OTTAWA โ Anti-Palestinian racism, known as APR, is not formally recognized by the Canadian government, unlike the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism adopted by Ottawa, but is increasingly being applied by school boards and universities across Canada. The shift is drawing scrutiny after an Ottawa Jewish school teacher was sanctioned over social media comments condemning Hamas supporters.
The teacher, Lisa Levitan, is facing disciplinary proceedings for posts stating that Hamas supporters โdo not belong in Canada.โ Levitan received the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontarioโs Anti-Racist and Equity Activism Award in 2022, according to union records.
The case has emerged amid a broader institutional push to recognize anti-Palestinian racism as a distinct form of discrimination, even though no federal definition exists. A recent report by the Islamophobia Research Hub at York University, cited by The Free Press, concluded that schools and employers across Canada are increasingly linking Palestinian identity to terrorism. The report alleged that individuals have been disciplined for wearing keffiyehs, displaying Palestinian flags, or accusing Israel of human rights violations.
The report urged the federal government to recognize anti-Palestinian racism as a formal category of discrimination and to designate May 15 as Nakba Day across all government agencies. According to the report, approximately 44,000 Canadians claim Palestinian ancestry.
In May, the Toronto District School Board voted to adopt APR-related measures, including mandatory training for trustees and senior administrators on what it described as the โerasure of Palestinians.โ A plan to integrate APR into the boardโs broader anti-racism strategy is scheduled for completion by October.
The decision was taken despite data showing that antisemitic incidents accounted for 14.5 percent of reported hate incidents in the Toronto school system during the 2023 to 2024 school year, compared with 4.7 percent classified as Islamophobic. During the same period, Muslim students made up 18.4 percent of the student population, while Jewish students accounted for 3.5 percent, according to board statistics.
Ryan Bird, an executive communications officer for the Toronto District School Board, said the board does not currently have a formal definition of anti-Palestinian racism. He said it intends to rely on the Ontario Human Rights Code to determine how APR should be defined and applied. The code does not explicitly reference APR but prohibits discrimination based on identity or creed in employment, housing, and services.
The Arab-Canadian Lawyers Association defines anti-Palestinian racism as โa form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames, or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives.โ Critics argue that under this definition, disputing aspects of the Nakba or Palestinian political claims could be treated as racism.
Teachers across Ontario are being trained to treat the exclusion of Palestinian narratives as discriminatory. The Ontario College of Teachers has scheduled a disciplinary hearing for Levitan related to her social media posts.
Some Jewish organizations have warned that the APR framework risks conflicting with the IHRA definition of antisemitism. The Jewish Educators & Families Association of Canada has said that anti-Palestinian racism initiatives risk โsilencing Jewish voices and Jewish identities.โ
The advocacy group Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East has explicitly linked Jewish identity and support for Israel to what it describes as racism. The organization has characterized the IHRA definition of antisemitism as โstate-sponsored APR.โ
In December, a parliamentary committee chaired by Lena Diab recommended that Ottawa recognize discrimination toward Palestinians as a distinct category. The committee cited the Arab-Canadian Lawyers Association definition but stopped short of formally adopting it.
Parents have also raised concerns about the impact on Jewish students. Aaron Kucharczuk, a Jewish father of three children in Toronto public schools, said the APR framework has left his family feeling marginalized. โThe APR framework makes me feel like my kids donโt count and arenโt particularly welcome,โ he said.
Kucharczuk described an incident in which a student allegedly targeted Jewish classmates with slurs such as โJews kill babiesโ and physically assaulted one child. He said it took 42 days for the school to acknowledge that antisemitic comments had been made.
โJewish kids are enduring record levels of hate, yet the school boardโs priority is advancing a geopolitical agenda under the banner of anti-Palestinian racism,โ Kucharczuk said.
As education authorities continue to expand APR-related policies, the debate highlights growing tensions between competing anti-racism frameworks, raising questions about how schools balance protections for different communities while addressing rising antisemitism across Canada.
