By World BEYOND War, February 21, 2025
On Thursday February 20, teachers held a candlelight vigil for students and educators killed in the “scholasticide” in Gaza in front of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP) office, and called on their pension plan to “divest from war and war crimes.”
“As teachers we have a moral and professional duty to ensure the health, well-being, and safety of all students,” said Nigel Barriffe, Vice-President of the Elementary Teachers of Toronto. “So we stand here today to mourn and remember the more than 16 thousand students and teachers killed in Gaza, and demand our pension plan divest from companies complicit in these deaths.”
Barriffe noted that both the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and the Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers Federation (OSSTF) — unions representing more than 140 thousand Ontario teachers — have written to the Pension Plan to ask that they divest from all weapons manufacturing companies.
After a year-long campaign from Ontario Teachers Pension Plan members demanding divestment from weapons companies, SEC filings released last week reveal the Plan recently divested from two of the companies the divestment campaign highlighted — Northrop Grumman and Textron. These are two companies that UN experts have warned may be “complicit in serious violations of international human rights and international humanitarian laws” because of their role in sending weapons to Israeli forces. The pension’s divestment from these companies marks a significant, partial win for the teachers’ divestment campaign. However, the Pension Plan remains invested in three weapons companies, all involved in supplying the Israeli military with weapons and essential military components: Honeywell, Leidos, and Booz Allen Hamilton. The teachers are committed to carrying through this campaign until they achieve a full divestment from all weapons companies.
“As Palestinian parents, we send our kids to school each day knowing that their teachers are unwittingly profiting from the death and dismemberment of Palestinian students. We are horrified that our children’s educators have been forced by the OTPP to be complicit in what the UN has called a ‘Scholasticide,’ the destruction of an entire education system”, said Nadine Nasir, member of Toronto Palestinian Families, who also spoke at the vigil.
Pension Plan President Jo Taylor dismissed calls for divestment, saying the plan has a duty to “invest with independence in a manner that delivers returns.”
“There is nothing ‘essential’ about death of any child, and no nation is made secure through the killing of 16 thousand children, or the trauma and wounding of the thousands more who have survived this genocide,” noted Michelle Munk, speaking on behalf of Toronto Jewish Families.
International human rights expert and University of Windsor law professor Vincent Wong noted that the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan investments also pose a serious legal liability given the International Court of Justice rulings on the illegality of the occupation, orders that states must take all measures necessary to comply with their obligations under the Genocide Convention to prevent a “plausible” genocide in Gaza, and explicit warnings of UN experts that “companies sending weapons, parts, and components to Israeli forces risk being complicit in serious violation of international human rights and international humanitarian laws.”
“Both international human rights law and Canadian common law are clear that all actors, including companies and institutional investors, who fail to sever ties with states committing crimes against humanity and war crimes can become complicit in those crimes,” Wong noted. “This is not just a moral obligation, it is also a legal obligation.”
Very powerful moment of silence at tonight’s vigil at the OTPP head office as we held a 300ft scroll with the names of 16,000 children killed in Gaza. Teachers will not stop until their pension divests from the companies whose weapons killed these kids. pic.twitter.com/u5U9ZNu2z2
— World BEYOND War Canada (@WBWCanada) February 21, 2025
The teachers and their supporters created a memorial, unveiling a scroll with the names of children and educators killed, accompanied by placards with some of their pictures and stories.
“We are leaving this memorial, built with our grief and our rage, to remind OTPP President Jo Taylor that we will never forget these children, never forget our colleagues killed by his genocidal investments,” said teacher Nadia Shoufani. “We, as educators, as humans, commit to continue to build up the pressure until The Plan divests from more deaths and crimes against humanity.”
Video by Jay Geerts.
Additional video coverage by journalist Samira Mohyeddin here.
Learn more about the campaign and send a letter in support of the teachers advocating for divestment here.
