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Research
Notes
Introduction
My name is Renton
Patterson. I am the president of Civil Rights in Public Education, Inc., a
grass-roots human rights advocacy group that has been monitoring the school
funding policies of Ontario governments for some 20 years. All four
publicly-funded school systems in Ontario will face difficult school closure
choices in the coming years as the school-age population declines. Such
school closures, especially in small communities, will either bring social
discord or very expensive solutions.
The solution, as
we see it, is for there to be only one publicly-funded school system for
each of the English and French language, which means the elimination of the
public funding for the Roman Catholic separate school systems – both English
and French
In a
nutshell,
Civil Rights in
Public Education, Inc. (CRIPE) is an organization composed of citizens of
differing backgrounds, living in more than 155 communities across Ontario,
committed to one strong public education system, which offers neither
privilege nor prejudice to anyone.
Our aims are:
-- To serve as advocates for civil rights in public education so that the
public is informed about the issue of publicly-funded separate schools.
-- To hasten the day when Ontario's education policy recognizes the dignity
and worth of all children, their right to equality, and their right to
freedom from religious discrimination.
Our involvement in
the school issue has resulted in extensive research, and we have found that
there is a great deal of misinformation out there. To counter this,
I will send you – along with
others - a "CRIPE Research Note" once a week with some item of information
on the publicly-funded separate-school issue. The message will be no longer
than one page, but an expansion of the message will be provided in an
attachment if you care to read the details. I hope through the information
I can provide, that you will become either a better-informed advocate for
one public school system in Ontario (for each of the two languages), or at
least a better-informed participant in any debate that may arise.
Research
Notes:
1
How and why we have a Roman Catholic
separate school system
2
The constitution does not prevent the
abolition of separate schools
3
Why did Quebec opt for a constitutional
amendment?
4
The Supreme Court Decision on Bill 30
5
Full Funding versus No Funding
6
Political Suicide? Where’s the proof?
7
Newfoundland’s school consolidation
8
Quebec’s change to Linguistic Schools
9
Ontario province-wide School Referendum
10
Concerns of Roman Catholic Educators
11
The United Nations Submissions
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