Civil Rights in Public Education www.CRIPEweb.org

Our Suggested Remedy

   It is a fundamental tenet of this Communication that a resolution to the existing violations of the Covenant lies in two alternative approaches:

1)  The Province could create a singular public system, open to all and without distinction, as exists in the present public system, with the resultant effect of eliminating the present inequality that exists under the provisions of the Ontario Education Act.

   It has become the view of a number of commentators and observers at this time that a singular public system with privilege or prejudice to no one would provide the most realistic and equitable solution to the present dilemma.

2)  The Province of Ontario could extend Government funding on an equal basis to all those religious/denominational groups with a substantial presence in Ontario and which are not currently subsidized by the Province so as to alleviate the present inequity that exists. Although such a structure would represent a solution to the present inequity, this option does not represent the most practicable resolution to the discriminatory aspects of the present situation.

   Given the fiscal restraints and budgetary constraints facing Federal and Provincial governments in Canada, it would be our judgement that this solution would not be financially viable at this time.

   It is also of significance that Canada has two official languages, English and French, and that elementary and secondary education is a right of each linguistic group. It is, therefore, noteworthy that the government of Ontario presently gives preferential treatment to the Roman Catholic faith group which results in the fact that the province presently has four publicly-funded school systems. In effect, any additional faith group that receives public funding must then accommodate the two language groups.

   It is further to be emphasized that Ontario is an extremely large province in Canada of more than one million square kilometers (larger than the area of France and Spain combined) and occupied by only some twelve million people.

   Indeed approximately 80% of the province's area is occupied by fewer than one person per square kilometer giving rise to a significant number of remote and small communities along northern highways and railway lines many of which, in north eastern Ontario in particular, have a substantial French-speaking population.

          In a 1962 decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, Mr. Justice Black delivered the opinion of the Court and observed:

  “When the power, prestige and financial support of government is placed behind a particular religious belief, the indirect coercive pressure upon religious minorities to conform to the prevailing officially approved religion is plain.”  “…a union of government and religion tends to destroy government and degrade religion.  The history of governmentally-established religion…(has shown)…that whenever government had allied itself with one particular form of religion, the inevitable result has been that it had incurred the hatred, disrespect and even contempt of those who held contrary beliefs.  That same history showed that many people had lost their respect for any religion that had relied upon the support of government to spread its faith.”