Concerned Canadians started a petition to the Education and Childcare Ministry on Monday to challenge proposals to add the subjects of the Nakba and occupation of the West Bank and Gaza to the British Columbia provincial curriculum.
As of Wednesday night, over 3,500 people had signed the petition in response to a motion passed at the British Columbia Teachers Federation (BCTF) Annual General Meeting on March 16 to lobby the ministry on the subjects.
"We are concerned parents that wish to petition the Ministry of Education & Childcare to outright reject this proposal," wrote petition organizer Maria Kleiner. "The role of a teacher in a child’s life is paramount and should not be used to advance any political agenda. By introducing such a change to the curriculum, it has the potential to increase targeted hatred of specific children thus creating an unsafe learning environment."
Kleiner argued that some topics had no place in the classroom regardless of how the BCTF felt about them.
Socialist magazine Spring said that during the BCTF motion called for the continuous lobby for the inclusion of the "Nakba," "1948 Arab-Israeli War," and "military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank" in grade 6-12 Social and History curricula.
The 2024 BCTF AGM document on resolutions said that the teachers needed these events explicitly included in the curriculum for when the topics arose in the classroom.
BCTF had previously donated to UNRWA
In November, the BCTF passed resolutions to donate $50,000 Canadian to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and call for "an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and an end to occupations."
"Those with the power to do so must take action now to save lives and bring about lasting peace," said BCTF president Clint Johnston. "My hope, the collective hope of millions across the world, is that the international community can come together to find a path to peace for the people of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories."