The family of a Fredericton high school student has filed a lawsuit against the district education council and another student and her family, after an alleged assault in April they say was motivated by antisemitism.
The family is alleging the girl was beaten by the other student because she’s Jewish and that an “antisemitic environment” exists at Leo Hayes High School.
The lawsuit, filed in the Court of King’s Bench in Fredericton by lawyer Mike Murphy on Sept. 6, lists Shaked Tsurkan as the plaintiff, represented by her father and litigation guardian Eli Tsurkan. The family went public in May, talking to the media about the April 30 incident and meeting with Premier Blaine Higgs.
The defendants in the lawsuit are the Anglophone School District West District Education Council, the student who allegedly committed the assault – who Brunswick News is not naming due to her age – two “unknown parties” identified only as the alleged assailant’s parents and a third unknown party who witnessed the assault.
Murphy told Brunswick News he can’t comment on the lawsuit just yet because it’s still being served on the school district and individuals. But he warned in June he would be filing the legal action on behalf of the family.
At that time, Murphy said a “toxic environment was allowed to build” at the school.
“This action is for assault, humiliation, discrimination, and other aspects to be named requiring compensation of general damages, aggravated damages, declaratory judgment,” Murphy said in June.
“A toxic environment was allowed to build at that school. There were lots of red flags.”
No statement of defence has been filed yet but school district communications director Paul MacIntosh said that will happen.
“Whereas this is a legal matter that will be before the courts, we are unable to speak further at this time,” he told Brunswick News this week. “We will be filing our defence in due course.”
The statement of claim says the Tsurkan family is from Israel but immigrated to Canada. Eli Tsurkan previously said they moved to Fredericton from Israel in November 2022.
The lawsuit says the assault happened on April 30. The complainant was 14 at the time.
It says the other student became aggressive with the plaintiff and grabbed her arms in the school hall. The plaintiff pushed the defendant, causing her hijab to loosen.
The statement of claim says the principal intervened, ordering them to separate. But shortly after, the plaintiff and her boyfriend left the school to walk to a store and the girl was allegedly attacked again by the other student, “repeatedly battering her” in the parking lot of Willie O’Ree Place sports complex, resulting in injuries.
The lawsuit claims students and a man (defendant “Unknown Party 3”) witnessed the attack and the man accosted the plaintiff shortly after. A video of the altercation was also shared widely online, causing the girl humiliation, the statement claims.
“The plaintiff states the first attack and second attack happened because she is Israeli and/or Jewish,” says the statement of claim.
The Jewish girl missed five days of school because of injuries and fear of returning, and when she came back, the lawsuit claims staff advised her to use the teacher’s washroom, arrive late for classes, not walk the halls alone and not leave the building all day. The plaintiffs say the other student was suspended for about five days.
The lawsuit alleges “there is and was, at all material times, an antisemitic environment at LHHS.” It says the plaintiff was one of the only publicly identifying Israeli or Jewish students and that others hid their Jewish identities to avoid persecution.
The lawsuit alleges that “since Oct. 7, 2023, the date of the Hamas-led attack on Israel, he plaintiff has experienced blatant antisemitism at LHHS.” That includes two occasions where a handmade Israeli flag brought to school for an assignment was destroyed by other students.
The plaintiff also alleges being the subject of antisemitic rumours linked to political issues arising out of the Gaza conflict, and says students and a teacher participated in a pro-Palestinian walk-out at the school.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
The statement of claim alleges the assailant is liable for assault, battery and discrimination. It alleges the unnamed parents of that girl were negligent for not supervising the girl when they should have known she was antisemitic and could act on that. The unknown man who witnessed the assault outside the school is included for allegedly not intervening.
The lawsuit alleges the principal and faculty were negligent in a variety of ways, including not properly intervening after the first assault to prevent the second one outside and not properly detaining, disciplining and contacting the parents of violent and aggressive students.
The plaintiff also alleges the school should have put proper safeguards in place to protect her, given acts of antisemitism such as the flag being destroyed, and also the tension stemming from the Gaza conflict. Also, the plaintiff says the school failed to provide an environment of mutual respect for individuals of all races, religions and ethnic origins by being complicit in the pro-Palestinian walk-out.
It states the faculty’s failure to address the antisemitism left the girl vulnerable and isolated, which impacted her liberty and security.
The lawsuit seeks general and aggravated damages, costs, a declaration the education council breached the girl’s rights and discriminated against her by “reason of her race, origin and/or religion by denying the plaintiff the benefit of her school privileges in a manner that reinforces and perpetuates the social persecution she and many other Israeli and/or Jewish people are experiencing and/or have experienced as a result of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza by forcing her into isolation, and further, that such discrimination was not demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society, contrary to section one of the Charter (of Rights and Freedoms).”
The lawsuit asks the court for an injunction against the faculty and education council to restrain them “from being complicit in the antisemitic behaviour and environment.”
Fredericton Police said in May that a 16-year-old girl was arrested in relation to an altercation on April 30. Police force spokesperson Sonya Gilks said this week that charges of assault and uttering threats were recommended.
“They were sent to the Crown who would decide to the next course of action, which could be diversion,” she wrote in an email.
Brunswick News contacted New Brunswick’s Office of the Attorney General to see if charges were laid or if the matter was diverted away from the court system but has not yet received a response.
— With files from Adam Huras and Barbara Simpson