The Manitoba Public Schools Act is the legislation that governs public education in Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

Originally known as the Manitoba Schools Act, the legislation was passed by the government of Thomas Greenway

Thomas Greenway

For the American character actor , see Tom Greenway.Thomas Greenway was a politician, merchant and farmer. He served as the seventh Premier of Manitoba, Canada, from 1888 to 1900...

 in 1890 under highly controversial circumstances. The act abolished French as an official language in the province, and eliminated state funding for Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 schools. This provoked a national controversy known as the Manitoba school crisis, and led to a rise in French-Canadian nationalism.

This controversy was largely resolved after 1896, and French language rights were restored in the 1980s. The current administration of the act has no connection to its contentious origins.

External links

• Manitoba Public Schools Act (unofficial online version)