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Tony Comper: Fight against racism starts in schoolWe must tackle bigotry in the 2020-21 school year; we must tackle it head onTony Comper, Special to National PostAug 24, 2020 • Last Updated 2 months ago • 3 minute read
Children take part in an anti-racism campaign in Edmonton in 2018. PHOTO BY LARRY WONG/POSTMEDIA
In 2006, I wrote an op-ed for the National Post about the need to combat hate, in general, and anti-Semitism — the world’s oldest form of hate — in particular. In that piece, I said of the haters andbigots, “We can help to marginalize them, strip them of their influence, make them ineffectual andleave them muttering in the mirror to an audience of one.”
I came to this conclusion two years earlier while I was looking in the mirror. Early one morning, mywife, Elizabeth, caught me, as she often did, mid-shave. There had been a number of anti-Semiticincidents across the country, and she was determined to do something about it.
After some soul searching and speaking with friends, we decided to form a coalition of non-Jewishbusiness and community leaders to stand up and speak out against anti-Semitism. We called thisinitiative FAST, which stands for Fighting Antisemitism Together. What began with full-pagenewspaper advertisements across the country and a speech turned into an organization that has hada real impact.
Elizabeth, a former elementary school teacher, knew that education was the key to opening upyoung hearts and engaging young minds. She wanted to provide a counter-narrative to the vile andvirulent bigotry that some kids learn at home. We launched Choose Your Voice, a curriculum-basedprogram to support teachers.
Developed with leading experts at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies inEducation and targeted at children in grades 6, 7 and 8, we came up with a resource that metcurriculum guidelines for all provinces and territories. Introduced by Ben Mulroney, Choose YourVoice examines extermination camps in Europe and prejudice in our own backyard, including theroots of slavery in Canada, the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples, the Chinese head tax and themass shooting at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City.
With a slightly older Ben Mulroney and the addition of Kyle Lowry of the world champion TorontoRaptors, we later launched Voices into Action, which is aimed at students in grades 9, 10, 11 and 12.This program has also been used in adult education and even in correctional facilities. As Lowry saidin the online video, “All of us deserve to be treated with respect, compassion and dignity.”
To date, 4.4 million students have taken part in these programs in over 22,000 schools acrossCanada. Having turned 75 this year, I suddenly realized that my golf score and my age wereintersecting, and both were headed north. So I decided the timing was right to transition FAST toCatherine Chatterley — a brilliant University of Chicago-trained historian, who heads the Winnipeg-based Canadian Institute for the Study of Antisemitism — to ensure FAST can continue to have apositive impact well into the future.
I am acutely aware that late August is an exciting and exhilarating time for teachers, but it can alsobe a stressful time. COVID-19 is exacerbating that stress on a scale that we have never seen before —not just for teachers, but for parents and students, as well.
Beyond the difficulties of keeping our children safe under very challenging conditions, there aremany important issues that teachers will tackle this school year, including the murder of GeorgeFloyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, anti-Chinese rhetoric coming out of the White House andthe appalling treatment of a true hero, Raptors president Masai Ujiri, by a police officer in California.
As teachers prepare their lesson plans, I am making a personal plea and a sincere pledge of support:tackle bigotry in the 2020-21 school year; tackle it head on. Help all of us ensure that this generationfinds their voice and turns that voice into action.
That’s a tall order, but we are here to help you. We have free resources, which have won theCanadian Race Relations Foundation Award of Excellence, available for you. Please reach out to us atchooseyourvoice.ca or voicesintoaction.ca. Together, let’s dedicate this school year to ending hateand embracing the rich diversity that is Canada. Everyone in Canada should always feel safe andsecure and have the freedom to be who they are.
National Post
Tony Comper was president and CEO of BMO Financial Group and is co-founder of FAST.
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