Peel board urged to reconsider decision on Nakba recognition
Day of remembrance was added to calendar of significant days last year
The Peel District School Board is facing growing pressure to reconsider a decision it made last year to add the Nakba Day of Remembrance to its calendar of significant days.
The board, which recognizes the anniversary marking the mass displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, is believed to be the first in Canada to do so.
In recent days, trustees and Education Ministry officials have been inundated with thousands of emails, both in support of and opposed to the board’s recognition of the day. Nakba, which means “catastrophe” in Arabic, is commemorated on May 15, the day after Israel’s Independence Day.
There is a letter-writing campaign calling on the board to reverse course and remove the day — which Education Minister Stephen Lecce is also calling for the PDSB to do — and another campaign urging the board to remain steadfast. The controversy comes as the Israel-Hamas war continues in Gaza.
“Over the past months, I made my expectations clear to all school boards that there is no room for politics or the influence of personal opinions in Ontario classrooms,” Lecce said in a statement to the Star.
PDSB chair David Green said Tuesday that “Minister Lecce has a right to his own opinion,” adding the board “is reviewing all dates in our Days of Significance calendar.”
“This review will not be rushed, and we will carefully take our time as we consider the importance and impact each of these days have for our students and their families,” he said in a statement to the Star.
Tamara Gottlieb of Jewish Educators and Families Association of Canada, which launched the online campaign to remove the day from the PDSB calendar, said “(the Nakba) is a day observed in protest to Israel’s independence and this really marks a significant change for our boards, adopting this type of political protest as a day on the calendar,” she told the Star. “This goes far beyond the Jewish community — this is about bringing politics into the classroom.”
Nora Ward, a member of the Coalition for Palestinian and Muslim Students and Families, says learning that there is a push to remove the day “feels like a kick in the gut.”
Ward said recognizing Nakba is key because “the Palestinian experience has historically been silenced,” noting the day is about “commemorating the forced removal of Palestinian people off their lands.”
The coalition, which launched its own campaign in support of keeping the day, has chapters in York and Toronto. They would also like Nakba Day observed at their respective school boards.
Last June, a PDSB committee reviewed applications and added the Nakba Day of Remembrance to its 2023-24 calendar, which highlights secular, creed and cultural observances. It includes a variety of days, such as Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Holocaust Education Week and Tamil Genocide Education Week.
The Nakba Day was identified as a community observance day — these recognize the diversity of PDSB communities with no specific actions for schools.
According to the 2023 student census at the PDSB, which has about 153,000 students, 22 per cent identify as Muslim and 0.3 per cent as Jewish. When asked about ethnic or cultural background, 0.6 per cent identify as Palestinian.
In a letter to the board, the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association urged the PDSB to “resist attempts to smear and erase Palestinians.”
“A reversal by the board to remember Nakba Day … will send a message to students, their families and educators that their lived experiences, history and identity are invalid,” wrote association president Dania Majid.
At a committee meeting on Monday, Noah Farber, a Jewish father of two in the PDSB, urged trustees to remove the day and review their policies and decision-making.
“Commemorating Nakba Day on May 15 not only aligns the (PDSB) with a narrative that objects to the creation of Israel as a state but also coincides with Jewish Heritage Month,” he said.
In 1947, the United Nations voted for the partition of British Mandate in Palestine into two states — one Jewish and one Arab — which sparked fighting between Arab and Jewish militias. After Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, the conflict escalated into a full-blown war and an estimated 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes. The UN says more than five million Palestinians are currently registered as refugees in the Middle East.
Trustees and ministry officials have received thousands of emails, both in support of and opposed to the board’s recognition of Nakba, which means ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic, and is observed on May 15