Ontario’s largest school board is under fire after students at several schools were taken on a field trip where they appear to have ended up taking part in a protest held in downtown Toronto.
Students at a number of Toronto District School Board schools were given permission to head to a day of action for the people of Grassy Narrows First Nation on Wednesday, whose community river was impacted by years of mercury poisoning.
The board said a trip to view a protest by Grassy Narrows that had promised to attract thousands outside Queen’s Park was “an educational experience for students to hear from Indigenous voices about the ongoing challenges faced by the people of Grassy Narrows.”
Some parents and other groups, however, complained the trip veered away from education and into protest and activism.
“I’ve been to many protests in my life and if this was not a protest, I will eat my hat,” the mother of a child at an east Toronto school told Corus Entertainment’s AM 640 Radio.
(Global News, also owned by Corus, has agreed not to name the parent due to concerns about backlash.)
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“There were people in masks, people donning keffiyehs, showing signs about the Israel-Gaza war. This was a protest — and this is not the messaging that teachers put on information to parents about what they were doing.”
The school board itself admitted the event had not played out as expected and said an internal review would take place.
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“We understand that issues beyond the main focus of this event were raised and that some students may have been negatively impacted by what they saw and heard,” TDSB said in a statement.
“The TDSB was not aware that students would engage with any issues outside of the main focus… and we apologize for the harm that some students may have experienced as a result. At this time, we are supporting impacted students and their families.”
The field trip has been met with fierce criticism from some, and Ontario Education Minister Jill Dunlop has weighed in.
“I am deeply disappointed by yesterday’s events,” Dunlop wrote in a social media post.
“Compromising the security and safety of students is unacceptable. I expect TDSB to conduct a thorough review of the situation and ensure accountability with parents and students to prevent future incidents.”
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, a prominent Jewish group, also called for a detailed review to be launched by the school board.
“FSWC was immediately in communication with TDSB leadership, expressing outrage over this egregious violation of parental trust and the harm caused to students,” the group said in a statement Friday.
The TDSB said it remained committed to education on truth and reconciliation but would review its trip procedures. It also said that students should not “in general” be participating in protests as part of a school trip.