TORONTO (CBC) - Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday the province's school boards shouldn't be asking if students and their parents are in the country illegally.

McGuinty said when it comes to immigration status, there should be a "don't ask" policy in Ontario schools.

The Education Act says school boards must enrol students even if they're in the country illegally.

But a report for the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto says that's not always happening.

A researcher posing as an undocumented immigrant was denied a spot at several Toronto public and Catholic schools.

"That's not our policy as a government," McGuinty said at Queen's Park. "I think we should be accepting all children that come to our doors," he said.

The premier didn't respond to a question from reporters about whether he would tell school boards to stop asking about students' immigration status.

Navjeet Sidhu, the researcher who did the study, said the province's own rules are part of the problem.

Sidhu said school boards require the date of arrival in Canada of a student in order to get money for English as a second language programs from the province.

New Democratic Party MPP Cheri Di Novo said McGuinty should lay down the law with the school boards. "We need action on this file," she said, "right across the province."

Di Novo said the premier should tell school boards to stop discriminating against the children of illegal immigrants.

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