Toronto high school scolded for playing Arabic O Canada on Oct. 7
Education Minister Paul Calandra warns incident at Earl Haig Secondary School better not happen again
Author of the article:Joe Warmington
Published Oct 07, 2025 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 3 minute read
Saying he doesn’t “believe” it was accidental, Ontario’s education minister lambasted a Toronto high school Tuesday for playing an Arabic version of O Canada as Jewish students mourned the second anniversary of the barbaric mass murders of Oct. 7.
Education Minister Paul Calandra has warned it had better never happen again.
Yes, that was the Canadian national anthem students and staff were standing to Tuesday at Earl Haig Secondary School in North York on the sombre day of Oct. 7 and Calandra was not buying any excuse it was an accident.
“It is hard to believe that no one recognized the significance of this day, where the world recognizes the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack perpetrated against the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” said a clearly upset Calandra. “This further underscores that school boards should be focused on creating safe learning environments for all students, never at the expense of one community over another.”
Since, by law, the anthem is to be sung, performed or played in one of Canada’s two official languages, French or English, having O Canada in Arabic played over the loudspeakers to start off a high school day was already controversial.
But to do it on the anniversary of the slaughter by Hamas terrorists in Israel was outright cruelty toward Jewish students in the school.
One parent of a Jewish student there told the Toronto Sun their child was “completely shaken up” since, in addition to playing the alternate anthem in Arabic, school officials “couldn’t bring themselves to say the word Jewish or Israel and explain that two years ago from this date was the greatest massacre of Jews since the holocaust.”
The parent added Jewish kids feel “they need to hide their religion because even their own leaders aren’t comfortable acknowledging them and makes them feel ashamed of who they are.”
The Ministry of Education and the Toronto District School Board are investigating.
This incident collided not only with the Oct. 7 day of remembrance for 1,200 Israelis, Canadians and foreign nationals slayed in cold blood by Hamas militants using hang gliders to get across the wall to attack a music festival and a kibbutz, but it also fell on the high holiday of Sukkot.
It’s estimated there are up to 100 Jewish students who attend the school that is home to 2,048 students.
“This was, at best, insensitive,” wrote former MP and Israel advocate Kevin Vuong on social-media platform X. He was also worried the anthem was “intentionally meant to cause distress and harm to their Jewish students.”
As of this point, it’s unknown what the thinking was.
While there are some suggesting it was accidental, Calandra rightfully told the school to save the excuses for the naive. The school, which is part of the TDSB and under provincial supervision, is not getting a pass on this one.
Calandra warned them, and all other Ontario schools, to never play an altered version of O Canada again.
“I am disappointed that I would have to direct that school boards demonstrate appropriate respect for our National Anthem by ensuring that it is played only in its official form,” said Calandra, adding the “federal National Anthem Act sets out that the official lyrics are in English or French, and if school boards choose not to respect our national symbols and federal legislation, then I will take action.”
Saying he “applauds the minister for speaking out forcefully on the matter,” Meir Weinstein of Israel Now said the “decision by Earl Haig school to broadcast the Canadian Anthem on Oct. 7 must be investigated because it can be interpreted as an endorsement of the Hamas slaughter of Israelis.”
This was not the only concerning incident to occur in a GTA high school on Oct. 7. Both St. Aloysius Gonzaga Catholic Secondary School and John Fraser Secondary School saw students protesting with Palestinian flags and banging drums on the very day that too many Jews were slain or taken hostage.
It’s mind-boggling how high school students are permitted to leave class to insensitively protest against another race, religion or country. It would not be tolerated, and should not be tolerated, if someone protested against students of Palestinian background for what happened during the evil attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
If students want to protest Israel’s response to the terror event, they should be reminded that they can do that on their own time and not on school premises.
But one thing made abundantly clear by Calandra is what happened with this Arabic version of the Canadian anthem being played on Oct. 7 or any other date is unacceptable.
Ontario’s education minister lambasted a Toronto high school Tuesday for playing an Arabic version of O Canada on Oct. 7.
torontosun.com