guide-antisemitism-en-241030-pch

•••

On September 10, a three-member panel of the Divisional Court agreed with the Province of Ontario that GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding should be dismissed. On September 25, GAJE filed a Notice of Motion seeking leave to appeal the court’s decision. Last month, GAJE filed its factum for the motion for leave to appeal.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

November 8, 2024

The Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy is a relatively new, Calgary-based, think tank. According to its website, the Foundation “aims to renew a civil, common-sense approach to public discourse and public policy in Canada.” 

On October 5, Mark Milke, the Foundation’s president, published a personal letter about the Foundation’s work on antisemitism and Israel. It is a succinct, substantive communication that warrants wide reading.

Entitled, An attack on all of us: Why the Aristotle Foundation will not be silent on antisemitism,  Milke identifies at least three reasons for the rise in antisemitism and radicalism across Canada this past year. Equally as important, he articulates a statement of principle concerning the deeper truth of the current, namely, that Israel is fighting against Iran and its appointed armies all of whom are dedicated to Israel’s annihilation.

“Aristotle Foundation’s scholars refuse to be silent on antisemitism’s rise in Canada. We also refuse to abandon moral clarity on Israel.”

Milke’s statement is rare.

When so many governmental, academic, media and other purported leaders of men and women these days are silent or equivocate or worse, condemn Israel for deigning to defend itself, Milke is forthright and direct in explaining Israel’s case and pointing to its justice.

That is why we call readers’ attention to his words in this update.

“In the past year, we have written and spoken out on this issue. Know that we will do even more work in the coming year to educate Canadians about antisemitism and radicalism.

“Antisemitism and attacks on our liberal democratic ally, Israel, are not “just” an attack on Jews, Arabs, Christians, and Baha’i who live in Israel. They are also an attack on Canada and on the tolerant, open civilization painstakingly and progressively built here and in the rest of the West, and increasingly in recent decades, in non-Western nations as well.”

It is this last point that should compel the attention of all Canadians. Since the manifestations of anti-Israel/anti-Jewish hatred have appeared in Canada after October 7, GAJE has made the very same point: [Antisemitism and attacks on Israel] are also an attack on Canada and on the … civilization…built here.

Milke’s letter is available at:

An attack on all of us: Why the Aristotle Foundation will not be silent on antisemitism

The page on which Milke’s public letter appears is also a portal to a trove of other opinion essays related to combatting antisemitism and to explaining Israel’s predicament defending against Iran’s annihilationist axis.

That the Jewish community is not alone in its campaign to protect our society against the purveyors of antisemitism is deeply heartening. GAJE is grateful to Mark Milke and the board of the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy for understanding the underlying importance of Israel’s struggle against theocrats, autocrats, thugs and dictators opposed to the West.

But, as GAJE has often stated and restates in this update, the first and most effective lines of defence and offence against haters of Jews and of Israel, is finding pride, purpose and expression in being Jewish. We protect cherished universal values by asserting the particular profundity of our Judaism. Education is the pathway to discovering, reinforcing and celebrating who we are.

•••

On September 10, a three-member panel of the Divisional Court agreed with the Province of Ontario that GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding should be dismissed. On September 25, GAJE filed a Notice of Motion seeking leave to appeal the court’s decision.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

November 1, 2024

At its openly visible core, the fight against antisemitism, here and abroad, is a fight to protect and preserve civil, law-abiding society. Antisemitism – hatred of Jews – does not and cannot co-exist with decency and respect for human rights.

Being demonstrably and proudly Jewish, as GAJE has often written, is one way to stand against antisemitism in its many, ugly manifestations. Helping members of our community “be” Jewish – through the affordable availability of Jewish education, is the essence of GAJE’s mission.

But our mission also encompasses the Jewish and overall wellbeing of children in our community who attend the public school system.  For that reason, GAJE has written about the bullying and the intimidation of Jewish students in public schools.

B’nai Brith Canada (BBC) has identified antisemitism specifically within elementary and secondary schools, in a seven-point plan for tackling antisemitism that the organization released this week.

“Antisemitism is increasingly being normalized within the education sector, from elementary to secondary schools. Whether through biased curricula, antisemitic rhetoric from educators, or the presence of antisemitic groups and symbols, Jewish students and educators are facing a hostile environment that undermines the principles of inclusivity, diversity, and safety within Canada’s education system.”

BBC provides an action of five specific steps to proactively confront and ultimately eliminate antisemitism in the schools. Those steps deal with: (a) the need for clear guidelines, (b) curriculum reform, (c) teacher training, (d) student support and (e) accountability.

BBC’s document is a compelling and comprehensive roadmap for community officials for stemming and eliminating hatred of Jews. The section that prescribes how to confront antisemitism within our schools is particularly compelling. Of course, it is germane to GAJE’s mission of helping Jews “be” Jewish. We urge GAJE supporters to read the entire seven-point proposal and especially the section outlining a course of action for our public schools.

See: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S-ZHYaVQbYT2QSzgcNmkJcg2ym11M27K/view

•••

On September 10, a three-member panel of the Divisional Court agreed with the Province of Ontario that GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding should be dismissed. On September 25, GAJE filed a Notice of Motion seeking leave to appeal the court’s decision.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Chag samayach. Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

October 23, 2024

It is appropriate, two weeks into the new year, 5785, to restate the substance of GAJE’s claim against the Government of Ontario. As every reader of this weekly update knows, GAJE is suing Ontario to implement fairness in its educational funding policies. Ontario funds the education of only one of the faith communities in the province, i.e., Roman Catholic.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1996 that Ontario’s exclusive funding of only one community was indeed legal because of the country’s founding agreement in 1867 between Quebec and Ontario to protect, through educational funding, the respective Protestant or Catholic linguistic/cultural minority in the other’s province.

GAJE simply asks that the legal ruling of 1996 be reassessed in light of significant changes in the law and in societal circumstances nearly 30 years after the 1996 decision. We will not restate the pleadings of our case in this space. GAJE’s legal team is superb and we rely on them for all advocacy purposes. But we wish readers of this space to know, to understand that, one of the significant changes in the law – indeed, one can also argue in societal circumstances – since 1996 is that one of the signatory parties to the founding agreement of 1867 – Quebec – has decided that it will no longer be bound by the 1867 provisions. Quebec decided to educationally protect minorities in its provinces by other legal means. Quebec’s policy became enshrined in Canada’s Constitution a year after the SCC decision of 1996. In other words, Ontario justifies its discriminatory educational funding by insisting it will rely upon a foundational bilateral agreement of 1867 which has effectively been abandoned by the other party.

Apart from the Atlantic provinces, where population figures are relatively small, Ontario is the only province that provides no funding to independent schools. British Columbia provides about 50% of the operating costs that public schools receive in that province; Alberta up to 70%; Saskatchewan up to 80%; Manitoba about 50%, and Quebec about 60%. (These figures are provided by the Association for Reformed Political Action Canada (ARPA), a grassroots Christian political advocacy organization.)

Over the years, GAJE has drawn readers’ attention to research papers and studies by experts in the field that contend that Ontario’s funding policies are not only unfair, but educationally anachronistic. The research suggests that, on the merits, Ontario’s approach to educational funding falls short of certain educational outcomes in other provinces. Moreover, some studies argue that Ontario’s educational spending is less efficient than that of other provinces.

The Government of Alberta recently announced that it would provide some funding to assist independent schools with the capital expense of building new schools. The decision is controversial. It is a departure in educational spending for independent schools beyond that of any of the provinces that assist independent schools for those provinces contribute to operational expenses alone.

Educational funding is evolving in Canada to match the societal realities and needs that are also evolving in Canada. But Ontario is stuck in 1867.

How is this appropriate? It is not. How is this fair? It is not.

GAJE does not ask the province to remove funding from any group that receives it. We ask merely for equal treatment. That the province steadfastly refuses to do so is unworthy of the province. That it wishes to prevent the courts from even considering the fairness of its educational funding, compounds the injustice.

•••

On September 10, a three-member panel of the Divisional Court agreed with the Province of Ontario that GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding should be dismissed. On September 25, GAJE filed a Notice of Motion seeking leave to appeal the court’s decision.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Chag samayach. Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

October 16, 2024

In a previous update, GAJE wrote about the newly-formed Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism (ALCCA). The Alliance is “a coalition of community groups, organizations, and individuals who are concerned about the sharp rise in antisemitic activity in Canada…especially since the attacks of October 7th, 2023.”  

One of the driving forces behind the Alliance is renowned criminal lawyer and human rights advocate, Mark Sandler. Sandler wrote the Alliance’s most recent newsletter: October 7 and Beyond: A Canadian Call to Action, in which he urges the members of the coalition, indeed all Canadians to “redouble our efforts to strike decisive blows against hate in Canada.” He therefore renews his call for urgent action against the hatred that strives to insinuate itself into the institutions of our society. 

The newsletter is a manifesto as well as a blueprint for community action. One of its key sections deals with education, which Sandler writes, “should take place in a safe environment, free from intimidation, indoctrination and demonization.”  

Bullying and intimidation of some Jewish students within public schools are not imaginary. They are well documented, as is the resulting inhospitable environment in those schools for those children. It is because of the inclusion of Education in the ALCCA’s call to action that GAJE brings the newsletter to the attention of our readers.  

Sandler writes without any ambiguity. 

“Make no mistake about it. The work to be done here [in Education] is not confined to colleges and universities. Toxic environments for Jewish students and others at risk exist in our public and secondary schools. Unprecedented overt antisemitism is perpetrated by teachers, teachers’ unions, and in some instances, school board trustees. (Our emphasis) 

 
“Recent events at Toronto District School Board are illustrative, where students appear to have been conscripted, contrary to the terms of parental consent, to participate in an anti-Israel rally, sometimes dressed to represent colonizers. The Minister of Education appropriately ordered an external investigation, but there is much cause to believe that this event merely represents one of many incidents that undermine the safety and security and sense of belonging of Jewish students and faculty. Regardless of one’s views on diversity, equity and inclusion, a point of division in many circles, Jews cannot be excluded from policies designed to promote inclusion, particularly when they represent the community most victimized by hate crimes and other hate activities.  

 
“This coming year, we need to see greater legal and disciplinary accountability for antisemitism in our education system at all levels. And provincial governments who take steps, alongside allies within the school systems, to ensure that age-inappropriate geopolitical discussions do not take place in classrooms, teachers follow an established curriculum, teachers and unions do not indoctrinate, and students are not conscripted to adopt views on controversial issues.” 

GAJE commends ALCCA. The Association’s approach of stalwart resolve and determined action in opposing the purveyors of hatred is exemplary and inspiring.  

We too, can act. We too, must act. We must join the fight. Read the newsletter. Subscribe to it. 

The most recent ALCCA newsletter is available at: 

https://www.alcca.ca/post/october-7-and-beyond-a-canadian-call-to-action?utm_campaign=b9ccfabb-78b9-4f89-9eec-e6a64575c962&utm_source=so&utm_medium=mail&cid=e2d75b75-c8ae-4fd9-8379-6f7a73335d53

••• 

On September 10, a three-member panel of the Divisional Court agreed with the Province of Ontario that GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding should be dismissed. On September 25, GAJE filed a Notice of Motion seeking leave to appeal the court’s decision.  

••• 

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.  

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com  

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit. 

••• 

Shabbat shalom. Gmar Chatimah Tovah. Am Yisrael Chai  

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE) 

October 11, 2024 

(Written on October 1^st)

It is, alas, true, that since the first day of its birth more than 76 years ago, the State of Israel has never known even one day of full peace within the region. It is also true that, apart from during the War of Independence, the State of Israel has never had to face an assault of ballistic or any other missiles of death on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.

Thus, borrowing from another biblical holiday, we are entitled to acknowledge and to ask: why is New Year 5785 different than all other New Years. The holy day of New Year 5785 arrives as the State of Israel is fighting for its very existence as a sovereign Jewish state in the Moslem Middle East.

Not all the countries of the Middle East wish Israel’s elimination. But some do. And as we have seen through the years, and especially in the past 12 months, these countries act according to their malevolent wishes to achieve their evil aim.

Though Israel bears the overwhelming brunt of the physical and emotional peril wrought by the hatred directed at them, Jews everywhere – since Simchat Torah last year – have also been tested. We are still being tested.

On October 8, 2023 and increasingly after that date, we were taken aback by the outpouring of the anti-Jewish hatred that appeared throughout the western world even before Israel had sent any soldiers into Gaza to fight the Hamas murderers: its ubiquity in the public domain; its pre-planned, calculated nature; its vehemence; its unembarrassed, unfiltered, open calls for the annihilation of the Jewish state and its people; its quick, seamless transmogrification from anti-Israel protest into brazen bullying and intimidation of Jews; and the timid, equivocal, ineffectual responses by elected officials feigning to stop hatred against Jews.

But being taken aback did – does – not mean being stymied or paralyzed from doing the right thing at home to fight against that hatred. For GAJE, doing the right thing is trying to help Jews engage more fully with their Judaism, to help as many of us as possible discover some or any of the myriad paths to feelings of connectedness and of shared destiny with the Jewish people.

The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks eloquently described the mechanics of achieving those feelings of connectedness. “A person is part of a larger historical context and must understand that context and tradition. We are not disconnected fragments of humanity, but are part of an extended family. We gain strength and resilience when we know who we are, where we belong.

Praise belongs to teachers who understand the need for children to spend quality time with their families. Praise belongs to parents and grandparents who genuinely relate to their children and grandchildren in a loving manner, giving generously of their time, listening patiently to the children and grandchildren. Praise belongs to those who value genuine communication, who understand how precious it is to spend quality time with the young generations. Praise belongs to those who understand their history and family traditions, and who find meaningful and happy ways of transmitting these things to their family members. Praise belongs to the nation that understands where it has come from, what it has undergone, where it is headed.”

To paraphrase Rabbi Sacks, and as GAJE has emphasized and re-emphasized over the years, meaningful, long-lasting, individual engagement and connectedness emerge most effectively through Jewish education.

Thus, as we prepare to greet Rosh Hashana 5785, it is our hope that at least part of our emotional response to the sounds of the shofar will be new or strengthened feelings of belonging to the Jewish people, and the commitment to stand alongside other Jews against the purveyors of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate.

•••

In a decision released September 10, a three-member panel of the Divisional Court agreed with the Province of Ontario that GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding should be dismissed. On September 25, GAJE filed a Notice of Motion seeking leave to appeal the court’s decision.

•••

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, please click here.

For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shana Tovah

Shabbat shalom

Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

October 2, 2024