Report says real message of Grassy Narrows rallies lost in fury over Pro-Palestine chants

You remember the Grassy Narrows River Run last September – right? Maybe not. It’s certainly possible you lost the story in the flames of outrage expressed about 535 Toronto DSB students attending the rallies and hearing chants like: “from Turtle Island to Palestine, occupation is a crime” and others by people in the area protesting the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre (FSWC) and Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) fulminated about the trip, while saying nothing about generations of death, suffering and social misery resulting from dumping mercury into the English Wabigoon River System back in the 1960’s and 70’s.

Grassy Narrows First Nation Chief Rudy Turtle had called on the Ford government to put more money into specialized education, counselling and compensation for the people affected and also to stop issuing mining permits in the area. That just isn’t on as far as the Tories are concerned and Ford wasted no time changing the subject from Grassy Narrows to condemning a political field trip by radical teachers – all while pandering to the pro-Israel lobby. How could someone with Ford’s level of cynicism miss the chance for a triple?

“It’s disgraceful,” he intoned. “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.”

The TDSB immediately caved in, apologizing for harm- if any – that might have been done. The Ford government called on retired Assistant Deputy Minister Pat Case to investigate – a curious choice for the incurious Tories, since Case has a long history of progressive education and human rights activism way back to his time as a trustee on the old Toronto Board.

Case released his report to the government at the end of December and it was made public a couple of weeks ago. He interviewed 146 parents, students, Indigenous people, TDSB staff, trustees, union officials and community members connected to the rallies. He read 73 submissions from people with an interest in the event. In light of the misinformation surrounding the rally, it’s worth noting what he actually found out about it.

Yes, parents signed permission forms for their kids to attend the River Run; no parent or guardian told him that their child was forced to attend without consent. While he noted that permission forms were inconsistent in the amount of information provided about the field trips, Case found that teachers all had contingency plans to ensure their students were safe.

No, students weren’t forced to participate in any way in any of the protests. Media reports like the one from Toronto Sun that students were told to wear blue to mark them as settlers or colonizers were false. Some teachers suggested that students wear something blue to represent clean water. Case noted “I find as a fact that media information was largely misleading.”  This was his complaint about media coverage in general – claims that students were pressured to engage in a rally that turned into and anti-Israel protest or given stickers like “Zionism kills” to wear. Coverage, he said, focused too much on claims like this and pro-Palestinian chants that took up about 5 minutes of an 8-hour rally. The important messages about Grassy Narrows were lost in the media furor.

This was, as field trips should be, a chance for kids to go beyond classroom teaching to experience something deeper related to the curriculum. It was also an opportunity for educators to meet the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call for educators to make an annual commitment to Aboriginal education issues and develop “intercultural understanding, empathy and mutual respect.” Despite Ford’s and other naysayers’ efforts to the contrary, this just might have happened.

It’s true that students were exposed ideas that, while not part of the River Run, might have been disturbing; would certainly need some explanation and follow up: chants like “From the river to sea, Palestine will be free” and buttons with messages like “Zionism Kills,” which some kids would regard as antisemitic. However, Case noted that most parents supported the field trip. Those who didn’t had strong feelings that they were lied to by TDSB staff, though he found no evidence this happened.

Pat Case made an important point about the way the TDSB dealt with the Premier’s rant and media fallout:

What is unfortunate is that, rather than seek facts before releasing a statement in response to the media coverage, the TDSB added fuel to the fire by apologizing for behaviours that were either exaggerated in social media or that did not in fact take place. Many parents and students evinced anger that the Board acted in this manner. Trustees and senior leaders relied on media articles and unverified social media posts. They did not do their due diligence and in that regard, failed their students and families, many of whom are upset that the apology contained in the school board’s statement was vague, and others who are upset that the board apologized at all.

The TDSB did not need to make a knee-jerk apology; it needed to find out what happened at the Grassy Narrows River Run and deal with it. Despite, the controversy, misinformation and speculation surrounding the event, there were and still are plenty of teachable moments, opportunities to delve into the context that gives rise to people chanting: “From river to see Palestine will be free.” Conflict exists and educators can use it to gradually help students make some sense of what is going on around them.