Neo-Nazi supporter loses teaching ticket Decision penalizes Mississauga teacher Paul Fromm for conduct outside of classroom By Brett Clarkson, SUN MEDIA Paul Fromm has long held he should be able to non-violently express what he calls his political views outside the classroom. (Sun File Photo) A former Mississauga teacher described as a 'senior player' in the neo-Nazi movement in Canada has had his teaching certificate revoked. Paul Fromm, who was fired from his teaching post by the Peel District School Board in 1997, was stripped of his certificate by an Ontario College of Teachers disciplinary panel last week on Oct. 31, a full ten years after his last teaching gig. Through the decades since the early 1970s, Fromm has been in and out of the media spotlight for his association with some of North America's most notorious racist groups. In 1992 a videotape obtained by the Toronto Sun showed Fromm, flanked by a Nazi swastika, speaking to a crowd of racists at a Heritage Front meeting. The tape fuelled renewed debate that Fromm should be canned for his viewpoints. At the time Fromm was teaching English at Applewood Heights Secondary School in Mississauga, a school comprised of many visible minority students. He was fired by the board in 1997 after being moved to an adult learning centre. The allegations set out in the hearing against Fromm include an incident filed by a local news station in 1991, when Fromm yelled 'scalp him!' to native activist Rodney Bobiwash at a City Hall meeting about race relations. The decision is significant because it penalizes Fromm for his conduct outside of the classroom. Fromm has long held he should be able to non-violently express what he calls his political views outside the classroom. Fromm, who represented himself in the hearing, has the option of appealing to a divisional court. The disciplinary panel took a dim view on this, and noted in its judgment that Fromm, even if was a competent teacher, holds views which are 'contrary to the values of the profession and the education system,' and had lost the trust of the community due to his high-profile affiliations with racist groups. 'The Member's conduct outside the classroom has detrimentally impacted the school community and has caused a loss of confidence in both Mr. Fromm as a teacher and in the Ontario school system,' the judgment reads. Critics of Fromm were relieved but said the decision should've been made years ago. 'The fact that it has taken 15 years to come to completion is not shall we say, reassuring, but it's done,' said Bernie Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, describing Fromm as a 'senior player on the neo-Nazi playing field in Canada. 'You cannot take off your cloak of racism and park it at the classroom door,' Farber said. 'It's as simple as that. You attend Hitler's birthday parties, you attend neo-Nazi and white supremacist rallies, and then the next morning you come to school, and you pretend everything is okay? If I was a parent of students of colour or a parent of a Jewish student, I would not feel that a person like Paul Fromm would treat my child fairly.' Ontario College of Teachers spokesman Brian Jamieson said the revocation was made in 'best interest of education across Ontario.'