To the English Montreal School Board,
We write to you as a diverse coalition of local groups and individuals such as Independent Jewish Voices Montreal, Families4Palestine, MTL Anti-Apartheid, Palestine Vivra, and Solidarité Sherbrooke Palestine among many others. It has recently come to light that the Marketing and Communications Manager, Michael (Mike) J. Cohen, who also serves as the official spokesperson for the EMSB, appears to hold a serious conflict of interest that is causing harm to students, their families, and the broader public.
CBC Montreal published a story reporting on the recent suspension of a Royal West Academy student for political speech on her private Instagram account; this student was punished because she criticized israel. Through this article, we were introduced to EMSB spokesperson Mike Cohen.
In his public capacity, Mr. Cohen is responsible for representing a diverse community of students and employees, many of whom have family ties to Palestine and israel. Yet, his public statements and actions have consistently revealed a one-sided political bias incompatible with his role.
On October 12, 2023, the EMSB’s communications office, under his direction, issued a statement expressing sympathy for Israeli victims of October 7. By that date, israel’s bombing campaign had already claimed the lives of hundreds of Palestinian civilians. The omission of any mention of Palestinian suffering sent a painful message to Palestinian, Arab and Muslim members of the EMSB community: that only israeli death is worth mourning.
Since October 2023, despite overwhelming international consensus, including from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and israel’s own B’Tselem, that israel’s actions in Gaza constitute crimes against humanity, the EMSB has yet to acknowledge the loss of tens of thousands of Palestinian lives.
Equally troubling are Mr. Cohen’s personal social media activities. In one example, on July 31, 2025, he publicly praised the president of Ben Gurion University, who boasted that over 7,000 of its students had joined the israeli military assault on Gaza. Considering that every school and university in Gaza has been destroyed by Israeli bombardment—a form of scholasticide—this endorsement is profoundly disturbing and incompatible with the values of any educational institution.
Mr. Cohen, who is publicly outspoken about his pro-israel stance, acted as the spokesperson and defended the decision to discriminatingly penalize a student for criticizing israel on her private social media. For this reason, we consider him unfit to continue as the spokesperson of the EMSB and call for his resignation or removal. We also demand that the EMSB publicly apologize to the suspended student for this flagrant violation of her right to free expression.
Additionally, the EMSB must reflect on its responsibilities toward Indigenous students. The suspended student’s Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) identity is central to understanding both her statement and the punitive response she faced. While the EMSB’s website features a territorial acknowledgment, the harsh punishment of a young Indigenous person for expressing grief and outrage on her private social media, demonstrates the same carceral logic that continues to marginalize Indigenous peoples across this country.
Call to Action 7 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission demands that the government eliminate educational and employment gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous “Canadians”. Yet, Royal West Academy’s disproportionate and unjustified actions risk jeopardizing an Indigenous student’s future—precisely the opposite of what reconciliation requires.
The EMSB now has a chance to course-correct. We call on the Board to:
- Publicly apologize to the student wrongfully suspended for exercising her right to free expression.
- Mandate anti-racism and anti-colonial training for all EMSB administrators and staff.
- The resignation or firing of Michael J Cohen from the EMSB.
- Empower each EMSB school to write, review, and annually update its own territorial acknowledgment.
Indigenous and Palestinian children alike deserve an education grounded in empathy, dignity, and fairness. These actions would be a meaningful first step toward repairing the harm done and ensuring that all students feel safe to speak their truths within EMSB schools.
Signed,