Toronto Police Investigating After Three High Schools Hit by Antisemitic Vandalism
The Toronto District School Board building in Ontario. Photo: PFHLai/Wikimedia Commons
Toronto police are investigating three incidents of antisemitic graffiti discovered this week at public high schools in the city, drawing outrage from a Jewish community that has pointed to a “systemic” problem in the local school district.
According to Toronto Police Service (TPS) spokesperson Alex Li, three “nearly identical” incidents were discovered Wednesday morning at Central Technical School, Rosedale Heights School of the Arts, and Malvern Collegiate Institute, Canada’s CBC reported.
“These are being treated as hate-motivated and our Hate Crime Unit is fully engaged,” Li told the broadcaster on Wednesday. “Due to the similarities in each incident, investigators are exploring whether they are linked.”
TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird confirmed that all three may have “occurred overnight.”
“We are working with Toronto police to provide any assistance that we can as they continue to investigate these incidents which are harmful and completely unacceptable on or off school property,” he said.
A fourth incident was later reported Friday, according to Toronto’s Global News, at the Regal Road Junior Public School.
On Thursday, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSCW) CEO Michael Levitt called on policy makers to take action.
“Toronto’s Jewish community continues to be targeted with antisemitism, continuing the disturbing rise in Jew-hated that was recorded in 2021 in our city and across Canada,” Levitt said. “Sadly, Toronto schools have become the epicenter of this age-old hatred.”
“Combatting antisemitism at schools,” he continued, “requires the joint efforts of school boards and educators, police, and political leaders at all levels of government to not only respond to antisemitic incidents but also creates measures that will help prevent these incidents from occurring in the first place.”
FSWC has previously implored the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) to address antisemitism within its school system after two students climbed onto a file cabinet in the classroom of a Jewish teacher and pantomimed a Nazi salute, while another said, “Heil Hitler.”
B’nai Brith Canada said Thursday that antisemitism in TDSB schools had become “systemic.”
“In addition to increasing education about the Holocaust and antisemitism in the schools’ curriculum, a broader culture shift is required within the TDSB,” the Jewish group said. “This includes zero tolerance for antisemitism among students and staff, alongside education.”