There’s something deeply broken in Ontario’s education system—and it’s not just about math scores or teacher shortages. A new federal report, authored by Professor Robert Brym and commissioned by Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Anti-Semitism, paints a bleak and disturbing picture: Ontario’s schools are increasingly unsafe for Jewish students. And in far too many cases, the very people meant to protect these children—teachers and administrators—are part of the problem.
Let that sink in: not just turning a blind eye, but actively contributing to an atmosphere where Jewish students feel unwelcome, unsafe, and, in some instances, outright targeted.
Between October 2023 and January 2025, Jewish parents reported 781 anti-Semitic incidents across Ontario’s K-12 schools. That’s not a typo. These are not isolated cases of name-calling on the playground. We’re talking about harassment, threats, Holocaust denial, and inflammatory propaganda finding its way into school-sanctioned activities.
Seventeen percent of these incidents were directly linked to teachers or school-endorsed content—classroom discussions, guest speakers, and yes, even what teachers wear. Imagine being a Jewish child in a classroom where a teacher wears a shirt that erases your cultural and national identity, or where a teacher tells you that your religious school—and by extension your entire community—is lying to you. That’s not education. That’s indoctrination.
Even worse, nearly half of all reported anti-Semitic incidents weren’t even investigated. Parents were left in the dark, students were left vulnerable, and schools, supposedly inclusive institutions, became places of fear and alienation for Jewish kids.
This isn’t just a Toronto or Ottawa problem, though those cities account for the bulk of the incidents. It’s systemic. The Toronto District School Board, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, and the York Region District School Board together account for nearly 75 percent of the incidents—but this issue spans the province. The English public school system, in particular, is failing a portion of its students in a way that would be utterly unacceptable if the target were any other minority group.
And let’s be honest: if teachers were making children feel unsafe because of their race or gender, or dismissing other historical traumas as exaggerations, we’d see widespread condemnation and immediate policy changes. But when it comes to anti-Semitism, the outrage is muted, the action sluggish, and the accountability almost nonexistent.
What’s happening in our schools reflects a broader national trend. The surge in anti-Semitic violence across Canada—from synagogue attacks to bomb threats—shows that we are not immune to the same hate-fueled forces roiling other parts of the world. B’nai Brith Canada recorded over 6,200 anti-Semitic incidents in 2024 alone—the highest since record-keeping began. That’s not just a statistic; it’s a call to action.
Yet despite the evidence, too many school boards continue to “significantly underestimate” the Jewish student population under their care and downplay the impact of anti-Semitism in their schools. The result? Parents pulling their kids out of public schools in desperation. Children silenced by fear. Communities fractured.
The conclusion of Brym’s report couldn’t be more clear: this status quo is unsustainable. The government, school boards, and educators must implement sweeping reforms—training, accountability measures, curriculum balance, and robust reporting systems—because no child should feel targeted for their identity in a place meant to nurture them.
We owe it to Jewish students, and to every student, to make sure that our schools are places of learning—not hate.
Because if our schools aren’t safe for everyone, they’re safe for no one.
