Infiltration of Malign Propagandists at Ontario School Boards : Changing the Dial on Public Education

"We have some boards that are working very well -- they're focused on the main mission, and there are boards where I have trustees who think that they're supposed to be writing curriculum, trustees who think that it is their job to mediate global conflicts."

"What I want trustees to do is to focus on putting the resources that we provide them ... into educating our kids. Teachers shouldn't have to be going to Dollarama to buy pencil cases or crayons for their classes, and, when boards take trips and waste money and do things that is not in their mandate, I think parents rightfully get upset."

"Teachers get even more upset, and it's time for the Ministry of Education to step up to the challenge and take its responsibility a bit more seriously."

Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra

 

"This is not education reform, it's authoritarianism cloaked in the language of accountability, designed to deflect blame, suppress dissenting voices and tighten political control over a public education system this government has failed to adequately fund."

Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario

 

"The Toronto District School Board controversially embraced “anti-Palestinian racism” policies in 2024, a move that Jewish activists say puts the country’s largest school board on a collision course with its own antisemitism policy — and offers a case study of a broader, divisive discussion unfolding across Canada."

"'Jewish children are being victimized in our schools at unprecedented rates, and the TDSB response has been to actively work towards the exclusion of Jewish identity in schools', TDSB parent Aaron Kucharczuk told National Post. Kucharczuk is part of a growing coalition of community groups worried about the TDSB’s support for a term they say advocates removing guardrails protecting Jewish students."

"The most popular definition of anti-Palestinian racism (APR) — created by the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA) in 2022 — defines the term as “a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes or dehumanizes Palestinians.” Examples of such discrimination include failing to acknowledge Palestinians as an indigenous group to the region and “defaming” activists with accusations of antisemitism or being “a terrorist threat/sympathizer.”

"The neighbouring Peel District School Board has used the ACLA’s precise definition, as have the Thames Valley District School Board and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, according to documents shared with the Post."

"Claims that Jews are overreacting to or politicizing the anti-Jewish hatred could come from a lack of understanding of the definition of antisemitism itself,” Deborah Lyons, Canada's envoy on antisemitism told the Post in a written statement. “It is needed now, more than ever, given that Canadian Jews — who make up only one per cent of the population — are the target of 70 per cent of all reported religiously motivated hate crimes."

Ari David Blaff, National Post 

Rally outside of the TDSB headquarters on Yonge Street on Tuesday Sept. 24, 2024. Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post

 

The Minister of Education for the Province of Ontario is preparing to place school boards under supervision and require more boards to place police officers in schools in response to the mass issues of dysfunction in some school boards supervising and approving of sponsored events within schools that are clearly political and canted toward support of 'pro-Palestinian' groups who have infiltrated the school narrative and have been influential in persuading for the use of propaganda to 'inform' school children with respect to a conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group, portraying the latter as freedom fighters and the former as 'oppressors' and genocidaires.

 

Social media video shows students on a field trip marching in a rally where the crowd’s chanting, “From Turtle Island to Palestine, occupation is a crime,” in Toronto on Sept. 18. Photo by @mayahoodblog /X

 

In the wake of warnings issued by the Education Ministry that boards are expected to focus on educating Ontario's children in the traditional hallmarks of civilized education revolving around literacy, science, nature, numeracy and history, the pushback by the boards and teachers' federations has impelled the Minister of Education to spell out in no uncertain terms that what currently prevails in Ontario schools is beyond the purview of the boards in their failure to promote learning, rather than propaganda.

 

In April it was announced that the province had appointed a supervisor over one school board with respect to financial "mismanagement", with an investigation launched of three others, actions that effectively served to place on boards "on notice". In one board four trustees spent $190,000 on an 'art buying' trip to Italy on the public dime. The reaction of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association was that appropriate processes must be in place to address inappropriate board activity, but that it was underfunding that was the culprit. 

"It would be helpful if these conversations included a discussion about the funding necessary to support students in Ontario in 2025-26. Let us be clear: the real issue here is that the system is under financial strain. We're always willing to engage in conversations about accountability." 

The proposed legislation would give the minister power to direct school boards to publicly post trustee, director of education and others' expenses publicly. The province would require school boards to implement a program for school resource officers if one was offered by local police services. Such programs are present on a voluntary basis at some school boards; others ended their programs when some students reported feelings of discomfort or intimidation, and some racialized communities raised their concerns.

 

According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, police presence and surveillance within schools made a disproportionate impact on Indigenous, Black and other racialized students: "Police in schools may subject Black and other racialized children, and particularly Black boys, to a higher level of surveillance that could ultimately significantly impact their mental health and education". Or, conversely, their presence could convince those that 'act out' to modify their behaviour to more accurately reflect civilized manners.

 

Citing increasing interest among “community voices,” Toronto District School Board trustees voted in June to enshrine anti-Palestinian racism within its broader anti-discrimination strategy. Photo by Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press/File 

"We've seen specifically in the city of Toronto, in the Toronto District School Board, they have wasted thousands of dollars trying to ascertain whether they should change the name of three schools, whereas at the exact same time they're telling me that they have to maybe close school pools down or they have to fire teachers."

"I firmly believe that having school resource officers in the classroom is extraordinarily important."

"I disagree with those who suggest that it's not ... I think it builds not only safety and security in a school, but also mutual respect."

Ontario Minister of Education