Toronto School Board’s Islamic Heritage Month guidebook promotes Nation of Islam

That the Nation of Islam is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center should not be a matter of concern to anyone. But the Nation does “have a documented history of antisemitic rhetoric including Holocaust denial, exaggerating the role of Jews in the slave trade and hateful conspiracy theories about Jewish control of the economy.”

This guidebook also includes “the suggestion that the Muslim greeting ‘As-salamu alaykum’ (peace be upon you) be explained and recited alongside the singing of O Canada, inviting children to visit a local mosque and including templates of famous mosques around the world for children to construct during cut and paste exercises.”

Meanwhile, “the TDSB does celebrate heritage months for the Jewish and Sikh faiths, but there are no guidebooks. There is no such month for the Christian faith.”

As always, Islam is paramount and central, supreme over all other faiths, just as sharia would have it.

“Simon Wiesenthal Center calls on TDSB to pull Islamic guide,” by Anthony Furey, Toronto Sun, October 4, 2017 (thanks to Mark):

The Toronto District School Board’s controversial Islamic Heritage Month guidebook is facing criticism from yet another prominent advocacy organization, this time the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC).

While the organization is urging the TDSB pull the whole guide pending a full review of all its contents, they’ve focused their complaint on one section in the guide that promotes the Nation of Islam.

“The Nation of Islam is considered to be a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Nation of Islam officials have a documented history of antisemitic rhetoric including Holocaust denial, exaggerating the role of Jews in the slave trade and hateful conspiracy theories about Jewish control of the economy,” writes the FSWC, led by CEO Avi Benlolo, in a press release….

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The TDSB did not immediately offer comment to the Sun on this issue. However, TDSB trustee chair Robin Pilkey previously chastised Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada for what she labelled in a letter were their “outrageous” concerns about the guidebook.

B’nai Brith’s complaint – sent to the board on Monday – focused on the broad definition of Islamophobia the guide used, one that claimed criticism and dislike of political Islam was wrong and violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

They argued it would lead to TDSB community members fearing censure if they criticized controversial issues within the Islamic world, such as LGBT rights within Muslim-majority countries.

While the board temporarily took the guidebook offline to add a more toned down definition of Islamophobia, the guide’s other troubling recommendations remain.

These include the suggestion that the Muslim greeting “As-salamu alaykum” (peace be upon you) be explained and recited alongside the singing of O Canada, inviting children to visit a local mosque and including templates of famous mosques around the world for children to construct during cut and paste exercises….

The TDSB does celebrate heritage months for the Jewish and Sikh faiths, but there are no guidebooks. There is no such month for the Christian faith.