With antisemitism rising in British Columbia, professionals from three sectors \u2013 health care, post-secondary education and K-12 schools \u2013 have started organizing so incidents of hatred in their workplace are challenged at every opportunity.<\/p>\n
The Jewish Academic Alliance of British Columbia and the Jewish Medical Association of British Columbia have launched in the past few months, while BC Teachers Against Antisemitism has grown more active since the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cAntisemitism is reaching crisis levels in BC, and we are proud to be able to support the important work of these newly formed groups at this critical time for our community,\u201d said Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am in awe of all of our community members and allies who are stepping up to address what is a clear crisis at workplaces across the province \u2013 particularly since employees are uniquely positioned to address workplace issues with their employers,\u201d noted Nico Slobinsky, vice-president, Pacific Region, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen an incredible increase in worrying activities \u2013 from terror-affiliated organizations like Samidoun setting up an encampment at UBC to teachers making inappropriate comments towards Jewish students in the classroom, to troubling behaviour in our healthcare system. Yet, we have seen little by way of new activity by government,\u201d said Slobinsky.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rise of antisemitism inside health care has been chilling. In a profession dedicated to healing people, we\u2019ve witnessed hateful words and actions that have some fearing for their safety,\u201d said Sharon Gershony, clinical instructor, pediatric nuclear radiologist, BC Children\u2019s Hospital. \u201cThe Jewish Medical Association of BC is a supportive community for Jewish physicians, trainees and allied healthcare professionals. Together, we will create safe workspaces by confronting antisemitism with engagement, education and promotion of respect and greater tolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPost-secondary institutions across BC have been a focal point of antisemitic activities and actions, some of these threatening the safety of faculty, staff and students. There is no place for this in BC,\u201d said David Silver, a University of British Columbia professor who is helping form the Jewish Academic Alliance of BC. \u201cBy bringing together Jewish professors, educators and staff from across campuses, the Jewish Academic Alliance of BC will work to ensure that hate is confronted and campuses are again a place where Jews can feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSince Oct. 7th,\u00a0some horrible things have happened in classrooms and in schools \u2013 to teachers and students alike, who have been singled out because they are Jewish and only because they are Jewish,\u201d said Ginaya Peters, founder of BC Teachers Against Antisemitism. \u201cWe have had to become more active and will continue to push back against the hatred and discrimination and create a safe learning environment for all.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 Courtesy Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With antisemitism rising in British Columbia, professionals from three sectors \u2013 health care, post-secondary education and K-12 schools \u2013 have started organizing so incidents of hatred in their workplace are challenged at every opportunity. The Jewish Academic Alliance of British Columbia and the Jewish Medical Association of British Columbia have launched in the past few […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[801,23241,458,3076,23242,23128,3225,22729,23240,23000,23244,5285,22725,23243],"class_list":["post-44363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local","tag-antisemitism","tag-bc-teachers-against-antisemitism","tag-cija","tag-education","tag-ginaya-peters","tag-hamas-terror-attacks","tag-health-care","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-jewish-academic-alliance","tag-jewish-medical-association","tag-k-12","tag-nico-slobinsky","tag-oct-7","tag-post-secondary-education"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}