WINNIPEG – Four teachers spoke with me this week about a toxic environment being fostered around Winnipeg schools, affecting educators, staff, and students. They all expected their union, the Manitoba Teachers’ Society (MTS), to stand up for the people being bullied, shunned, and excluded.
After all, the DEI policies adopted by the provincial education department set the tone for school divisions to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion for all. MTS boosts that messaging at every opportunity. Everyone should feel heard, be heard, and be included.
But at MTS, a caveat has emerged, unless it’s the Jews.
The stories I heard make it apparent the union lost its way after joining the Manitoba Federation of Labour in 2017. That affiliation brought with it another pillar to MTS, “social justice.” The Jewish community in Toronto has learned what that means in education.
“The equity lens is introducing antisemitism into school practices,” explained Tamara Gottlieb of the Jewish Educators and Families Association (JEFA). Whether it’s school boards, school officials, or the unions, “resources are directed to amplify hatred towards Jews.”
Under the Critical Race Theory (CRT) that forms the basis of DEI policies, Jews are deemed “white” and categorized as “oppressors.” This has opened the door for “anti-Zionist, not antisemite” activists in education to leverage “social justice” initiatives to normalize their lies and distortions.
The antisemitism that is part and parcel of the propaganda campaign against Israel and Zionists is never spoken of in MTS programs or publications. As a result, MTS members have seen even the simplest requests for modern-day antisemitism to be rebuffed, with the union repeatedly using its support for Holocaust education as a shield.
“I never really struggled with my union,” one teacher told me, “but ever since October 7th and especially the last six months, there’s been a massive turn in our union.”
A social media post from Mark Carney critical of Israel’s military operations in Gaza was reposted. Premier Wab Kinew welcoming refugees from Gaza was highlighted. “What do these have to do with education?” she asked Facebook administrators this summer.
The woman, who has worked in education for over 25 years, was told: “We stand firmly against antisemitism and Islamophobia as does the Manitoba government.”
Then, she was blocked on the MTS Facebook account.
“How does a union block a dues-paying member from messaging? I never mentioned Muslims. I emailed the new president and executive director in August about it. I asked if they could promote a webinar, ‘Navigating Antisemitism in the New School Year’, with a presentation from a Manitoba educator. I thought that would be inclusive. I never got a reply.”
It’s not like there aren’t ongoing problems with Jew-hate in our schools. Raised in the north end, she experienced it herself in high school, as students do today, and she has seen it in the school where she works. She found a swastika with “F— Jews” scrawled in permanent marker in the girls’ washroom in March 2024. She told the principal and insisted the incident “needs to go to the board office,” but a superintendent told her he’d never heard about it.
The webinar she asked to be shared was a national panel that included Kelly Hiebert, a non-Jew who is a provincial lead on developing Holocaust curriculum. Hiebert was scheduled to make a presentation at the MTS Professional Development (PD) Day last October. MTS cancelled at the last minute over supposed “safety concerns” and has never rescheduled it.
But MTS had no problem promoting a different event through Facebook this summer, featuring an educator born and raised in the West Bank. Izzeddin Hawamda, who came to Canada in 2009, is a Peace and Conflict Studies expert who wants to “build bridges” using “the power of storytelling.” He makes presentations under contracts with MTS and the Winnipeg and Louis Riel School Divisions. But his “story” is one-sided.
Another teacher works in a school that hosted such a presentation shortly after October 7th. He described how Hawamda “is selling a narrative that Jews are colonizers… He says Jerusalem is in Palestine and only in Palestine, and that settlers took his land. It’s a complete indoctrination of educators and administrators.”
Hawamda complains about Israeli checkpoints but never mentions the Intifada suicide bomber attacks by Jihadists on civilian targets, including children and worshippers, that caused the precautions.
“His stories have no balance, and there’s nothing about students in his workshop. His work isn’t student-centred, it’s self-centred.”
Teachers commented on the Facebook post, asking if a discussion about antisemitism was being included in the panel with Hawamda. The pushback included: “Where is the rampant antisemitism in schools? What is your source?” and “Free Palestine.”
MTS moderators deleted comments from Jewish members expressing concerns. A third teacher took her concerns about how the Facebook page was being politicized to the MTS executive director, Arlyn Filewich.
“She stated that a post on social media made by someone asking if antisemitism was addressed during a panel discussion about hate and building empathy was made to intentionally cause discord and hate because the presenter was Palestinian. I asked if she had talked to the person who posted it. She said no. I replied that your reply is your own bias. I don’t think MTS is capable of separating what’s happening in Israel from how Jews are treated every day.”
She says Filewich tried to defend the union’s approach by claiming there was Jewish representation on committees, but the teacher explained that if those representatives “don’t acknowledge Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people and it is core to the religion, it is just lip service.” According to her, Filewich replied, “So now being Jewish isn’t enough, you need a Zionist?” and she responded, “That is correct.”
A fourth teacher, with over 20 years’ experience, said that despite numerous submissions to the quarterly MTS magazine from Jewish teachers about antisemitism, the only piece published was about Holocaust education, “because they always reduce Judaism to Holocaust education. They’re trying to appease us by talking about dead Jews, we want to talk about Jews and Zionists being affected by antisemitism today.”
She noted that while Jews were excluded over the course of five editions, two of Hawamda’s stories were showcased. Meanwhile, when MTS started an anti-hate committee, none of the Jewish applicants were accepted.
An MTS official was asked for comment for this column but was unable to respond by the deadline.
There is genuine worry for the safety of Jewish and Israeli students and staff. One of the teachers told me, “It’s affecting our daily lives, but they aren’t willing to go there.”
“They’re using our own union dues against us,” the fourth teacher explained. “Some of this pressure is coming, to our knowledge, from the MFL and CUPE. To my knowledge, they have no expertise in education. The MTS leadership does not understand that most Jews are Zionists, and they pick their Jewish representation based on the anti-Israel pro-Palestinian agenda. They’re manipulating education in favour of politics. The platforming of speakers while silencing any critique of the lack of balance has created a sense of fear.”
Jews in schools in Manitoba are in fear. It’s 2025, but we’re on the verge of becoming 1939. Again. Maybe the Manitoba Teachers’ Society needs a history lesson, without the DEI lens.
— Marty Gold is a Winnipeg journalist and a guest writer for the Winnipeg Sun. You can find more of his work at The Great Canadian Talk Show. The article first appeared in the Winnipeg Sun.