The Ford government has appointed Patrick Case to review the issues surrounding a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) field trip that turned into a protest last month.
On September 18, students from 15 Toronto schools attended a field trip to the Grassy Narrows River Run, a community event organized in support of the Grassy Narrows First Nation and their efforts to address decades-long mercury pollution in their community.
The TDSB said the excursion was intended to be an experience for “students to hear from Indigenous voices about the ongoing challenges faced by the people of Grassy Narrows.”
However, videos of the rally on social media show some demonstrators shouting pro-Palestinian chants, such as “From Turtle Island to Palestine, occupation is a crime.”
Turtle Island is the name that some Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking peoples use to refer to North America.
While school board officials apologized for the situation and said it would review its field trip policy and prioritize an investigation into the matter, Education Minister Jill Dunlop said announced the province would look into the situation after the TDSB “failed to take swift and decisive action on this matter.”
In a statement released Friday, Dunlop said the review is necessary to examine where gaps exist so that the TDSB can prevent similar issues from occurring in the future.
“The safety and well-being of students should always come first in our classrooms. Publicly funded schools should never be used as vehicles of political protest, ideology or discrimination,” said Dunlop. “Through this review, we are helping to ensure that schools across the province prioritize the health, safety and inclusion of all students and their learning environment.”
The TDSB has said they will cooperate fully with the investigation and welcomes the Ministry of Education’s support.
Case previously served as the Ministry of Education’s Chief Equity Officer and Assistant Deputy Minister of the Education Equity and Governance Secretariat from 2017- 2024 and was one of two reviewers appointed to undertake the 2017 review of the York Region District School Board.
Dunlop said she expects Case to deliver his report and recommendations “before the end of the year.”
