A September 18 school field trip has sparked controversy after teachers from the Toronto District School Board deceived parents and took students to an anti-Israel protest, something Ontario Premier Doug Ford called “disgusting.”

Originally, parents and guardians were told the trip would be an opportunity to “observe” a protest supporting the Grassy Narrows First Nation's efforts to end a mercury contamination crisis. “Students will not be participating in the rally itself; instead, they will observe and learn from the presentations and discussions,” a leaked permission slip said.

Instead, the demonstration turned out to be a pro-Hamas rally, which saw students in the midst of protesters chanting slogans against Israel, like “From Turtle Island to Palestine, occupation is a crime!”

On the permission slip it explicitly stated that “students will not be participating in rallies itself”

Then what is this? @tdsb your schools are now openly lying to parents and sending them to scream anti-Israel slogans with no understanding. @JillDunlop1 it’s time for action pic.twitter.com/C6Pytn8qjo

— Ariella (tortured poet version) (@ariellakimmel) September 19, 2024

“No racists, no peace!” was another chant.

A separate leaked email from teachers to parents showed how the activist teachers also asked “settler” students, presumably children of white and Jewish descent, to wear blue so they can be identified by others and included that media would be present at the event.

Premier Ford says "it's disgusting" that teachers from the Toronto District School Board brought students to an anti-Israel protest without parental permission. "Stick with teaching the kids geography, history, math, spelling."https://t.co/iAWKHLz6Mr pic.twitter.com/Xg8i2lXHWq

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) September 23, 2024

Premier Doug Ford had harsh criticism for the field trip when asked about the incident in a September 23 press conference while visiting Cobourg, Ontario.

“I think it’s disgraceful, you’re trying to indoctrinate our kids, they should be in a classroom learning about reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, the whole shebang,” Ford said. “But instead, the TDSB and these teachers want to bring them down to a rally, a Palestinian rally, it’s ridiculous.”

“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 the teachers — it’s a small minority of teachers,” the premier added. “It’s no different in our universities as well. Bad actors teaching our kids. Number one, you shouldn’t be teaching our kids.”

Ford suggested teachers should stick to, “teaching the kids geography, history, math, spelling. That’s what they need, they don’t need to be indoctrinated in some protest. It’s unacceptable.”

"We can't have our kids going to any protest": Premier Ford doubles down on his assertion that teachers taking kids to an anti-Israel protest was "disgusting," and says Education Minister Jill Dunlop is investigating the incident.https://t.co/iAWKHLz6Mr pic.twitter.com/XLpjm4SEtn

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) September 24, 2024

Education Minister Jill Dunlop is now investigating the incident, the premier said on Tuesday. 

“Our government firmly believes that publicly-funded schools and activities should never be used as vehicles for political protests,” Dunlop told the Toronto Sun. “This principle was clearly violated last week when several activist teachers took groups of young children, on a TDSB-sanctioned field trip, to a demonstration.”

“Some teachers, along with others associated with this protest, have a history of promoting inflammatory, discriminatory, and hateful content,” she said.