East End Madrassah cannot use a Scarborough school for weekend classes until police have wrapped up their investigation into anti-Jewish teachings, the Toronto public board has decided.
“We’ve had a long relationship with this organization and there have been no problems to date, but of course when the situation came to our attention, it was something that we needed to investigate,” said board spokesperson Shari Schwartz-Maltz.
When the online materials were discovered last week — which called ancient Jews “treacherous” and “crafty” — the madrassah immediately pulled them and issued an apology.
York Region police’s hate crimes unit is still investigating.
The Toronto District School Board had not been able to reach the madrassah’s administrators until this Tuesday, when it informed them they could no longer use board property.
“What we said was, we needed to be satisfied with the outcome of the investigation and that they were in compliance with our policies and procedures,” said Jim Spyropoulos, the board’s co-ordinating superintendent of inclusive schools.
The madrassah has been using board facilities for more than 30 years. Spyropoulos said the board has asked for a meeting with school administrators “to have a deeper discussion” around the issue.
The East End Madrassah rents space from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Sunday at David and Mary Thomson Collegiate, which is located on Lawrence Ave. E. near Brimley.
Spyropoulos said it has three rental times left in this school year: May 27, June 3, and June 10.
The Toronto board has the right to pull a permit with or without cause.
The board issues about 20,000 permits a year, with some 570 going to religious groups.
York police are investigating because while the madrassah rents the space, the program is actually run by the Islamic Shia Ithna-Asheri Jamaat of Thornhill.