Kanchi Uttamchandani | Assistant News Editor
Featured image: Unauthorized copies of Your Ward News popped up around the Keele campus. | Amir Yazdanparast
The university is cracking down on the distribution of an anti-Semitic newspaper found at Keele campus.
Previously, the publication Your Ward News has received criticism for its sexist, racist and homophobic caricatures.
Members of the Israel Students Association, or ISA, discovered copies of the newspaper in Central Square and in the Lassonde Building.
ISA members then notified B’Nai Brith Canada, who alerted York administration.
York spokesperson Janice Walls maintains that York is committed to inclusivity and diversity.
“The university did not approve the display of this publication on newsstands on campus and is continuing to take the necessary steps to prevent it from being distributed on university property,” she says.
“Such a hate-inciting publication has no place at a multicultural university such as York. Moreover, Your Ward News was being inappropriately placed in campus newsstands, a space reserved for [approved] news publications,” says Aidan Fishman, Campus Advocacy Coordinator for B’nai Brith Canada.
Third-year political science student Ibrahem Alheyali agrees with the university’s decision.
“Honestly, I’m surprised that this paper actually has an audience. How does something like this continue to operate as a business?” he asks.
“We are unable to definitively quantify readership. However, the copies of Your Ward News in newsstands at Central Square appear to have been picked up fairly quickly by students,” says ISA Vice-President Ben Shachar.
“I first learned that our newspapers were being circulated at York when I was forwarded a link to an article which appeared on the B’nai Brith website,” says Your Ward News editor-in-chief James Sears.
“I have no idea which edition were disseminated on campus,” says Sears. “Since our newspapers are distributed by a combination of volunteers and private distribution companies, I can never know for sure where they are going to turn up.”
Earlier this year, the federal government ordered Canada Post to halt delivery of the publication.
