Recently, I attended the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Christie Pits riot. This sad period of the city of Toronto’s history occurred when Nazi sympathizers waving swastikas attacked members of the Jewish community. The four days of riots are a reminder that intolerance and discrimination can raise their offensive head at a moment’s notice.

Since being elected in 2010, I have worked with colleagues and city staff to update Toronto’s 14-year-old anti-discrimination policy.

This initiative was a response to the participation of the Queers Against Israel Apartheid (QuAIA) group in the city-funded Toronto Pride Week parade.

QuAIA’s false narrative of the Israel-Palestinian question amounts to bullying and demonization of Israel and the Jewish community.

Toronto now has a comprehensive and modern anti-discrimination policy that intends to stop the funding of groups that partner with organizations that do not embrace respect, tolerance and civility.

The new policy binds third party contractors, permit holders and grant recipients and goes beyond the Ontario Human Rights Code such that cultural funding grants cannot be used to advance political agendas.

But there is still work to be done. All city departments are required to be trained in rigorously enforcing our new policies, and there is a mandatory review of the new policy each council term to ensure it works.

People from all over the world settle in Toronto for many reasons.

Whether the lesson can be found in Christie Pits or in recent civic parades, we must all work together to fight bigotry and discrimination.