Ontario Teachers Demand Their Pension Plan Stop Funding Israeli War Crimes
A number of active and retired teachers from Ontario's K-12 education system attended the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) on April 18 to demand answers about whether their pension monies continue to be invested in companies that produce weapons, aircraft and components for the Israeli military.
The teachers indicate that after discovering from its December public filings that OTPP had investments in two major arms manufacturers, Raytheon (now RTX) and Textron, which provide weapons and aircraft to the Israeli military that it uses to attack Palestinians, large numbers of them wrote to the pension plan to inquire about and demand an end to any such investments. None of the Plan's officials responded.[1]
The teachers then organized to use OTPP's AGM to hold President and CEO Jo Taylor and other Plan officials to account. One teacher asked how they could justify investing in weapons that have been used by the Israeli military "to destroy or damage more than 78 per cent of the schools in Gaza, wound more than 800 teachers and kill more than 250 of our fellow teachers." He asked them to explain how investing in weapons that destroy an entire education system is part of OTPP's commitment to "beneficial social impacts."
Others asked why there was no screening in place for weapons companies and whether or not OTPP had a written policy to ensure compliance with the Genocide Convention and International Human Rights Law. They repeatedly asked Taylor to give them a clear answer as to whether or not OTPP continued to have RTX and Textron in its portfolio as its December public listing showed, a question he would not answer. This prompted one teacher to declare indignantly that all they were left with then was the assumption that OTTP officials supported funding genocide.
Another rose to quote a renowned plastic surgeon who, after spending more than a month working in Gaza hospitals during October and November, denounced those engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of weapons which he called "instruments of brutalism." In what had by then become a raucous atmosphere, several people started yelling "Shame!"
This article was published in
Volume 54 Number 32 - May 9, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54329.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca