It happened on September 18, 2024, though the impact of it is still to be told. Teachers from fifteen schools in the Toronto District School Board brought their students (between 8 to 15 years old) to a protest on Toronto streets against mercury poisoning at an indigenous community called Grassy Narrows. While the stated purpose was to teach the children about issues that affect indigenous people with written promises made to parents that they would not be involved in the protest, the reality was quite different. The students became active participants with fists raised, carrying placards demanding justice. What became much worse was that the protest quickly morphed into an anti-Israel or pro-Palestinian protest, and students were seen marching with these protestors chanting anti-Israel slogans. It was the photo-opportunity for protesters to state that for 6 hours of their protest, they had children standing for their cause. The reaction from parents and the community against such use of children for pro-Palestinian politics was swift, and within a day of the protest, the Minister of Education waded into the crowd of voices condemning what was done.
You will hear more about this in the future, I am sure. But what struck me was the premise of the field trip that was purportedly hijacked for the pro-Palestinian cause. This was a protest called the “Grassy Narrows Run”. Not to be confused with something like the “Terry Fox Run” which was to raise awareness of the need for medical research, this “Run” was to demand justice with voices of anger and with placards and fists raised to demonstrate the point. The Bible warns us, “Do not associate with an angry man, lest you find a snare for your soul” (Proverbs 22:24). A few chapters later, the warning crystalizes into another declaration, “A man of anger stirs up strife and one given to anger causes much transgression” (Proverbs 29:22). Have you noticed? How easily it was for these very demonstrations of anger to be shifted to another political cause by pro-Palestinians, and how conveniently it was to put children in the midst of this became obvious on September 18th. A news article appearing a few days later asked, “Do we need to teach children to be angry? Do we need to put them in front as posters for our own rage?” We are appalled when think about using people as human shields in war. But we are not averse to putting children in the midst of our arguments or making them the audience (or even worse, the participants) of our many issues. And then, we reap the results of what Scriptures warns us against as we face increasing crime rates among youth – gun violence, swarming, murders, stabbings, or even lighting people on fire – all among children even as young as 12. Turn again to the Bible. Psalm 37:7 states clearly, “Cease anger; forsake wrath. Do not lose your temper. It leads only to evil.” We need to be convinced that “the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:20).
