Ontario Premier Doug Ford has called a Toronto field trip that saw students involved with a downtown protest “disgraceful” and called for an urgent investigation, claiming his government will be “all over it.”
The Toronto District School Board has been under growing pressure after a field trip that saw students head to a day of action for the Grassy Narrows First Nation, whose community was impacted by mercury poisoning.
The board confirmed that a trip to the event was organized but said it had been planned as an “education experience” for students to listen to the experiences of Indigenous people.
The TDSB said the plan was not for students to take part in the protest itself.
At an unrelated event in Coburg, Ont., on Monday, Ford blasted the board for the way the trip played out — and accused some educators of planning to “indoctrinate” students.
“I think it’s disgraceful — you’re trying to indoctrinate our kids,” he said, claiming the protest had been a “Palestine rally” in Toronto.
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“I’ve said this about indoctrination for years. And I don’t want to paint a broad brush for all the teachers because it’s not all teachers, it’s a minority (of) teachers…. There needs to be an investigation and we’ll be all over this, and make sure people are held accountable.”
Ford also said he was concerned about some university professors, who he claimed were telling students that “Ontario’s privatizing health care and this and that.”
Education Minister Jill Dunlop said in a statement sent to Global News that she believed the school board had “clearly violated” the principle that public schools should “never be used as vehicles for political protest.”
“This action compromised the safety of our children and violated the trust of parents,” Dunlop said.
“Some teachers, along with others associated with this protest, have a history of promoting inflammatory, discriminatory, and hateful content. There is no place for this type of teaching in our classrooms.”
Dunlop reiterated Ford’s investigation comments — and said she wanted to see it wrap up as “quickly as possible.”
The TDSB has said it is reviewing its trip procedures and acknowledged the Grassy Narrows event had not gone as intended.
“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,” the TDSB said in a statement last week.
“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.”
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