Media coverage, social media increased tension around TDSB field trip, report says

A new report that examines a field trip students took to an Indigenous rights protest in downtown Toronto last fall has found that while there were some valid concerns about both procedure and the emotional wellbeing of some Jewish children involved, many problems flagged about the event were overblown due to media coverage and social media reaction.

The report, released Wednesday and written for the provincial government by former Ontario civil servant Patrick Case, looked into the field trip some Toronto District School Board (TDSB) students took to the Grassy Narrows River Run held in Toronto on Sept. 18, 2024.

The event was intended as a gathering to demand the province address mercury contamination in Grassy Narrows First Nation — but the bulk of the media coverage and social media outrage connected to the event ended up centring on students experiencing expressions of solidarity with Palestinian communities made over the course of the day.

"Despite the fact that the TDSB failed to comply with its own policy and procedure that are intended to ensure student safety … there was no evidence that 'students were forced to participate in a political protest,' nor was students' physical safety compromised," Case wrote.

"That said, the emotional safety of some Jewish students was compromised. Teachers and principals should be more consciously anticipatory with regard to proposed field trips and clearly communicate with parents."

Event 'unrecognizable' through social media lens

Case wrote that over the course of many interviews conducted as part of his investigation, many students and parents noted the role social media and established media played in fanning "the flames of outrage" linked to the event.

"Students and teachers almost universally did not recognize the event that they attended from the depictions displayed on social media or in mass market publications," he said.

According to students Case interviewed, it was during open mic speeches for part of the event that someone on stage encouraged the crowd to repeat the chant: "From Turtle Island, to Palestine, occupation is a crime" for about 30 seconds to a minute.

Out of the 19 TDSB schools that had groups attend, five reported hearing this chant, the report says, noting that the audio equipment present wasn't powerful enough to be clear for everyone.

Case also noted another instance where a person who wasn't associated with the rally or the TDSB chanted "from Turtle Island, to Palestine, occupation is a crime" into a megaphone, alongside one student who said they believed they heard the chant: "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

The report also notes that dozens of the estimated 8,000 people who attended the event wore things like keffiyehs, pro-Palestinian watermelon insignias and buttons or stickers with messages like "I'm a proud anti-Zionist" and "Free Palestine."

Students from two schools also reported seeing a button that said "Zionism Kills," which the report says they "viewed as expressing antisemitism."

"Despite the lack of a threat to students' physical safety, I acknowledge that some students reported feeling emotionally unsafe, uncomfortable or as though they didn't belong at the Grassy Narrows River Run," Case wrote.

TDSB taking action, board says

In a statement on Wednesday, the TSDB said it has received the report and taken action.

"Following the field trip, we strengthened our excursion approvals process and provided clear direction to schools regarding field trips. In the fall, Trustees requested an expedited review of TDSB's excursion policy and procedure, and it will be informed by the report's recommendations," the TDSB said.

New Education Minister Paul Calandra told reporters on Wednesday that the TDSB didn't follow its own rules.

"Had the board just simply followed the procedures that it had already put in place for approving trips like this, then maybe they would not have been in the position that they were in," Calandra said.

Toronto Palestinian Families — a group that says its goal is to ensure safety for children in TDSB schools alongside a right to express Palestinian identity and lived experiences — told CBC News in a statement the way the TDSB responded to this incident "caused real harm," both to Palestinian students and families as well as Indigenous communities whose voices were pushed to the sidelines.

"The report affirms what many in our community already know: expressions of Palestinian identity and solidarity are too often met with suspicion or erasure," the statement reads.

Safdar Abidi's daughter was in Grade 7 when she participated in the field trip. He said initially it was a "profound" experience for her, as she got to see Indigenous people advocating for their rights.

"She came away from it as a positive experience, and that's what she shared," he said. "And then the next day, there was a totally different spin on it — and it started changing, the narrative. It wasn't long before roughly five minutes of chanting out of an eight-hour day became the prevailing narrative from the event. And that took over everything."

The voices of people who were standing up for both Grassy Narrows' rights and Palestinian land rights were "completely minimized" in this instance because the TDSB felt under pressure to respond quickly "because of the threat of being considered antisemetic," he said.

Abidi, whose family is not Palestinian, said both the TDSB and the provincial government need to make sure not to "give supremacy" to one group over another, nor to privilege one group's grief over another. 

Conversely, Michelle Stock, vice president for Ontario at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said in a statement to CBC News Wednesday that she feels the report is disturbing because it dismisses the lived experience of Jewish students, families and educators. 

Stock said the report is "tone deaf' and "dangerous" because it sends the message that "antisemitic abuse doesn't count unless it turns violent."

"This distinction is offensive," she said. "It shows a shocking lack of understanding of trauma and effectively erases the psychological toll of targeted hate."