The Anti-Racism Program of the CJPME Foundation (ARPCF) has sent a letter to the leadership of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) expressing serious concern over reported revisions to artifact labels in the Near East collection, particularly the removal or dilution of “Palestine” as a geographic designation. The letter warns that reframing historically grounded terms under political pressure undermines curatorial integrity, contributes to the erasure of Palestinian history, and contradicts the ROM’s stated commitments to equity, decolonization, and public accountability in museum practice. View this in pdf format Continue reading

View this in pdf format  Montreal, December 22, 2025 — The Anti-Racism Program of the CJPME Foundation (ARPCF) has released a new report, Policing Palestine Solidarity: A Crisis of Civil Liberties in Canada (2021-2025). This groundbreaking research documents the alarming state response to mass mobilizations for Palestinian rights following October 7, 2023. Amid one of the largest protest waves in Canadian history, the report finds that instead of respecting democratic dissent, authorities responded with surveillance, criminalization, and repression. Through the use of intelligence agencies, riot squads, legal overreach, and unprecedented inter-agency coordination, the Canadian state treated a peaceful human rights movement as a threat to national security.   Continue reading

View this in pdf format Montreal, December 01, 2025 — The Anti-Racism Program of the CJPME Foundation (ARPCF) condemns the decision by the YMCA of Greater Halifax/Dartmouth to rescind its 2025 Peace Medal from longtime peace and human rights activist Rana Zaman. The ARPCF argues that this decision, taken after targeted pressure from pro-Israel lobby groups including B’nai Brith and the Atlantic Jewish Council, represents a deeply troubling act of anti-Palestinian racism. Rana Zaman, a Muslim community leader, was selected for the award in recognition of her decades of grassroots humanitarian work. The YMCA’s decision, which appears to be based on her public advocacy for Palestinian rights and criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, raises serious concerns about respect for free expression and seems at odds with the Peace Medal’s stated values of peace, inclusion, and justice. Continue reading

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. Continue reading

View this in pdf format  Montreal, August 06, 2025 — The Anti-Racism Program of the CJPME Foundation (ARPCF) is amplifying the urgent findings of York University’s Documenting the ‘Palestine Exception’ report, which exposed a pervasive, systemic pattern of suppression of pro-Palestinian speech across Canada following October 7, 2023. As concluded by report authors from the Islamophobia Research Hub, this suppression has created a dangerous "Palestine exception" to democratic rights where advocacy for Palestinian rights is stigmatized as illegitimate or terroristic. In this way, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism have converged to silence and vilify Muslim, Palestinian, Arab, and allied communities through incidents of censorship, doxing, bullying, disciplinary actions against students and educators, and biased media silencing. These patterns reveal a climate of repression rooted in institutional biases and power imbalances.   Continue reading

View this in pdf format  Montreal, July 15, 2025 — The Anti-Racism Program of the CJPME Foundation (ARPCF) welcomes the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) decision to reverse its censorship of a yearbook photo showing two students wearing keffiyehs at Ursula Franklin Academy. This change, which was confirmed in an email from the TDSB to the ARPCF, follows a formal letter sent by the ARPCF condemning the concealment of the image and warning that it constituted a clear act of anti-Palestinian racism. The TDSB’s acknowledgement—that keffiyeh-wearing students have the right to express their identities—marks a small but important step toward addressing the systemic erasure of Palestinian identity in Canadian schools. Continue reading

View this in pdf format  The anti-racism program of the CJPME Foundation (APRCF) has launched a national survey to document the legal and police repression faced by individuals involved in Palestine solidarity activism across Canada. Continue reading

View this in pdf format  Montreal, July 2, 2025 — The Anti-Racism Program of the CJPME Foundation (ARPCF) condemns York Region’s dismissal of paramedic Katherine Grzejszczak over a social media comment criticizing Israel’s violence in Palestine. The ARPCF argues that this punitive measure is a clear example of anti-Palestinian racism, as Grzejszczak’s expression of solidarity with Palestinian victims of Israeli violence—rooted in CUPE Ontario’s long-standing anti-war stance—was met not with dialogue, but with professional retaliation. The ARPCF joins legal experts, free speech advocates, and labour organizations in demanding her immediate reinstatement. Continue reading

The ARPCF has sent a letter to Audley Salmon, Associate Director of Learning Transformation & Equity at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), condemning the decision to conceal a yearbook photo of two students wearing keffiyehs at Ursula Franklin Academy. The letter argues that treating a culturally significant garment as “political” constitutes anti-Palestinian racism, perpetuates the erasure of Palestinian identity, and directly contradicts the Board’s own commitments to combat such discrimination. View this in pdf format Continue reading

The ARPCF has sent a letter to the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB), condemning the punitive response to a student’s pro-Palestinian graduation remarks. The letter denounces the silencing of Palestinian solidarity, the violation of student expression rights, and the broader pattern of anti-Palestinian erasure within educational institutions. View this in pdf format Continue reading