View this in pdf format Montreal, August 13, 2025 — The Anti-Racism Program of the CJPME Foundation (ARPCF) welcomes the recent resolution passed by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) at their current Annual General Meeting, which calls for the creation of a pedagogical resource to support Palestinian students. Originally introduced by the Elementary Teachers of Toronto local, the resolution—passed by 71.32% of voting delegates—commits ETFO to developing and distributing materials that help educators affirm Palestinian identity, address anti-Palestinian racism, and teach Palestinian history. The ARPCF applauds this crucial step toward equity and inclusion in Ontario classrooms and echoes the resolution’s rationale: educators need age-appropriate tools to foster safe, affirming spaces for Palestinian students and to deepen their understanding of the structural nature of anti-Palestinian racism.

View this report in PDF format. On November 2, 2023, Hani Alaf, a Syrian-Canadian postgraduate student at Humber College, engaged in a peaceful protest by placing stickers around the Lakeshore campus. These stickers, which displayed the Palestinian flag along with the phrase "Boycott Israeli Apartheid," were intended to highlight and protest against Israel’s systemically racist policies in Palestine.[1] Alaf’s action was a form of political expression rooted in international human rights advocacy. However, the college's response was swift and severe. Two days after the stickers were posted, while Alaf was in class, he was approached by a member of the college's public safety department. He was instructed to leave the campus immediately. Alaf reported that he was accused of spreading hate speech, engaging in antisemitic rhetoric, and vandalizing property.[2] This reaction by the college sparked a significant controversy, as it appeared to conflate his support for the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Movement and anti-apartheid stance with antisemitism and hate speech, raising concerns about the college’s suppression of political expression and academic freedom. The incident quickly escalated, leading to a broader discussion on the rights of students to engage in political protests without fear of undue penalization. The punishment taken against Alaf, which many perceived as an infringement on his freedom of speech, catalyzed a series of organized protests and expressions of solidarity by other members of the Humber College community.