Lecce Peel orders district school board to end Nakba Day policy

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Stephen Lecce has a message for the Peel County School Board: End divisive politics.

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Ontario's education minister has told Peel board officials to reverse course on including Nakba Day commemorations on school calendars.

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“The Peel District School Board should reverse its decision and keep politics out of the classroom,” Lecce said in a statement to the Sun.

It's the right move, and one that comes after the board defended its position amid public outcry.

Nakba Day is a highly political and controversial holiday that has no place on school calendars in any province or country. This day is a day set aside to condemn the establishment of the State of Israel, condemn the existence of Israel, and mourn.

The full name of this day in Arabic is Zikra al-Nakba, which means commemoration of the disaster.

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We should not introduce a day in our school system that denounces the democratic state and calls its existence a disaster. Members of the Lecce and Peel District School Board have been inundated with emails from several members of the media, including myself, calling for the calendar date to be removed from the calendar since late last week.

The email campaign details how and why it doesn't follow existing rules on the board, including Nakba Day, and highlights Lecce's negative views on the issue.

“Will you do your duty as a school trustee, fulfill your obligation to the citizens of Peel and act immediately to abolish the Nakba Day of Remembrance?” – asks in the letter.

Initially, the Peel District School Board responded to the Sun's request for comment, citing the need to respect diversity.

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“We at Peel District School Board value the diversity of the community we serve. The board has a Recognition Months/Significant Days Committee to review requests from the PDSB community, students, staff and families for new dates for each school year,” the board said in a statement.

Repeated requests for updated comment regarding Lecce's comments and this email campaign went unanswered by board staff and elected members.

Now the board is facing a pressure campaign from the other side of the debate. The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) is encouraging parents to contact the board with a message that Nakba Day should remain on the calendar.

“Nakba happened. That is why he has been recognized by the Peel District School Board for many years,” the NCCM said in a statement.

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This is a loaded statement.

Yes, Israel was created, called a disaster, and denying its existence is the kind of politics we don't need in our school system.

“There is an attempt by some to remove it from our history books because it is an inconvenient fact,” says the NCCM.

Saying that a day should not be included in the commemorative calendar is not the same as removing that day from the history books. We don't have a school calendar marking the Bolshevik October Revolution or Mao's seizure of power and the founding of the People's Republic of China.

However, these events can still be taught in a history class where students are hopefully given the proper context.

Proponents of marking the Nakba date on the calendar don't want context, they want to know that Israel is opposed to its existence. They want their opposition to Israel to be endorsed by Canadian school boards as part of a campaign to delegitimize Israel.

This is what is really at play here and why the board should cancel the date or Lecce should stop asking them and force them to reverse course.

According to Lecce, schools should focus on the basics of education.

“With too many students failing to meet provincial standards in literacy and math, school boards need to keep politics out of the classroom and focus on student achievement,” Lecce said.

It is really unacceptable for schools and boards to get involved in this kind of politics.

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