St. George’s private school in Vancouver, BC. Photo: Reuters / Andy Clark.

Up to 19 students from an exclusive private school in Vancouver, British Columbia, faced strong disciplinary action — including expulsion — after they were recently discovered making Nazi salutes on campus and mocking the Holocaust on a private online messaging channel, among other racist and antisemitic offenses.

The students attending the $45,000-per-year St. George’s School in the Canadian city were reported to school staff by another student who discovered their antisemitic posts on a direct message group earlier this month.

Samantha Wink — head of communications for the school — told The Algemeiner on Thursday that “a number of boys have been suspended and several have been expelled” because of their actions, which allegedly included making Nazi salutes on school grounds.

One anonymous student at the school who was quoted extensively by Canadian media outlets said that the group of boys come from various cultural backgrounds and had been sharing “mainly antisemitic and anti-black” content for at least the past two years.

St. George’s School immediately launched an internal investigation after the group was discovered.

Sgt. Steve Addison, a spokesman for the Vancouver Police Department, told The Algemeiner that a police investigation was also ongoing. “This file remains open,” Addison said on Thursday.

Canadian Jewish groups praised the swift action taken by the school authorities. “We commend St. George’s for taking this deeply offensive and racist behavior seriously,” Michael Mostyn — CEO of B’nai B’rith Canada, a Jewish advocacy organization — told The Algemeiner.

Mostyn said that the school “absolutely took the right action” in suspending or expelling the students.

“Canada is a country that prides itself on tolerance and diversity and to protect that, we need to uphold a zero tolerance policy on hate, bigotry, and discrimination,” he added.