Board probes kaffiyeh incident at high school
Video shows staff member telling student wearing Palestinian garment that it reminds her of Hamas
The Halton District School Board (HDSB) said it’s investigating a video circulating online that showed a staff member “using harmful and discriminatory anti-Palestinian racist language” toward a student at an Oakville high school on Friday.
In the video, shared on X by the Muslim Advisory Council of Canada (MACC), a female staff member is seen telling a male student wearing a Palestinian kaffiyeh that the symbolic scarf “reminds” her of Hamas, urging him “to be careful.”
The student then accuses the staff member of calling him a “terrorist,” to which she responds, “I didn’t call you a terrorist … I said it (the kaffiyeh) reminds me,” before replying “yes” to the student after he asks if it reminds her of Hamas, which has been labelled a terrorist organization by Canada.
Iroquois Ridge High School’s principal John Stieva condemned the incident in a statement posted online on Sunday, adding that “the staff member in this video has been assigned home, pending an investigation by the Halton District School Board Human Resources Department into the incident.”
“We are deeply concerned by this and share our community’s concerns that this behaviour is harmful and unacceptable,” Stieva wrote Sunday. “Anti-Palestinian racism, and racism in any form, is not tolerated at our school.
“This incident highlights that as staff and school leaders, we need to deepen our learning and understanding of racism and discrimination,” Stieva continued.
MACC executive director Tabassum Wyne told the Star that this incident is representative of a pattern they have seen at schools within the Halton board, adding that parents, students and staff have previously approached MACC about incidents involving anti-Palestinian rhetoric at Halton schools.
She added that the video being circulated online “was almost like a validation of all the community members coming to us and sharing their concerns.”
Wyne commended HDSB director of education Curtis Ennis for taking the matter seriously. Wyne had emailed HDSB about the incident on Saturday night and received a call from Ennis on Sunday morning, she told the Star.
“I appreciate that the board took swift action and placed the educator on home assignment,” she said.
HDSB spokesperson Heather Francey told the Star that it will continue to work with the MACC “to help ensure a safe and inclusive school environment for all.”
Kaffiyehs have a history dating back thousands of years and have become a common sight at proPalestinian rallies since the Oct. 7 attack against Israel by Hamas and the subsequent retaliation by the Israeli military in Gaza.
The video comes after Kaffiyehs were recently banned for the Queen’s Park legislature by Speaker Ted Arnott, ruling that the blackand-white scarves flout long-standing rules against political symbols in the legislative chamber.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles has tried twice, unsuccessfully, to get unanimous consent to allow kaffiyehs in the legislature.
On Thursday, Independent Hamilton Centre MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Ontario legislature for wearing a kaffiyeh after she refused to remove it.
“This ban was arbitrarily put in place,” the first-term MPP later told reporters.
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This incident highlights that as staff and school leaders, we need to deepen our learning and understanding of racism and discrimination.
JOHN STIEVA IROQUOIS RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL