The British Columbia Teachers Federation has been hit with a human rights complaint, alleging that the union engaged in and perpetuated antisemitism, making Jewish and Zionist teachers feel unwelcomed.
A group of British Columbia teachers called BC Teachers Against Antisemitism are filing a human rights complaint against their union, alleging the BCTF discriminated against Jewish teachers in the wake of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas against Israeli civilians.
In a comment to True North, the attorney representing BC Teachers Against Antisemitism Paul Pulver said that the BCTF has taken an aggressively pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist voice and has actively made Jewish educators unwelcome in the classroom and at union meetings.
“They’ve found that they’ve been intimidated, ostracized, excluded from union processes, and they have been made to feel unwelcome within union meetings,” said Pulver.
Pulver described an annual general meeting that the BCTF held in March where several members expressed aggressively anti-Israel sentiments, making Jewish and pro-Israel members feel excluded.
“There was an annual general meeting of the BCTF earlier this year in which there was a great deal of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel sentiment that was expressed by a number of teachers and groups that operate within the BCTF,” said Pulver.
When Jewish union members attempted to express their perspective, including pro-Zionist views, Pulver says they were treated unfairly, having their microphones cut prematurely.
“They tried to speak at the AGM and in some cases were prevented from doing so. Their time was cut short, quite different than the experience of those who were speaking on behalf of Palestine or against Israel,” said Pulver.
“Obviously if you’re experiencing that as someone who doesn’t share their views, and as someone who wants to express your views…you feel intimidated, you feel prevented from doing so, you feel silenced, you feel that you don’t have a voice.”
True North reached out to the BCTF for comment, though no response was given.
BC Teachers Against Antisemitism say that one of the union’s affiliated sub-groups called the Anti-Oppression Educators Association has been distributing anti-Israel teaching materials to the union membership.
“The union has issued and has allowed its subgroups to issue teaching resources that contain a tremendous amount of what our group believes to be misinformation, falsehoods, and for a lack of a better word, propaganda,” said Pulver.
Pulver said that among the materials the Anti-Oppression Educators Association distributes to union members are resources alleging Israel is administering collective punishment, committing genocide, and oppressing the Palestinian people. One of these resources includes a “Zionists F*** Off” poster that teachers are free to display in their classrooms.
The BCTF currently has 31 recognized Provincial Specialist Associations, which are specialty groups that provide teachers and union members with professional development opportunities and the opportunity to connect with like-minded specialty educators.
A group of teachers came together to form the Holocaust and Antisemitism Educators Association to counteract the anti-Israel pervasive anti-Israel sentiment flourishing within the union.
BCTF’s PSA council denied the ratification of the Holocaust and Antisemitism Educators Association, stating that the group had not met the criteria for approval while affirming the union’s commitment to fighting antisemitism.
However, Pulver and BC Teachers Against Antisemitism believe that the denial of the Holocaust and Antisemitism Educators Association’s application was done for different, more nefarious reasons.
“They applied to the BCTF to essentially authorize or certify them as a PSA, and they were denied the opportunity to do so, their application was rejected,” said Pulver.
“You can imagine their view on that, they feel that there’s a difference in how members are treated based on their beliefs, and which beliefs are approved and which beliefs are not.”
Pulver mentioned that the Anti-Oppression Educators Association disseminates teaching materials talking about oppression against gays and lesbians, transgenders, people of colour, Indigenous people, Asian people, and even the Irish and Italians, but no resources talking about Jews and antisemitism.
True North reached out to the Anti-Oppression Education Association for comment, though no response was given.
When asked what an ideal outcome would look like for his clients, Pulver simply responded “This union needs to change its ways.”