Newmarket school under fire over plan to host Israeli youth leader program

Clearmeadow Public School is facing controversy after a planned visit from Israeli youth leaders was cancelled following pressure from concerned advocacy groups.

The Newmarket school had scheduled a visit from the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s Shinshinim program, which was set to educate the kindergarten to Grade 8 school about Hannukah and Jewish culture Nov. 26.

The program, a collaboration with the Jewish Agency for Israel, includes recent high school graduates from Israel, who travel the world to speak at schools, camps and other programs, speaking about “contemporary Israel” and bringing “an authentic Israel experience,” according to the program website.

The planned presentation garnered concern from organizations, including the Palestinian Canadian Congress and Independent Jewish Voices Canada, as well as some local parents, who questioned the Shinshinim program as a speaker choice and pushed for the York Region District School Board to cancel the event through an email campaign.

While the York Region District School Board indicated the event would be allowed to go ahead, the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto decided to cancel it, saying it wanted to protect the safety and wellbeing of Shinshinim program members. 

Newmarket parent and Palestinian advocate Shameela Shakeel said the school having this event is “outrageous,” given Israel’s actions in Palestine.

“When we see things like this, where administrators are bringing in these groups that they know are controversial at best, and harmful in so many ways, it’s just really disappointing,” Shakeel said.

Clearmeadow Public School sent out a notice Nov. 11 about the upcoming visit from the Shinshinim program. It said all students, kindergarten to Grade 8, would be taking part. The activities included “exploring traditional dance, learning about celebrations of significance including Hanukkah and taking part in arts and crafts experiences.”

Shakeel said that a coalition of locals residents and advocates became aware of the matter and wanted to push back. She said they are supportive of celebrating Jewish and other cultures in public schools, but were worried about platforming Shinshinim specifically.

“It just doesn’t make sense to me,” Shakeel said. “They are clearly ambassadors for a state. They are not there for the religion, right? I don’t understand how that aligns with our curriculum.”

In an email campaign, advocates noted that Amnesty International concluded in a 2024 report that Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza. That was echoed by the International Association of Genocide Scholars, who passed a resolution Aug. 31, 2025, declaring that Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide.

Given that Shinshinim program members are Israeli high school graduates — who defer mandatory Israeli military service for a year to participate in volunteering abroad — advocates like the Palestinian Canadian Congress argue this is not a neutral cultural exchange.

“They’re engaging in a massive public relations project by the State of Israel,” vice-president of the Palestinian Canadian Congress James Kafieh said, adding that Minister of Education Paul Calandra has previously said that politics should generally be kept out of classrooms. “Couldn’t be a more transparent or hypocritical example of introducing politics in the classroom.”

The form letter referred to the youth as “pre-army Israeli emissaries” and argued their presence could be upsetting and “traumatizing” for Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and racialized students.

UJA Federation of Greater Toronto Chief development officer Sara Lefton stated that the organization categorically rejects the allegations made in the letter-writing campaign.

“These claims targeted teenagers who volunteer in our community, and out of a clear responsibility to protect their safety and well-being, UJA chose to cancel today’s event,” Lefton said.

She said, despite the characterization in the letter campaign, Shinshinim volunteers are not soldiers, and they live with local host families as they “contribute meaningfully to Jewish life here.”

She said they engage more than 12,000 people each year “through educational programming about Israel, its history, culture, and the spiritual connection it holds for the Jewish people.”

Lefton said this is part of a “troubling pattern in which Jewish voices in the GTA and across Canada are misrepresented or pushed out of public space.”

“UJA remains committed to standing up for our shared Canadian values, including democratic participation and freedom of expression,” she said.

Shakeel said the coalition she is a part of, including advocates, parents and educators, recently spoke with YRDSB officials a couple of weeks before this, to talk about their concerns with groups trying to promote Israel in educational spaces.

“It just needs to be looked at. We want to know how are these decisions being made, and they have to see this is harmful,” Shakeel said.