Shocking investigation finds Nazi salutes and death threats go unpunished at Ontario schools

Alarmingly, nearly one in six antisemitic incidents were initiated or approved by teachers or involved school-sanctioned activities.

By Jewish Breaking News

A disturbing new government-commissioned study reveals that Ontario’s school system is experiencing an unprecedented surge in antisemitism.

After surveying 599 Jewish parents across Ontario, Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism documented 781 antisemitic incidents, directly affecting an estimated 10% of the province’s 30,000 Jewish school-age children.

Conducted over a span of two years, perhaps most shocking is the nature of the hatred Jewish students are encountering.

Contrary to assumptions that incidents would primarily focus on Israel, more than 40% involved classic antisemitic tropes including Nazi salutes, assertions that “Hitler should have finished the job,” and Holocaust denial.

“Several times a day on multiple days in September 2024, a 13-year-old Jewish girl in Waterloo was surrounded by five boys repeatedly shouting ‘Sieg Heil!’ and raising their hands in the Nazi salute,” the report documents.

“In October 2024, a six-year-old in Ottawa was informed by her teacher that she is only half human because one of her parents is Jewish.”

Alarmingly, nearly one in six antisemitic incidents were initiated or approved by teachers or involved school-sanctioned activities.

Some educators wore clothing featuring maps that denied Israel’s existence, while others brought radical speakers to classrooms without providing balanced perspectives.

“The picture illustrates the way some Ontario school children treat their Jewish classmates and the manner and degree to which some teachers and school administrators in Ontario disrespect, exclude, and devalue Jewish children,” says University of Toronto researcher Professor Robert Brym, who led the investigation.

Equally catastrophic has been the institutional response. In 49% of cases where incidents were reported to school authorities, officials did not investigate.

An additional 8% were dismissed as “not antisemitic” despite parents and children identifying them as such.

In some cases, schools recommended that Jewish students be removed from school permanently or attend virtually, while some parents report fear of retribution if they speak out.

“Some children insisted that their parents not report an antisemitic incident, fearing it would become public and they would consequently become the target of increased harassment or bullying,” Brym notes.

“Some others have removed clothing and jewelry with Jewish symbols and Hebrew lettering so they would not be identified as Jewish.”