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Jewish
community in Peterborough is ‘blessed’ Atrocities such as the firebombing of a Jewish school in Montreal and the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in Toronto are “very troubling” to Larry Gillman, president of Beth Israel Synagogue in Peterborough. But the Jewish community in Peterborough has been “blessed,” Larry says. “We haven’t seen the kinds of things that have happened in Montreal and Toronto.” “There is always an element of racism but I haven’t seen or experienced it blatantly here,” he says. “This is a beautiful community.” Emphasizing that he was giving his personal point of view, Larry says he is not saying that such atrocities could not happen here. “There are always people at the fringes of society,” he says. “But the entire Peterborough community just won’t tolerate things like vandalism at a church, mosque or synagogue.” Larry was interviewed by Peaceful Communities Tuesday while preparing for a Passover dinner at which a United Church minister will be among the guests. “We’ve seen more interfaith outreach work than ever in Peterborough in the past two or three years,” he says. “The fight against racism starts with community outreach.” Larry has co-led a service at Trinity United Church and is involved in working through an agreement with the Unitarian Fellowship to share the synagogue. “I’m seeing lots of examples of this kind of outreach,” he says. Prime Minister Paul Martin, in condemning racism Tuesday in the wake of the Montreal firebombing, called for Canadians to fight racism through education at the basic level. Both local school boards have anti-racism and multicultural and ethno-cultural equity policies in place in their policies for employees and in their curriculum, say board officials. Those policies are currently under review at the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Roman Catholic School Board, partly in response to what has recently been happening in other cities, says Education Director Michael Langlois “In our schools we haven’t had any particular incidents but we are very conscious of what is happening in the world,” Michael says. In the board’s family life and religious education classes, there is a focus on respecting the views of other people, Michael says. In high schools there is a compulsory course in world religions in which the histories and traditions of different religions are explored. “That promotes more tolerance of others,” he says. “Our board is focused on integration and inclusion, not only for those with special needs, but for all children,” he says. Policies for employees also refer to how employees behave towards each other and include a harassment policy with procedures for dealing with any kind of harassment, Michael says. |
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