B'nai Brith 1996 Press Releases Page

PEEL TEACHER FLAUNTS BOARD RULING

For Immediate Release

Brampton, December 11, 1996... 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.

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