A recent Court of Queen’s Bench decision answers one question in a long-standing dispute between the local public and Catholic school divisions, but fails to answer a much broader one.
The court case over the elementary school in Theodore dates way back to 2003, when Yorkdale School division slated the school for closure. A group of Catholic parents with the blessing (so to speak) of the province formed the Theodore Roman Catholic School Division, bought the building, re-opened and welcomed its non-Catholic brethren with open arms and full funding. In fact, the percentage of Catholic students at the school has never risen above 39 per cent.
Justice Donald Layh’s decision leaves no doubt that the town and Province did an end-run around The Constitution to save the school.
Who can blame them, really? Losing a school can be a town-killer, so if it means sending your kids to a religious school instead of a public one and not having to bus them to another town, even a hard-core atheist might be inclined to put up with a little Bible-thumping.
Layh said The Constitution “does not provide a constitutional right to separate schools in Saskatchewan to receive provincial government funding respecting non-minority faith students.”
He also ruled the Saskatchewan Act “which provides constitutional protection against discrimination in the distribution of moneys payable to any class of school, only protects separate schools to the extent they admit students of the minority faith.”
Which brings me to the broader question of why the Province runs two parallel public school systems?
Historically, I get it. The constitutional protection for minority religion education rights dates to a time, 150 years ago to be precise, when, for all intents and purposes, there were two types of people in Canada, one type of Christian and another type of Christian. In some parts of Canada, one type of Christian was dominant, and in other parts the other type was.
So, in a negotiated compromise, they all agreed in local areas where the minority religion made up the majority, public funding of education would be guaranteed.
Of course, back then all schools were religious schools. Even when I went to school, the school on the other side of the ravine was not “the public school,” we called it “the protestant school.”
Fast forward to 2017 and and these distinctions are fading. And, while the public system is secular by legislation, we still pay for religious schools for the minority faith. Not all minority faiths, mind you, only the flavour of Christian deemed to be the minority in a given area.
Furthermore, the educational requirement for all schools was standardized some time ago. So-called “separate” schools teach the same curriculum as so-called “public” schools. The same math, the same history, the same science, the same English, the same geography. The only distinction, really, is one school has some religious iconography and a bit of praying and the other doesn’t.
For many people, deciding to which school they send their kids has become more a matter of preference or convenience. I might decide I can put up with a Lord’s Prayer here and a Rosary there because the Catholic school is across the street and the public one is on the other side of the highway.
Lots of other flavours of Christians, particularly evangelicals send their kids to Catholic school because they figure some religion is better than no religion.
Ultimately, though, public education has been largely secularized making having two systems redundant. And rightfully so; governments have no business playing favourites with religion. Furthermore, the second largest religious demographic in Canada is now non-religious people. And, let’s face it, these days even many of those who profess allegiance to a particular sect are far from devout.
Government lawyers are currently trying to find a way “to successfully manoeuvre around this court ruling” because Brad Wall thinks “the last thing we need to do is to resurrect this whole separate school question.”
I disagree, this is the perfect opportunity to resurrect that debate and rid public education of religion altogether. If people want their kids to have religious education they should do it at home, or in their churches where it belongs.
