Next year, Grade 10 students in British Columbia will be required to learn about the Holocaust as part of their coursework to graduate. It is content the provincial government added to the mandatory curriculum last October, weeks after the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel.
The letter rejecting the Holocaust and Antisemitism Educators Association’s application for specialist designation did not explain reasons, but in a later, unattributed statement on its website, the union said the council determined that existing PSAs “already can and do support the proposed work.”BCTF president Clint Johnston said the AOEC was formed to address all forms of discrimination and oppression, including antisemitism.
The AOEC responded a week later assuring the teachers that its members are concerned about antisemitism and said “theis abhorrent.” The group went on to say the Jewish educators were “conflating Jewishness with Zionist political ideologies.” After The Globe sent questions to representatives of AOEC last week, the group’s website, Facebook and Instagram accounts were taken down. No one from the group has returned repeated requests for comment.
He said the collaboration would “bolster the nearly year-long work the Federation has done with the Ministry of Education and Child Care” in preparation for the introduction of the Holocaust curriculum.