Toronto, ON – The Ontario government’s decision to take over four of its largest school boards marks a crucial turning point for public education in the province. While financial mismanagement has been named as the primary basis for this move – and is appropriate for the Catholic schools named – the deeper, more pressing issue at play is the rising concern over the promotion of far-left activism inside the the other two boards’ public classrooms, namely those of Toronto District School Board and Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.
For several years now, a growing number of parents, educators, and the wider community have watched with concern as Ontario’s public schools, particularly at the elementary level, appear to have veered off of their core mission of teaching academic basics. Instead, they have become incubators for divisive political agendas, often at the expense of fundamental learning. The Ford government’s intervention is not merely a financial oversight correction, but a necessary take-back of the educational mandate.
The concern goes well beyond financial accountability. It speaks to a culture of deliberate misconduct where school officials, driven by personal political views, appear to be actively shaping the social and political consciousness of children as young as kindergartners. This practice is grossly unethical and should be unequivocally deemed illegal. A child’s formative years in school should be focused on basic academics, critical thinking skills, perhaps even basic life skills – not to being indoctrinated into divisive political ideologies. The political views of teachers and school officials have no place whatsoever in a child’s education, especially when much of leftist activism is deeply offensive to a large part of the population – and is intended to be.
As Jamie Sarkonak aptly noted in the National Post, Ontario’s education curriculum has been “infected with Marxist propaganda.” This sentiment resonates with many who observe the growing emphasis on identity politics and a demented reinterpretation of history through a narrow lens. The Fraser Institute highlighted this concern, reporting that “Canadian parents don’t want schools to push students into political activism.” This is not an abstract debate; it’s about the fundamental purpose of public education.
Activism Over Academics: A Disturbing Trend
The TDSB has gotten itself entangled in a number of recent controversies that prove the point. Beyond the allegations of rampant antisemitism in the wake of the brutal October 7 Islamic terror attacks against Israeli civilians, there has been a dedicated push to rename schools based on historical figures, a process driven by what many see as a politically charged revision of history rather than educational merit. Apparently, when Toronto school officials aren’t dragging children to pro-terrorist protests demanding they identify as “settlers,” they’re working overtime to dismantle and presumably “decolonize” schools by systematically erasing Canadian history.
Beyond these specific instances, there is evidence of wider trends. The TDSB’s own website for alternative elementary schools lists “social justice” and “community activism” as focuses for certain programs, such as The Grove Community School, and explicitly states that “Many of the subject areas are taught through the lens of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability” at City View Alternative Senior School, a middle school for children in grades 7 and 8. For its part in controversy, the OCDSB-governed Sir Robert Borden High School exposed its ideological bent by becoming infamous for playing a “palestinian” protest song during Remembrance Day ceremonies a little more than a year after the October 7th attacks, leaving students fairly distressed. The principal first denied doing so, then claimed he did it for “diversity and inclusion” reasons, telling students it was because it is usually only about “a white guy who has done something related to the military.”
Historically, such activism was almost exclusively taught at the post-secondary levels, but there has been a clear push by educators for the grooming of children at younger and younger ages, and not just in the disturbing realm of child-oriented sexuality. As Mike Ramsay argued in The Hub, “divisive DEI ideology is harming our students,” suggesting it’s time to re-evaluate its role in education.
Education Minister Paul Calandra framed the government’s intervention as a step toward financial propriety and a better long-term investment in local schools, but also as a way to “restore focus, rebuild trust and put students first.” This move, coupled with Calandra’s previous remarks about teachers and schools pushing their political biases, demonstrates something that has been sadly missing from public school education for some time – the desire to put children’s needs ahead of the educators’.
This is an overdue, but welcome step in the right direction, and it would be wonderful to see the conditioning and activism tossed out with all the mismanagement. Perhaps a good follow-up would be introduce legislation or amendments to prevent this behaviour moving forward..
- 604 News.
