A Vancouver labour lawyer says a group of British Columbia teachers have filed a human rights complaint against their union, alleging the British Columbia Teachers Federation “has engaged in and enabled anti-Semitism.”
Paul Pulver, who says he represents BC Teachers Against Antisemitism, filed the complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal over what he calls the “elimination of Jewish and Zionist voices and opinions” within the union and in its members’ workplaces.
Pulver said in a statement that union leadership has caused “trauma and fear” among members who have been “bullied and embarrassed” by their colleagues.
He says the union has “ostracized” teachers because they are Jewish or because they hold “currently unpopular views” about Jews, Israel and the Hamas attacks of October 7.
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Pulver says the complaint details more than two dozen examples of anti-Semitism caused or facilitated by the teachers union.
The union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The statement says the union president sent members anti-racism training materials that did not mention anti-Semitism but provided a link to material that included a sign reading “Zionists, fuck off.”
It says the union’s annual general meeting focused on “anti-Jewish and anti-Israel” voices and “excluded, intimidated, silenced and prevented” Jewish teachers from speaking out against “anti-Semitic motions” proposed at the meeting.
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