Fighting Antisemitism Together
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FAST – Fighting Antisemitism Together, is a Canadian human rights activist group which opposes antisemitism and all intolerance. It was founded in 2005 and describes itself as "a coalition of non-Jewish Canadian community and business leaders dedicated to speaking out against humanity's oldest hatred."[1]
FAST was founded by Elizabeth and Tony Comper, former CEO and President of BMO Financial. The organization is unique in that its leadership is largely non-Jewish.[2] FAST is a national non-profit organization with Nicole Miller as Executive Director in Toronto and regional directors in Quebec, British Columbia, Saskatchewan/Manitoba region and Alberta. In June 2020, FAST joined with the Canadian Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, a scholarly organization that publishes the academic journal Antisemitism Studies. CISA founding director Catherine Chatterley, who teaches at the University of Manitoba, took over as FAST's chair and president.
FAST provides two human rights educational programs, online at no cost to educators and the public:
1. Choose Your Voice, a series of lesson plans and videos curriculum-based for students in Grades 6, 7 and 8
2. Voices into Action, a teaching resource with 6 units and 36 videos, curriculum-based for grades 9 to 12 and also used by colleges, universities and adult education centres
Both programs were developed by curriculum experts at OISE-UT and teach people to speak out and take action against racism, antisemitism, homophobia, islamophobia and all intolerance. FAST won Awards of Excellence from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation in 2010 for Choose Your Voice and in 2016 for Voices into Action. Since 2005, Choose Your Voice has been delivered to more than 2.7 million Canadian students and Voices into Action has reached at least 1.7 million Canadian students (high school and continuing education) since 2014.
References
- ^ University of New Brunswick website; CNW Group web site
- ^ CBC news story Non-Jewish executives band together to fight anti-Semitism, August 15, 2005
- (See also FAST: Related Reading Press coverage of FAST and its founders).
External links
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