Ottawa's school board censured a trustee after antisemitism complaint—but stopped short of suspension

Donna Blackburn, a long-serving trustee on the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, has been formally censured by her peers and must take antisemitism training. The vote came on Nov. 26, following an official complaint accusing Blackburn of using slurs about Jews being powerful bullies. While the OCDSB stopped short of suspending Blackburn outright, as others in similar situations have been, Jewish leaders are applauding the school board’s somewhat unexpected stand against antisemitism. The OCDSB has long been accused of treating Jewish students and staff differently than other equity-seeking groups. In this latest example, Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth, a trustee on the board, lodged a complaint this summer after a dispute over the Capital Pride Parade. She and Blackburn, a long supporter of the parade, clashed when the school board pulled out of the event after organizers openly supported the Palestinian cause, blamed Israel for a “genocide” in Gaza, said Israel was pinkwashing the war, and called for a boycott of sponsors who were Zionists. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we hear reaction from Jewish leaders in Ottawa: Kaplan-Myrth; Stacey Freedhoff of the new Jewish Parents of Ottawa Students Association; Rabbi David Rotenberg, who runs twenty NCSY student clubs in Ottawa public schools; and Ariel and Ethan Podolsky, Grade 12 students at Sir Robert Borden High School, where many recent incidents targeting Jewish students have taken place.

Related links

• Learn more about Jewish Parents of Ottawa Students Association, and Ottawa’s NCSY clubs.
• Read a student’s perspective on antisemitism in Ottawa schools, by Talia Freedhoff, in The CJN. When two students from Sir Robert Borden High school were charged in 2023 after making antisemitic gestures at a Jewish classmate, in The CJN.
• Read the consultant’s official findings on the code of conduct complaint levelled by trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth about trustee Donna Blackburn’s antisemitic comments and texts during the lead up to Capital Pride.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

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