December 11, 1996
PEEL TEACHER
FLAUNTS BOARD RULING
Brampton…Last night at a public forum to commemorate International
Human Rights Day it was revealed that Peel Board of Education teacher,
Paul Fromm, is continuing to associate with known white supremacists
and to make speeches against Canada’s multiculural\multiracial
society, in blatant violation of a Peel Board ruling that prohibits
such conduct.
A 1993 Ministry of Education inquiry found that Fromm’s racist
activities violated sections of the Education Act and breached the
Peel Board of Education’s Multicultural and Race Relations Policy as
well as the Regulations of the Ontario Teacher’s Federation. The
Cowan Report (1993) states:
“Mr. Fromm is not committed to the policies respecting ethnocultural
equity, multiculturalism and anti- racism that are fundamental to the
educational system in this province.”
“In reviewing the activities of Mr. Fromm in this context, I believe
Mr. Fromm did not fulfil his duties as a teacher to set a positive
example consistent with the core values expressed by or implicit in
s.264 (1) (c) of the Education Act.”
“As a result of my investigation, I have concluded that Mr. Fromm’s
presence as a teacher has an adverse effect on the school community.”
As a result of the Cowan Report, Fromm received a reprimand and was
transferred from a Mississauga high school to an adult education
position. In addition, Fromm was warned to discontinue his hate
activities and associations with known hate-mongers.
In a April 29, 1992 letter of reprimand to Fromm, then Chairman of the
Peel Board William Kent, clearly stated to Fromm: “if it comes to the
Board’s attention that any additional conduct on your part causes
further damage to the employer\employee relationship, we may have no
alternative but to recommend to the Board that your employment be
terminated.”
Chairman Kent further stated at a press conference in June 1993 after
the Ministry of Education inquiry that, “we will not tolerate anyone
questioning our commitment to multiculturalism and ethnocultural
equity…We have served him with very clear notice of what our
expectations are. If these expectations are not met, there will be
further action.”
Since then, Fromm has openly violated his terms of employment by
appearing at a number of forums convened by known racists and
Holocaust deniers. In addition, Fromm remains Director of the Canadian
Association for Free Expression, an organization devoted to opposing
Canada’s policies of multiculturalism and immigration.
Fromm has participated in the following activities, a list which is
far from exhaustive:
November 19, 1994, Fromm spoke at a memorial symposium for Revilio P.
Oliver. Also speaking at the event was former Ku Klux Klan Wizard
David Duke and various Holocaust-deniers. The event was filmed by
National Vanguard\National Alliance, the most “prominent Hitlerian
organisation in America today.” The National Alliance is led by
William Pierce, author of the Turner Diaries, after which the Oklahoma
City bombing was modelled.
March 22, 1996, Fromm organised a “hate conference” at the Surrey Inn
in Surrey, B.C. The main speakers included: Steve Dumas of the
Heritage Front; Doug Collins, a columnist for the North Shore News,
who is well known for his racists views; and Eileen Pressler, of the
extreme right-wing Council on Public Affairs, known primarily for
sponsoring David Irving tours and promoting Holocaust denial. After
the Attorney General of B.C. spoke out against the conference, the
Surrey Inn cancelled the booking. The event was then held in an
undisclosed location in Vancouver.
April 1996, Fromm spoke at the Croatian Cultural Centre in Vancouver
at a conference organized by racist and neo-Nazi sympathisers. There
is evidence that Fromm travelled to the conference on school time and
that he distributed flyers promoting Malcom Ross’s Holocaust-denial
books and pamphlets.
September 1996, Fromm faxed a letter to Werner Sim, manager of the
Coast Terrace Inn protesting the hotel’s cancellation of a conference
deemed “racist” by the Alberta Human Rights Committee. The conference
was organized by Ron Gostick’s League of Rights and the Third Option
Committee — organizations long-known to support racist and
anti-Semitic positions. The speakers at the conference were to
include: former school teacher and holocaust-denier Jim Keegstra; and
Doug Christie, lawyer to Malcom Ross, Keegstra and Ernst Zundel.
At last nights forum, Marvin Kurz, a Brampton lawyer and Chair of the
Legal Committee of the League for Human Rights, took the position that
Fromm’s activities are in line with those of Malcom Ross who was fired
from his position as a teacher in New Brunswick. Mr. Ross’s case,
which was first brought forth to the NB Human Rights Board, was
appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada which ruled that the Ross’s
racist views and activities outside the classroom created a “poisoned
environment.” Kurz stated: “The decision in the Ross case could
equally be applied to Fromm. Adult students have just as equal right
to be educated in an poison free-environment”
Members of the audience at last night’s forum were clearly shocked as
they watched excerpts of Fromm’s appearance at the Oliver Memorial
Symposium in November 1994. Rochelle Wilner, National Chair of the
League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada explained that Revilio
P. Oliver was considered a doyen of the extreme radical right in the
United States and a long time proponent of anti-Semitism and racism.
The June 1992 issue of the radical right publication Liberty Bell
featured an article by Oliver discussing the L.A. Riots which stated
in part, “my article on Nigger Superiority in the May issue of Liberty
Bell was in print before the events in Los Angeles gave it an emphatic
confirmation…Niggers naturally loot and destroy when they see a good
opportunity…for tribal festivities.” At the Memorial, Fromm called
Oliver “one of the giants of our century” and a “man I greatly
admired.” He also noted that he had corresponded with Oliver for a
number of years.
Wilner read excerpts from Fromm’s speech, which centered around his
opposition to a “multicultural, multiracial society,” he used
typically Nazi language saying, “If we are going to be true to our
Aryan spirit, to the very best of our people, which is reason” it
would be necessary to have the courage to face difficult conclusions,
and that he was “doing what Aryan man has always done … facing
reality.” He further stated that “my own personal belief is that there
is not a conspiracy, but perhaps many, most of them aimed at the
survival of our people.” He said that it was necessary to “recapture
the greatness of our race’s spirit and then we can retake this
continent.” Fromm concluded his eulogy in half-English, half-German,
saying “farewell alte kamarade.” The meeting ended with the singing of
“Deutschland Uber Alles,” concluded Wilner.
“We call on the Peel Board of Education to make good the words of then
Chairman Kent and take the necessary actions to remove this individual
from the Peel Board of Education. If he must continue his racist “free
speech” campaign let him not do it as a teacher,” stated Karen Mock,
an educator and National Director of the League for Human Rights of
B’nai Brith Canada.
-30-
For Further Information, contact:
David Cooper
Research & Communication
League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada
(416) 633-6224 ext. 130
[email protected]
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* Canada’s Leading Jewish Advocacy
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