Government-funded religious schools in Canada

Ontario

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History:

Early in the 19th century, various religious and charitable groups began to establish schools in Canada. By the middle of that century, colonial governments were faced with a Catholic minority in Ontario who didn't want their children learning Protestant beliefs, and a Protestant minority in Quebec who didn't want their children being exposed to Roman Catholic beliefs. So the governments of Upper and Lower Canada -- now called Ontario and Quebec -- established dual school systems in each province: one Protestant and the other Catholic. Section 93 the Constitution Act of 1867, guaranteed that the two government-funded school systems would continue.

During the second half of the 20th century, the Protestant school system in Ontario gradually became secular. The author can recall from the late 1940s morning Protestant prayers and school assemblies with sermons by visiting Protestant ministers. He recalls reading newspaper advertisements during the early 1960s in the Kingston ON paper seeking "Protestant music teachers." These were placed by rural school boards that hadn't quite wrapped their mind around accepting the transition from Protestant-based to secular-based schooling.

Prior to 1985, the Ontario Government only funded elementary Roman Catholic separate schools. In that year as his last act before retiring, premier Bill Davis (Conservative) extended full funding to Catholic high schools. This was a very controversial move that caused a loss of voter support for the Conservative party at the time. Schools run by other religious groups continued to receive no funding at all.

In 1999, the United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled that the Ontario system was religiously discriminatory. They suggested that:

By 2007 of the approximately 2.2 million students in Ontario's elementary and high schools:

Attempts to change the system:

On 2007-AUG-27, representatives of the Armenian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh communities formed the Education Fairness Network (EFN). They asked the Ontario government to fund all faith-based schools that met provincial standards. Howard English, a spokesperson for EFN and the United Jewish Appeal Federation of greater Toronto said:

"The current situation is unfair and indefensible. When one uses the term public education, we're not talking about a secular system, we're talking about a system that already includes about 650,000 faith-based students who go to Catholic schools. We're saying that it's unjust to provide funding for one faith-based system that meets provincial standards while keeping other students out. These schools believe very strongly that a faith-based system would reflect the diversity of 21st-century Ontario." ₁

Colleen Schenk, vice-president and spokesperson for the Ontario Public School Boards Association (OPSBA) opposes the extension of funding for either faith-based or secular private schools in Ontario. She said: "We feel that it's very divisive," She referred to the creation of "silos" where people of different faiths focus on their differences. In contrast, the OPSBA feels that public education in multi-cultural provinces like Ontario helps to unite students. ₁ Southern Ontario has been described as the most religiously diverse region of any country in the world.

Elaine MacNeil, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) said:

"There's a fair bit of worry among teachers about what all this controversy might mean for us down the road, and our members do not support funding private schools. ... We'll do whatever we have to do to protect our system from any challenge to our constitutional rights." ₆

The conflict, leading up to the 2007 Ontario election:

An election is scheduled for 2007-OCT-10. The topic of extending funding to all faith-based schools dominated the first few weeks of campaigning.

"... drive a wedge between ethnic voters and their beloved Liberals. It would undermine the government's claim on its proudest and most legitimate area of achievement, that of public education. ... It would create, in secular, small-l liberal Ontario, the same solid religious conservative base that brought George W. Bush and his allies to power in the United States." ₁₂

Unfortunately, for Tory and the PCs, the issue of faith-based school funding was a major political disaster that snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory.

The debate led in many different directions:

"... sees no choice but to abandon the policy of supporting worthy candidates in all parties. Instead, we will support only the candidates of the small, centrist, pro-people Family Coalition Party. The situation is so bad that it would be inexcusable for us to do otherwise. ... the NDP and the Greens are constitutionally committed to a pro-death, anti-human philosophy. ... The leaders of the Ontario Liberal and the Progressive Conservative parties have now also made it impossible for family-minded Canadians to vote for them. ₃

He took a swipe at the federal Liberal Party that:

"... from Pierre Trudeau (1968-1984) to Paul Martin (2004-2006), mocked human Reason, Tradition and Religion with anti-family policies sanctioning contraception, divorce, pornography and same-sex ‘marriage,’ matched only by their pro-death abortion and embryonic stem-cell legislation.

(Religious conservatives often place the word "marriage" in "same-sex marriage" in quotation marks to denigrate same-sex couples and indicate that they consider same-sex marriage to be a false form of quasi-marriage.)

Fr. De Valk rejected the Tory plan to fund faith-based schools because it would:

"... bring those schools under the complete control of the Ontario Ministry of Education, which means adopting its same sex and other propaganda courses."  ₃

"public unease with Muslims and Islam, blatant in the first instance, implicit yet not at all that hidden in the second. ... Now Protestant, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh and other faith schools may pay the price for fear of Muslim schools being funded. ... it is strange to argue that funding 675,000 students in Ontario Catholic schools has not destroyed the public system but funding another 53,000 would. Implicit in that argument is the notion that Catholics, whom we didn't trust at one time, are now acceptable but Jews, Hindus and Sikhs are not. Or that they all are but Muslims are not. Opposition to abortion, gay marriage and women priests from Catholics can be tolerated, but not from orthodox Jews, Muslims and others."

Poll results:

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. Jennifer Wilson, "Faith-based schools," CBC News, 2007-SEP-17, at: http://www.cbc.ca/
2. Kristin Roshowy, "Ontario Votes," The Toronto Star, 2007-OCT-08, Page A15.
3. Fr. Alphonse de Valk, "Ontario needs the Family Coalition Party," Catholic Insight, 2007-JUL/AUG issue, at: http://catholicinsight.com/
4. HaroonSiddiqui, "Ontario democracy fails faith-based test of maturity," The Toronto Star, 2007-OCT-07, at: http://www.thestar.com/
5. Gerald Vandezande, "Fairness and faith-based funding," The Toronto Star, 2007-OCT-03, at: http://www.thestar.com/
6. Louise Brown, "Catholic schools feel fallout of Tory's idea," The Toronto Star, 2007-OCT-08, at: http://www.thestar.com/
7. Steve Rennie & Sean Patrick Sullivan, "Conservatives divided on faith-based schools," The Canadian Press, 2007-OCT-08, at: http://www.thestar.com/
8. "Faith-Based Funding A Clear Loser For John Tory, But Desire For Change Buttresses Conservatives. Lack Of Faith In McGuinty’s Leadership VS Tory’s Support For Faith-Based School Funding Weigh On Voters Support," Ipsos Reid, 2007-SEP-10, at: http://www.ipsos-na.com  Full access requires subscription.
9. Jennifer Wilson, "Faith-based schools," CBC News, 2007-SEP-17, at: http://www.cbc.ca/
10. "Ontarians divided over proposal to extend public funding to all religious schools," Environics, 2007-SEP-13, at: http://erg.environics.net/
11. Rob Ferguson, "Go to one public system, panel says," The Toronto Star. 2007-OCT-08, at: http://www.thestar.com/
12. Jeffery Ewener, "Religious right and wrong," The Toronto Star, 2007-OCT-10, Page AA8.  Online at: http://www.thestar.com/

Copyright © 2007 & 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally posted: 2007-OCT-08
Latest update: 2008-JAN-31
Author: B.A. Robinson