A letter written by the chair of the Toronto District School Board concerning their controversial Islamic Heritage Month guidebook chastises a national Jewish group and reveals the board was not as eager to tone the guide down as previously thought.

On Monday, I reported that the TDSB was temporarily recalling and revising their Islamic Heritage Month guidebook following a complaint from advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada.

The guide, compiled by volunteers but stamped with the TDSB logo, recommends a number of religious intrusions in the classroom ranging from the explaining and reciting of the Muslim greeting “As-salamu alaykum” (peace be upon you) during morning announcements to having children make paper cut-outs of famous mosques.

But it was the guidebook’s definition of the phrase Islamophobia that caused B’nai Brith to send off a complaint, calling it “fear, prejudice, hatred or dislike directed against Islam or Muslims, or towards Islamic politics or culture.”

The Jewish advocacy group in their original press release saw big problems with this: “The TDSB definition, if enforced, could lead to punishment for students or teachers who display ‘dislike’ towards the persecution of LGBTQ people in the Islamic Republic of Iran, harsh restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia, and Palestinian terrorism against Israelis, all of which are examples of ‘Islamic politics’.”

The board promptly informed B’nai Brith Canada that they’d be temporarily recalling the guide and altering its definition of Islamophobia to align with that of the Ontario Human Rights Code. It was unclear if they’d be addressing the document’s other troubling elements.

But a letter from TDSB Chair Robin Pilkey not only suggests there will be no more changes, but that the one change they’ve agreed to was only made begrudgingly.

Pilkey writes about B’nai Brith’s concern with a “small section” of the guide and states that “it is not in any way, shape or form, a directive, nor is it enforceable as a policy would be.”

She then spends about a third of the letter chastising B’nai Brith over their complaint: “The TDSB welcomes important input from the community and from organizations such as B’nai Brith, however we must say that some of the suggestions made in your letter and subsequent news release are outrageous. To suggest that the TDSB is encouraging students to stay silent about what they experienced in their countries of birth or that the TDSB is somehow banning students and educators from criticizing executions and other human rights abuses around the world is categorically untrue.”

The 170-page guidebook addresses issues such as women’s rights in Islam in an entirely positive light without acknowledging its challenges and controversies.

“The TDSB is secular and the curriculum and teaching in schools does not promote any particular religious practice, denomination or sect,” Pilkey said in a separate e-mail to the Toronto Sun, addressing parents’ and educators’ concerns with the guidebook. “At the same time, cultural and creed-based heritage months are celebrations of Canadian diversity.” The goal of the guide, Pilkey explains, is “to create awareness and understanding”.

The TDSB’s Islamic Heritage Month Twitter account shows some schools are already into the swing of things, retweeting one North York vice principal’s post about reading a children’s book that discusses Islamophobia.

afurey@postmedia.com

TDSB Islamic Heritage Month Resource Guidebook 2017 by cynthia_mcleod213 on Scribd