OTTAWA — OPSEU’s Jewish caucus is reacting with alarm over their union’s choice of organization to deliver antisemitism training.
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During their convention earlier this year, Ontario Public Service Employees Union membership adopted a resolution requiring mandatory antisemitism training for union leadership.
In a letter sent this week to OPSEU president JP Hornick, the union’s Jewish caucus expressed concern that union leadership dismissed their recommendations and opted instead to source the training from Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) — an anti-Zionist organization that many mainstream Jewish groups describe as “fringe.”
“Selecting an IJV-linked ‘education’ session rather than the courses proposed by OPSEU’s Jewish caucus members represents willful discrimination against OPSEU’s dues-paying Jewish members,” said Maia Rotin, interim vice-chair of OPSEU’s Jewish caucus.
“Imagine providing Indigenous or LGBTQ+ training without consulting members of those populations, and worse, ignoring the perspectives and recommendations of those equity-deserving groups.”
IJV, she alleges, doesn’t represent the views or concerns of the majority of Canada’s Jewish community, and by extension the majority of Jewish OPSEU members — primarily because of IJV’s anti-Zionist positions.
The training will be led by Prof. Larry Haiven, professor emeritus at Halifax’s Saint Mary’s University and a founding member of IJV.
The caucus proposed using training provided by either the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies or Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), but say their emails were ignored.
“The intent of proposing mandatory antisemitism training was to allow OPSEU’s board members to better understand the discrimination faced by their Jewish members,” Rotin said.
“Instead, they have selected a trainer who has published articles stating that complaints of antisemitism are being exaggerated. How can Haiven inspire empathy for OPSEU’s Jewish membership when he intends to teach that we are exaggerating our distress?”
In a statement, OPSEU said that while they take seriously input from all members, not every decision they make will be unanimously supported.
“In a few days, members of our union’s executive board will be participating in mandatory antisemitism training,” the statement read.
“In line with the resolution passed by the board, this training is being led by experienced facilitators who possesses the relevant knowledge and lived experience to provide exemplary guidance and training.”
Last month, Jewish OPSEU members filed a human rights complaint, accusing their union of fostering a hostile environment against them.
Similar conditions in other unions prompted the creation of the Canadian Jewish Labour Committee (CJLC) this past Labour Day, seeking to advocate for and protect Jewish unionists.
“Professors Sheryl Nestel and Larry Haiven are specialists in fighting antisemitism from an anti-oppressive lens and are fully qualified to give this training, which they have delivered to trade unions, educators, student leaders, religious organizations and other groups for years,” Prof. Haiven wrote on IJV’s behalf, in response to queries from the Toronto Sun.
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