Ottawa school board trustee sanctioned, to undergo antisemitism training

Trustees for Ottawa's largest school board sanctioned fellow Trustee Donna Blackburn for breaching the board's code of conduct policy over comments she made about the Jewish community.

Blackburn is required to undergo antisemitism training as a result of the vote.

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) trustees passed the sanctions Tuesday night, voting against recommendations laid out in a detailed report by the board's integrity commissioner.

The complaint was made by Trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth in response to communications between Blackburn and members of the Jewish community in the lead-up to the 2024 Capital Pride parade.

According to OCDSB integrity commissioner Suzanne Craig's report, the complaint alleges Blackburn made "repeated discriminatory comments about the Jewish community," including in emails and text messages with Trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth, a Jewish OCDSB staff member and other Jewish community members.

Texts, emails subject of complaint

The complaint also alleges Blackburn, who identifies as a lesbian, engaged in "inappropriate lobbying" on social media and in media interviews encouraging OCDSB staff and students to join her in a "rogue" school board float at the Capital Pride parade.

The emails and text messages under scrutiny were sent between Aug. 15 and 25, as several local leaders and institutions announced boycotts for Capital Pride after the festival released a "solidarity with Palestine" statement.

The OCDSB was one of several groups that did not participate in the parade, along with Ottawa hospitals and the Liberal Party of Canada.

The report lists seven allegedly inappropriate comments made in writing by Blackburn.

Referring to Kaplan-Myrth in one email, Blackburn wrote: "Your cries of antisemitism are getting really tired and I know who I am and what I stand for. While I don't always agree with my colleagues on various matters, I don't believe for one second any of them are antisemitic."

In another email to an unnamed community member, Blackburn wrote: "I will be marching in the Pride Parade. I have done so every year since 2011. I will not abandon our LGBTQ students and staff. I also find the Islamophobia generated by the situation despicable. I will be joined by many prominent members of the Jewish community…"

The integrity commissioner ruled that of the comments in question, only two violated the code of conduct. Craig wrote that she believes those comments were the result of an error in judgment made in good faith, and she recommended that no sanctions on Blackburn be imposed.

"The Respondent [Blackburn] was engaged in discourse in relation to a difficult geopolitical issue, in circumstances where she was being criticized for her honestly held beliefs that the statement made by Capital Pride should not change the OCDSB's participation in the Pride Parade," the report read.

Definition of antisemitism

Perhaps the most contentious correspondence was a text message from Blackburn to an unnamed community member.

"It is clear to me that my struggles matter not," Blackburn wrote. "The fact I live in daily fear matters not … what matters is the power of the Jewish community … as it always does … I look forward to the day u understand that," the message read.

In reaching her decision, Craig drew on a recent decision by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice which noted that no commonly understood definition of antisemitism exists.

At the OCDSB board meeting Tuesday, several trustees took issue with that element of Craig's decision.

"We do not quibble over formal definitions of discrimination when it pertains to any other form of hate," Kaplan-Myrth said at the meeting. "What happened when Trustee Blackburn spoke to the Jewish teacher and referred to Jews as having power, was antisemitism under any definition."

Trustee Amanda Presley said she too believed Blackburn had made an antisemitic statement.

"There was a breach of the code, and I think that we need to act accordingly," Presley said.

Special envoy writes to trustees

Prior to the meeting, trustees were sent a letter from Deborah Lyons, Canada's special envoy on Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism.

In the letter, Lyons shared her concerns about the integrity commissioners' findings.

"Regardless of what definition of antisemitism is applied, the stereotypes of Jews as a powerful collective seeking to gain control over government and other institutions is one of the most common and well-known classical antisemitic stereotypes," Lyons wrote. "Allowing this decision to stand is a very dangerous precedent…"

Trustees voting overwhelmingly that Blackburn had breached four sections of the board's code of conduct.

They then voted in favour of a formal censure — or public reprimand — and voted unanimously in favour of requiring Blackburn to undergo antisemitism training at the expense of the OCDSB professional development account.

Blackburn to remain on committees

A motion to suspend Blackburn from sitting on board committees failed.

A two-thirds majority of the 12-member board was required for the motions to pass. Blackburn was not allowed to vote or participate in the debate.

Controversy has marked the current term of the OCDSB board, including raucous protests and fever-pitched meetings.

Kaplan-Myrth narrowly avoided sanctions in a code of conduct vote last September. But then, last December, trustees voted unanimously that she had breached six sections of the code.

As a result, she was barred from attending the board's next meeting and from sitting on several committees for three months.

Kaplan-Myrth appealed the sanctions but trustees upheld the decision.