Don’t run from Grassy Narrows and the politics that obscure it

There’s no such thing as neutral education. Education either functions as an instrument to bring about conformity or freedom.- Paulo Friere, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

 

Educators should watch their backs. As the horrors of Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon grow by the day, it doesn’t take much to prickle the skin of those who ignore Israel’s atrocities throughout the Middle East. They have the ear of politicians who worry about causing a fuss.

 

Late in October, the York Region DSB pulled a 5-minute reading from the Qur’an after officials got wind of its inclusion in a field trip to the Baitul Islam Mosque in Vaughan. What was supposed to be an exhibition of immense contributions of Islam to science and mathematics was marred by hostility and over-reaction. Board director Bill Cober, assured the community that there would be no religious instruction or praying, but that, “Sadly, we have seen some comments of Islamophobia related to this exhibit, as well as online comments that are both antisemitic and Islamophobic.”

 

The Grassy Narrows River Run

Better known and more disturbing is the Toronto DSB’s emergency descent from leadership over a field trip to the Grassy Narrows River Run rally on September 18.

The roughly 8 000 people in attendance demanded, once again, that the Ford government stop Dryden’s pulp mill from dumping effluent into the Grassy Narrows’ Wabigoon River in northwestern Ontario which turns the neurotoxin mercury into even more poisonous methylmercury making the water unfit to drink and the fish unfit to eat. This has been an ever-present disaster since the 1960’s and 70’s when the Dryden Pulp and Paper Company dumped 11 000 kilograms of mercury into the English-Wabigoon river system. Indigenous people of the area around Grassy Narrows suffered from mercury poisoning affecting the neurological development of fetuses as well as from numbness, loss of co-ordination, trembling and other neuromuscular problems in others. The social dislocation that accompanied the loss of a food source, water and livelihood, saw violent deaths increase by 8 times as well as psychiatric and personality changes associated with mercury poisoning. While mercury levels are lower today, there is still enough mercury in the water to affect unborn babies.

Grassy Narrows First Nation Chief Rudy Turtle has called for more funds to be put toward specialized education, counselling and compensation for the people affected. He’s called on the Ford government to stop issuing mining permits in the area. You can well imagine his reaction, when Doug Ford, with an eye firmly fixed on northern mining development, flipped the topic, days later, from Grassy Narrows to what he calculated was a pro-Palestinian field trip:

“It’s disgraceful. You’re trying to indoctrinate our kids. They should be in the classroom learning about reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, the whole shebang, but instead, the TDSB and these teachers want to bring them down to a rally, a Palestinian rally, and it’s ridiculous.” Leaning on an old sexist trope, he told teachers to “stick with your knitting:” just do the job they’re paid for – however the Ministry defines it that day- and keep their heads down. The Premier likes to complain that educators are indoctrinating students, whether over Palestine, gender issues or privatizing health care in the province.

Contrary to Doug Ford’s cynical misrepresentation, Chief Turtle and those attending the rally want the government to do something about the  “chemicals that poison Grassy Narrows people, including our babies and children.” To date, he said: “Ford’s silence on the ongoing poisoning of Grassy Narrows is deafening.” As for the pro-Palestinian demonstrators attending the rally, he told me that it was open to anyone who wanted to be there, emphasizing that the truth should be told about Grassy Narrows and that rallies are peaceful. Palestinians and Indigenous peoples were fighting for land that hadn’t been surrendered – and in the case of Grassy Narrows, to be pollution-free.

 

The rally’s political aftermath

The demands of the Indigenous people of Grassy Narrows were drowned out by the poisonous uproar of recrimination and knee-jerk apology that followed reports of students from 15-20 TDSB schools walking up the street while some demonstrators according to reports I heard – not students – chanted: “From Turtle Island to Palestine, occupation is a crime.” Clearly a bridge too far for some like Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre (FSWC) and Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) both of which condemned the demonstration while saying hardly anything about its real purpose. The Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation (CAEF) offered $10 000 for information leading to discipline for educators who might be responsible “for this inappropriate, antisemitic, diversion from educational objectives.” Putting the cart firmly before the horse, Minister of Education Jill Dunlop and TDSB acting director Louise Sirisko apologized for the incident before finding out what happened, then promised a thorough investigation. That wasn’t enough for the Tories who elbowed in and put retired Assistant Deputy Minister Pat Case in charge of a government probe into what the premier had already declared was a disgrace.

This is mighty curious. When there was a rash of violent deaths and injuries of students in and around TDSB schools in 2022 and 2023, the Ministry didn’t suddenly pop up with an investigation –  and maybe more money for resources. It left the Board to deal with the worried parents who came to meetings looking for answers to questions about their kids’ safety. When York Memorial CI was pretty much under siege from unruly students and outsiders, it took a march by other students to push the Board to act; but there was not even a hint that there might be an investigation by the Ministry so concerned with students’ safety and wellbeing. No, it took a politically unfortunate field trip to catch Doug Ford’s attention, something I think he saw as an opportunity to support pro-Zionist constituents in the lead-up to an early election next spring.

After all, he was quick off the mark last year condemning what he characterized as “hate rallies” protesting Israel’s campaign of flattening Gaza, bombing civilian targets like hospitals, schools and residences and blocking food and aid from reaching those trapped inside its barriers. And it was the Premier who issued a press release marking the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack with heartfelt sympathy for the families in Israel and Ontario who were hit hard by tragedy. Yet not a word for the 42 000 Gazans killed, up to that point, in the ensuing genocide. Must have slipped his mind.

It’s clear where Doug Ford stands on the issue of the genocide in Gaza. What’s equally obvious is his political calculation regarding the government response to what really should have been a local issue. There’s the pity as the TDSB pretty much caved in to the Ford government. True, there was little it could do; after all the Ministry of Education can shutter the Board if it wants. But some show of resolve, I expect, would have been welcome to people in the community: Palestinian, Muslim, Indigenous, South Asian, East Asian, LatinX and Black families and really anyone else concerned with diversity, equity and inclusion tenets of the TDSB. A statement along the lines of: “Look, we are the locally elected school board and are quite capable to look into an issue about one field trip.” But all Board members attending the September 25, 2024 Special Meeting chose to acquiesce and support an investigation conducted by a government, led by a premier who dismisses opposition by tens of thousands of diverse people across Canada as “hate rallies.”

So, why would the TDSB reach out to the same government for guidance to handle the local effects of trouble elsewhere in the world? Sure, as acting Board chair Neethan Shan said “Geopolitical conflicts are not necessarily things that are just happening somewhere far away — they have real consequences on many families in our system.” It makes some sense if Board trustees are thinking: “Doug Ford wants to carry the flag on this problem, let him go on record with how to deal with it.” But I doubt parents and educators really want to hear the answer. It’s been clear from the moment, in 2018, when the Tories packed in the writing team for the Indigenous curriculum that didn’t suit their political needs, Doug Ford knows who to support. He will push aside anything he considers to be irrelevant nonsense that gets in the way. Asking the question is just an invitation for the government to say: “Pull back your focus on equity, diversity and inclusion and stick to arithmetic. Don’t raise expectations.” It’s common sense for Tories and leads to silence for school boards like he TDSB.

The Ministry of Education has been mum about the scope of the investigation – despite my efforts to wangle a bit of information from it. What is the scope of the investigation? Is it just going to examine field trip policies and procedures? Will investigators be looking for explanations from teachers who took their classes to the demonstration, all with signed field trip forms, explaining its educational aims? Will investigators provide notes for the TDSB officials to use in any follow-up investigation? Might these officials then go after teachers over their alleged conduct? Will it affirm or refute loaded claims about the demonstration like “ to be completely clear, the antisemitism displayed was heinous “ Teachers who might have been involved with the trip are keeping an understandably low profile.

 

More to the eye than a field trip

Not surprisingly, there’s a lot more to this story than a field trip. There is a legitimate concern about increasing antisemitism along with anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia since the raid on Israeli settlements by Hamas on October 7, 2023, the deaths of 1 200 people and the abduction of 250 citizens. The flattening of Gaza, the slaughter of its people and denial of necessities for survival does not justify shots being fired at Jewish schools, a business being torched or any of the epithets directed towards Jewish people because some idiot assumes they are responsible for the actions of a government committing genocide.

Not surprising also, is that the destruction of Gaza has stirred political turmoil amongst TDSB trustees. Board staff stepped into it when they introduced an update for the “Combatting Hate and Racism: Student Learning Strategy” at the Program and School Services Committee on June 5. Responding to concerns of students and community members, they added anti-Palestinian racism (APR) as an example of an issue to include with existing strategies to address Anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, ableism, anti-Asian racism, homophobia, transphobia and antisemitism. Makes sense considering the federal government – no great friend of Palestinians – acknowledged “unprecedented levels of hate” since October 7, 2023 directed at Jewish, Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities in Canada. Noting an exponential increase in antisemitism over the past three years, Trustee Shelly Laskin asked staff why this wasn’t acknowledged in the report and what staff planned to do about it – a sentiment shared by other trustees. It’s too bad she didn’t mention the increase in hate directed towards Palestinians and others in Canada.

Trustee Alexandra Lulka Rotman went further, criticizing staff for introducing anti-Palestinian racism as a concept in the midst of such antisemitism, something she added will only politicize and polarize classrooms: “I am very concerned that approaching APR in this tense time of geopolitical conflict in such an obscure manner after listening to a small but loud group of agitators without data or public consultation that it will again be weaponized to target Jewish and Israeli TDSB families moving forward as it has in the past.”¹

There is no evidence that staff members were taking sides. They were trying to cope with a terrible situation that leaves many students in the lurch – not heard, not considered. Her disdain in referring to “a small but loud group of agitators” says more about presumed power than grievance. After a motion was narrowly defeated, to include in the report the concept of anti-Israeli racism, Trustee Lulka Rotman accused opposing trustees of hypocrisy. They had voted against incorporating concerns of the Jewish community, she said. Significantly she added, “You’ve made it extremely clear that Jewish voices, the voices of over nine in ten Canadian Jews that support the fundamental core principle of Zionism as Jewish self-determination and Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state does not matter to the TDSB.” ² She was referring to the motion to receive the Combatting Hate and Racism report above and include a section on combatting the rise of antisemitism. By the way, the report was received with overwhelming support.

This lengthy exchange of motions and amendments followed an earlier attempt purportedly meant to deny politics a place in the Board’s classrooms. At the end of May, Trustees Dennis Hastings and Weidong Pei introduced a motion to the Board’s Governance and Policy Committee³ to limit what they perceived as political activities concerning TDSB schools. Though the motion was defeated in that committee, it’s worth taking a closer look. The trustees said that the Board should “prohibit public speakers and educational partners” from promoting “political views, political propaganda and/or hatred.” It should stop “TDSB staff from incorporating political activism into teaching practices.” The motion cited a book by Palestinian-American author, Rifk Ebeid: “Baba, what does my name mean?” as an example of the sort of book that should be removed from TDSB libraries, because it encourages children to draw a picture of, “Palestine from River to sea.” That was the only direct example the trustees gave of so-called political indoctrination of students and it is noteworthy that it about a Palestinian child’s experience.

In light of the noise around the field trip, I’ve heard that this motion might be re-introduced – under different political circumstances. If so it’s worth raising obvious questions: When have any related problems arisen in schools? What’s good versus bad content? Who decides what’s political, what’s propaganda? Are books, programmes and lesson plans to be vetted for unwelcome political content?

 

Politics in school

University of Ottawa professor, Sachin Maharaj told CBC News after the Ministry announced it would investigate the field trip, that it’s unrealistic to expect that schools should be politically neutral, “One of the purposes of schools has always been to socialize the next generation of kids into our modern societal values, which change over time. And so, we’re always taking some sort of political stance in our schools.” He told me that goals of schooling shift over time; we never would have seen Orange Shirt days years ago, nor anything acknowledging the lives of people in LGBTQ2S+ communities – something considered far too political, years ago. I’d add that Canada has been the site of a long, shameful history of anti-Jewish deeds such as quotas and restrictions to industries and universities. “None is too many,” was the answer of a senior government official in 1945 when asked how many Jews should be admitted to Canada. Any positive social change, takes work and education.

Professor Maharaj thinks that Doug Ford’s messages concerning back to basics education is a signal that equity and social justice work isn’t supported. This adds another dimension to the premier’s rant over the “Palestinian rally.” It puts teachers on the mat for fear that they might face discipline if they unwittingly teach something political- not approved by the highly political Ministry. It could also be a signal to teachers with less commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion that it’s just not very important.

Politics is pervasive in education as you can see from TDSB’s example. While the Board produces lots of resources for teachers and parents about the worlds of Black, Muslim, Jewish, Indigenous, LGBTQ, and South Asian, Asian and Chinese families, it dedicates a web page to the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre (FSWC) “Together we are stronger #Antisemitism #Antiracism”. If you check it out, you’ll currently see an interesting guidebook for “Jewish Heritage Month.” That’s all good, but searching through the maze of the TDSB website, I could see no other such page representing any other culture. What’s troubling though, is that the same page, in 2021, opened with “Let’s be Honest” and went on to explain to the layperson that certain criticisms of Israel -the state- are antisemitic. These included arguments that Israel conducts apartheid, commits ethnic cleansing or genocide. The page was taken down eventually, but the link to FSWC is still there along with its commitment to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism:

“ a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of Antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities”

This definition has been criticized by groups like Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) which considers it open-ended enough to allow for interpretations that include criticism of the state of Israel – as antisemitic: “ we believe that the battle against antisemitism is actually undermined when opposition to Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians is branded antisemitic.” The issue that Trustee Lulka Rotman points out above, that the principle of Zionism allied with Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state doesn’t matter to the TDSB, raises the fundamental question: is it antisemitic for students to hear “From Turtle Island to Palestine, occupation is a crime” at a rally for peoples whose lands have been taken through just such occupation? If so, this is the most bitter of ironies. If so, the daily land acknowledgement conducted in our schools is meaningless.

Educators need to help students understand the world as accurately and honestly as they can. They should hold firmly to the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion which currently underlie efforts to make Palestinian children equal to others needing consideration in these horrifying times. They shouldn’t have to look over their collective shoulders to make sure they haven’t offended anyone by exposing their students to information that follows these principles. Educators of all kinds should not be bending the knee to political bosses who declare their allegiance to any state currently busy eradicating people.

 

¹ Toronto District School Board, Special Meeting June 5, 2024 Time frame: 4:38

² Toronto District School Board Meeting June 19, 2024 Time frame 5:21

³ Toronto District School Governance and Policy Committee, Report No. 05, May 29, 2024 p.43