Premier David Eby acknowledges antisemitism within the public service

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Premier David Eby acknowledged Friday that B.C. has a “serious problem with rising antisemitism” and that government employees have had antisemitic experiences within the public service.

“This issue exists in schools, in civil society, within private employers, and I believe that people have had antisemitic experiences within the government B.C. public service,” Eby told reporters during an unrelated press conference in Vancouver.

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“My commitment to the community is that we will work together to root this out.”

Eby’s statement followed a meeting with Jewish leaders on Friday where they expressed their disappointment with the treatment of Selina Robinson, a Jewish MLA who on Wednesday resigned from the B.C. NDP caucus over a failure to address allegations of antisemitism among her fellow MLAs.

Robinson’s letter to her NDP colleagues came a month after she was forced to resign from cabinet on Feb. 5 after backlash over statements she made during an online forum in late January that Israel was founded on a “crappy piece of land with nothing on it.”

Leaders with the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, Rabbinical Association of Vancouver and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs told the premier about recent cases of antisemitism they are concerned about, and Eby said they left him shaken.

For example, a public school teacher asked students to self-identify if they were Jewish. The two that did were asked to explain to the entire class what Israel is doing in Gaza. In another classroom, a Jewish student who offered a different perspective to the teacher on the conflict in the Middle East was asked to leave the class and sit in the hallway because they were creating a disturbance.

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Robinson said Eby has long been aware of rising antisemitism in B.C., including on university campuses, and she’s disappointed the premier has not shown leadership in dealing with it, starting within the caucus.

“(The NDP caucus) could do the hard work. Educating themselves, doing anti-Islamophobia training, antisemitism training, saying we have work to do,” Robinson told Postmedia News on Friday. “But what worries me more is the lack of response to the rise in antisemitism here in British Columbia.”

Eby said Friday that every MLA will be participating in anti-racism and anti-discrimination training, one of the recommendations that came out of the Speaker’s report tasked following allegations of anti-Indigenous racism brought by former NDP MLA Melanie Mark.

Eby has so far deflected calls from B.C. United to launch an independent investigation to look into antisemitism within the NDP or the B.C. public service.

B.C. United released a list of incidents involving anonymous government employees they say points to systemic antisemitism within the public service. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs provided the list to the premier’s office on Feb. 6.

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For example, a Jewish public servant was asked not to wear their Star of David necklace in a visible way in online meetings “as it may make my colleagues of colour uncomfortable because it is a symbol of genocide.”

Some government employees were upset that hanging in the coffee area were pro-Palestinian posters that talked about the resistance and advertised rallies. Other employees noted that colleagues had Palestinian flags in their email signatures or Teams profiles.

The premier’s office said Thursday when those allegations were brought forward, the Public Service Agency looked into whether it had receive complaints about antisemitism in the workplace and found no one had come forward in recent months.

Eby said that doesn’t mean the incidents didn’t happen and he understands that people might be “incredibly scared to bring forward complaints or concerns that they believe they’re not going to be taken seriously.”

Eby urged public servants who have had experiences with antisemitism to bring forward their concerns, so they can be investigated and addressed.

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Asked about whether any kind of expression of support in the Israel-Hamas war is appropriate in the workplace, Eby said: “You need to leave your politics at home. It’s a non-partisan public service.”

A joint letter from the three Jewish leaders said they appreciate the first step taken by Eby through the meeting.

“Now he must make amends for the harms he has caused and address the alarming increase in antisemitism in B.C. with concrete action,” the letter stated.

“Events to this point, especially in the way MLA Selina Robinson has been treated, have sent a chilling message that antisemitism is tolerated in B.C. This is dangerous and contributes to the vulnerability already experienced by our community after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks committed by Hamas.”

The group said they will work with Eby “as he takes the next steps to repair his and his government’s relationship with the Jewish community and deliver actions that demonstrate that antisemitism will not be accepted anywhere in B.C.”

Asked how the fallout following Robinson’s resignation could impact Eby’s New Democrats in the provincial election, David Black, a political communications professor at Victoria’s Royal Roads University, said “it diminishes. but not fatally damages. the NDP’s chances in October.”

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“It certainly gives … the Opposition opportunity to to chip away at public confidence that the NDP can speak responsibly to questions of identity,” he said.

Black noted that before Robinson’s resignation, Eby was grappling with outrage from Muslim and Palestinian communities including mosque leaders who said NDP candidates would not be welcome in their sacred spaces until Robinson faced consequences.

“So there’s a political cost to be paid no matter what position he takes,” Black said.

He said the way Eby deals with the polarization created by the Israel-Hamas war represents “the greatest test of political messaging we’ve seen perhaps since the pandemic — in terms of how to speak in a way that isn’t divisive, that brings people together, that doesn’t play sides, speaks to the injustices and that tries to move the province to a better place, a healing place.”

kderosa@postmedia.com

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