Separate school
Encyclopedia
In Canada, separate school refers to a particular type of school that has constitutional status in three provinces (Ontario
, Alberta
and Saskatchewan
) and statutory status in three territories (Northwest Territories
, Yukon
and Nunavut
). In these Canadian jurisdictions, a separate school is one operated by a civil authority—a separate school board—with a mandate enshrined in the Canadian Constitution (for the three provinces) or in federal statutes (for the three territories). In these six jurisdictions a civil electorate, composed of the members of the minority faith, elects separate school trustees according to the province's or territory's local authorities election legislation. These trustees are legally accountable to their electorate and to the provincial or territorial government. No church has a constitutional, legal, or proprietary interest in a separate school. Consequently, a separate school is not a parochial or private school, or a charter school
.
The constitutionally provided mandate of a separate school jurisdiction and of a separate school is to provide education in a school setting that the separate school board considers reflective of Roman Catholic (or, rarely, Protestant) theology, doctrine, and practices. This mandate can manifest itself in the Program of Studies and the curriculum, exercises and practices, and staffing. The limits of this mandate are determined by the application of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
, and judicial decisions.
The different experience in Ontario as compared to Alberta and Saskatchewan is principally the result of the same constitutional provisions having effect on settlement at different stages in Canadian history.
The Constitution of Canada does not establish separate school education as a natural right, or an unconditional right.
Only Protestants or Roman Catholics, whichever is the minority faith population compared to the other in a community, can consider the establishment of separate school education. The separate school establishment right is not available to citizens of any other faith (such as Jews, or Mormons, or Hindus, or Muslims). In addition, the minority faith must establish that they wish to leave the public school system and create a separate school system.
The Constitution Act, 1867
, provides that education is a matter of exclusive provincial jurisdiction, subject to the requirement that provincial laws relating to education must respect the rights to denominational and separate schools held by religious minorities prior to Confederation. The relevant provision for Ontario is s. 93(1) of the Constitution Act, 1867 as originally enacted. For Alberta and Saskatchewan, the relevant provision is s. 93(1), as amended by the Alberta Act
and the Saskatchewan Act, respectively.
Section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867 only applies to provinces, not territories. Instead, the right to separate schools is protected in the three territories by the federal Acts of Parliament which establish those three territories. The Northwest Territories Act, the Yukon Act and the Nunavut Act all provide that the territorial legislatures can legislate with respect to education, provided they respect the right of religious minorities (whether Protestant or Roman Catholic) to establish separate schools.
separate school jurisdiction in Ontario, the Burkevale Protestant Separate School, operated by the Penetanguishene Protestant Separate School Board
. In Ontario, this determination was largely made throughout the province by the time of Confederation.
The public school system in the province was historically Protestant but was gradually transformed into a secular public system. Prayer in public schools was discontinued in the early 1980s.
Since the 19th century, funding for the Roman Catholic separate school system was provided up to Grade 10 under the British North America (BNA) Act. In 1984 the government of Premier William Davis
extended full funding to include the last three (Grades 11–13 (OAC
)) years of Roman Catholic secondary schools after having rejected that proposal fifteen years earlier. The first funded academic year occurred in 1985–86, as grade 11, and one grade was added in each of the next two years.
The right to have a publicly-funded separate denominational school system continues to be guaranteed by Section 93 of the 1982 Constitution Act to Roman Catholics in Ontario.
A province-wide newspaper
survey
conducted between 1997 and 1999 in 45 dailies indicated that 79% of 7551 respondents in Ontario favoured a single public school system, but no widely supported movement to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 has developed.
The issue later came up in the Ontario general election, 2007
; however no changes to the law have been made as of May 2011.
(St. Albert Protestant Separate School District) and in the Town of St. Paul
(Glen Avon Protestant Separate School District). One anomaly of the system is that the town of Morinville, Alberta
has only a public Catholic high school (part of the Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division), and no secular or Protestant high schools of any kind.
In Alberta and Saskatchewan, there continues to be large areas of the province where separate school education has never been established. In these two provinces, there is a clear and well-known process for determining the wishes of the members of the minority faith.
In Alberta, for example, the geographic basis for separate school establishment is the underlying public school district. At any time, three or more residents, either Protestant or Roman Catholic, who believe that they are members of the minority faith locally, can initiate the process. A census must be conducted to confirm that they are, in fact, the minority faith locally. When the census confirms minority status, a meeting must be widely advertised. The purpose of meeting is to provide a venue at which all of the local members of the minority faith can debate the pros and cons of leaving the public school jurisdiction and creating a separate school district. At the end of the meeting, a vote may be held on the question of establishment.
If the majority of the minority vote in favour of establishment, the establishment becomes a fact. If the majority of the minority vote against establishment, it does not proceed. The process is civil, democratic, and binding on the minority of the minority. A decision at the meeting against establishment precludes a number of the minority faith who may have favoured establishment from continuing for themselves. (At the same time, any decision against establishment has no term: proponents can begin almost immediately to organize a subsequent effort.)
In Alberta, wherever a separate school system exists, individuals who are of the minority faith that established the separate school system must be residents, electors, and ratepayers of the separate school system (the Schmidt decision
). There is no way by which they could opt to be supporters of the public school system except by leaving the minority faith. In Saskatchewan and Ontario, members of the minority faith may choose to be supporters of the public school system, notwithstanding their faith.
This system of government for education, characterized by public school jurisdictions with (more or less) corresponding separate school jurisdictions, can be traced to the Battle of the Plains of Abraham
and the Treaty of Paris, 1763
.
, chiefly as a result of ethnic and religious tension between the (largely French-speaking) Roman Catholic population in Canada and the Protestant majority. The issue was a subject of debate at the 1864 Quebec Conference
and was finally resolved at the London Conference
of 1866 with a proposal to preserve the separate school systems in Quebec
and Ontario
. The way in which this agreement was written into the British North America Act, 1867 was to the effect that the condition of education in each colony (or territory) at the time it entered Confederation would be continued thereafter.
Consequently, there is no and never was separate school education in British Columbia
, New Brunswick
, Nova Scotia
, or Prince Edward Island
.
In the Quebec education system there were separate Protestant and Catholic school boards until 1998 when they were replaced with linguistically based secular school systems.
Newfoundland and Labrador
, both historically and currently, provide another interesting variant. At the time that colony entered Confederation (1949), there were no public schools as the term is usually understood. The schools of that colony were all organized on a confessional basis with separate denominational schools for Roman Catholics, Seventh-day Adventists
, Salvationists
, Pentecostals
, and an integrated stream, schooling the children of many members of so-called "mainstream" Protestant denominations. All these schools received grants from the provincial government, but locally the government ranged from parochial (owned and operated directly by a Church) to ownership and operation by a not-for-profit society. This system of confessional schools was abolished by constitutional amendment following a referendum
in 1997 and a single multidenominational Christian system was introduced to replace the previous streams. The constitutional amendment that created the current public school system also provided assurance that certain expressions of faith could continue to be manifested in the local public school itself, depending upon the sentiment of the local community. In public schools today, morning prayer and afternoon grace are not still performed daily. Religious Education is graded, along with other curricula on report cards three times annually. The system is multidenominational within Christianity, and four major religions are studied in grade 4-6 (Three of which are Hinduism, Islam and Judaism). There is only one private secular school in all of Newfoundland and Labrador, located in St. John's. The remainder of public schools throughout the province are Christian focused in their Religious Education. Another semi private nonsecular school exists in Churchill Falls.
and Manitoba
. In the former, the issue of separate schools aggravated tensions between anglophones and francophones, both Protestant and Catholic
. The ending of public support for separate schools in the latter province in the 1890s prompted a national crisis known as the Manitoba Schools Question
, and led to Pope Leo XIII
's papal encyclical Affari Vos.
Separate school rights have often been criticized as contrary to the spirit of official multiculturalism
, primarily, but not exclusively, because only adherents of the Protestant or Roman Catholic faith have these constitutional rights and only in some provinces and territories. In addition, where separate school systems exist, employees or prospective employees who are of the minority faith have more employment opportunities. (All other things being equal, a member of the minority faith can be employed by either the public board or by the separate board, while anyone else can be excluded from employment by the separate system.) On November 5, 1999 the United Nations
Human Rights Committee
condemned Canada and Ontario for having violated the equality provisions (Article 26) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
. The Committee restated its concerns on November 2, 2005, when it published its Concluding Observations regarding Canada's fifth periodic report under the Covenant. The Committee observed that Canada had failed to "adopt steps in order to eliminate discrimination on the basis of religion in the funding of schools in Ontario."
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
and Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
) and statutory status in three territories (Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
, Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
and Nunavut
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
). In these Canadian jurisdictions, a separate school is one operated by a civil authority—a separate school board—with a mandate enshrined in the Canadian Constitution (for the three provinces) or in federal statutes (for the three territories). In these six jurisdictions a civil electorate, composed of the members of the minority faith, elects separate school trustees according to the province's or territory's local authorities election legislation. These trustees are legally accountable to their electorate and to the provincial or territorial government. No church has a constitutional, legal, or proprietary interest in a separate school. Consequently, a separate school is not a parochial or private school, or a charter school
Charter school
Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter...
.
The constitutionally provided mandate of a separate school jurisdiction and of a separate school is to provide education in a school setting that the separate school board considers reflective of Roman Catholic (or, rarely, Protestant) theology, doctrine, and practices. This mandate can manifest itself in the Program of Studies and the curriculum, exercises and practices, and staffing. The limits of this mandate are determined by the application of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
, and judicial decisions.
The different experience in Ontario as compared to Alberta and Saskatchewan is principally the result of the same constitutional provisions having effect on settlement at different stages in Canadian history.
The Constitution of Canada does not establish separate school education as a natural right, or an unconditional right.
Only Protestants or Roman Catholics, whichever is the minority faith population compared to the other in a community, can consider the establishment of separate school education. The separate school establishment right is not available to citizens of any other faith (such as Jews, or Mormons, or Hindus, or Muslims). In addition, the minority faith must establish that they wish to leave the public school system and create a separate school system.
Constitutional and Statutory Basis for Separate Schools
The right to separate schools is provided by the Constitution of Canada in the three provinces of Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan, and by federal statute in the three territories, the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut.The Constitution Act, 1867
Constitution Act, 1867
The Constitution Act, 1867 , is a major part of Canada's Constitution. The Act created a federal dominion and defines much of the operation of the Government of Canada, including its federal structure, the House of Commons, the Senate, the justice system, and the taxation system...
, provides that education is a matter of exclusive provincial jurisdiction, subject to the requirement that provincial laws relating to education must respect the rights to denominational and separate schools held by religious minorities prior to Confederation. The relevant provision for Ontario is s. 93(1) of the Constitution Act, 1867 as originally enacted. For Alberta and Saskatchewan, the relevant provision is s. 93(1), as amended by the Alberta Act
Alberta Act
The Alberta Act, effective September 1, 1905, was the act of the Parliament of Canada that created the province of Alberta. The act is similar in nature to The Saskatchewan Act, which established the province of Saskatchewan at the same time...
and the Saskatchewan Act, respectively.
Section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867 only applies to provinces, not territories. Instead, the right to separate schools is protected in the three territories by the federal Acts of Parliament which establish those three territories. The Northwest Territories Act, the Yukon Act and the Nunavut Act all provide that the territorial legislatures can legislate with respect to education, provided they respect the right of religious minorities (whether Protestant or Roman Catholic) to establish separate schools.
Ontario
School boards funded by the province consist of 29 English Catholic and 8 French Catholic boards, as well as 35 non-denominational public school boards (31 English public, 4 French public). There is (also?) one ProtestantProtestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
separate school jurisdiction in Ontario, the Burkevale Protestant Separate School, operated by the Penetanguishene Protestant Separate School Board
Penetanguishene Protestant Separate School Board
Penetanguishene Protestant Separate School Board has its headquarters in Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada. The board consists of a single school, the Burkevale Protestant Separate School....
. In Ontario, this determination was largely made throughout the province by the time of Confederation.
The public school system in the province was historically Protestant but was gradually transformed into a secular public system. Prayer in public schools was discontinued in the early 1980s.
Since the 19th century, funding for the Roman Catholic separate school system was provided up to Grade 10 under the British North America (BNA) Act. In 1984 the government of Premier William Davis
Bill Davis
William Grenville "Bill" Davis, was the 18th Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the MPP for Peel in the 1959 provincial election where he was a backbencher in Leslie Frost's government. Under John Robarts, he was a cabinet minister overseeing the education...
extended full funding to include the last three (Grades 11–13 (OAC
Ontario Academic Credit
The Ontario Academic Credit or OAC was part of the curriculum codified by the Ontario Ministry of Education in Ontario Schools: Intermediate and Senior and its revisions. In common parlance, the term is used to describe the fifth high school year that used to exist in the province of...
)) years of Roman Catholic secondary schools after having rejected that proposal fifteen years earlier. The first funded academic year occurred in 1985–86, as grade 11, and one grade was added in each of the next two years.
The right to have a publicly-funded separate denominational school system continues to be guaranteed by Section 93 of the 1982 Constitution Act to Roman Catholics in Ontario.
A province-wide newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
survey
Statistical survey
Survey methodology is the field that studies surveys, that is, the sample of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies....
conducted between 1997 and 1999 in 45 dailies indicated that 79% of 7551 respondents in Ontario favoured a single public school system, but no widely supported movement to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 has developed.
The issue later came up in the Ontario general election, 2007
Ontario general election, 2007
The Ontario general election of 2007 was held on October 10, 2007 to elect members of the 39th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The Liberals under Dalton McGuinty won the election with a majority government, winning 71 out of a possible 107 seats with 42.2% of the popular...
; however no changes to the law have been made as of May 2011.
Alberta and Saskatchewan
In Alberta and Saskatchewan, the extent of separate school education is more limited, and Protestant separate schools are slightly more present. For example, in Alberta, about 40% of the land area of the province is included in separate school jurisdictions and there are two Protestant Separate School Districts, in the City of St. AlbertSt. Albert, Alberta
St. Albert is a suburban city in Alberta, located northwest of Edmonton, on the Sturgeon River. It was originally settled as a Métis community, and is now the second largest city in the Edmonton area. St...
(St. Albert Protestant Separate School District) and in the Town of St. Paul
St. Paul, Alberta
St. Paul is a town in east-central Alberta, Canada. It was formerly called St. Paul de Métis and was originally a French-Catholic settlement and mission to the Metis people....
(Glen Avon Protestant Separate School District). One anomaly of the system is that the town of Morinville, Alberta
Morinville, Alberta
Morinville is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located north of Edmonton on Highway 2.- History :Morinville was settled by Father Morin, an Oblate missionary, who brought many French settlers in the late 1800s, followed by several German pioneers—hence its many French and German families...
has only a public Catholic high school (part of the Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division), and no secular or Protestant high schools of any kind.
In Alberta and Saskatchewan, there continues to be large areas of the province where separate school education has never been established. In these two provinces, there is a clear and well-known process for determining the wishes of the members of the minority faith.
In Alberta, for example, the geographic basis for separate school establishment is the underlying public school district. At any time, three or more residents, either Protestant or Roman Catholic, who believe that they are members of the minority faith locally, can initiate the process. A census must be conducted to confirm that they are, in fact, the minority faith locally. When the census confirms minority status, a meeting must be widely advertised. The purpose of meeting is to provide a venue at which all of the local members of the minority faith can debate the pros and cons of leaving the public school jurisdiction and creating a separate school district. At the end of the meeting, a vote may be held on the question of establishment.
If the majority of the minority vote in favour of establishment, the establishment becomes a fact. If the majority of the minority vote against establishment, it does not proceed. The process is civil, democratic, and binding on the minority of the minority. A decision at the meeting against establishment precludes a number of the minority faith who may have favoured establishment from continuing for themselves. (At the same time, any decision against establishment has no term: proponents can begin almost immediately to organize a subsequent effort.)
In Alberta, wherever a separate school system exists, individuals who are of the minority faith that established the separate school system must be residents, electors, and ratepayers of the separate school system (the Schmidt decision
Schmidt decision
Schmidt vs. the Calgary Board of Education, et al. Alberta Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Sinclair, Clement and Moir, JJ.A. October 26, 1976 is the basis for the legal requirement in Alberta that, where a separate school jurisdiction exists , members of the minority faith that established the...
). There is no way by which they could opt to be supporters of the public school system except by leaving the minority faith. In Saskatchewan and Ontario, members of the minority faith may choose to be supporters of the public school system, notwithstanding their faith.
This system of government for education, characterized by public school jurisdictions with (more or less) corresponding separate school jurisdictions, can be traced to the Battle of the Plains of Abraham
Battle of the Plains of Abraham
The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War...
and the Treaty of Paris, 1763
Treaty of Paris (1763)
The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...
.
Other Provinces
Retention of separate school boards with public funding was a major issue of contention in the negotiations that led to Canadian confederationCanadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
, chiefly as a result of ethnic and religious tension between the (largely French-speaking) Roman Catholic population in Canada and the Protestant majority. The issue was a subject of debate at the 1864 Quebec Conference
Quebec Conference, 1864
The Quebec Conference was the second meeting held in 1864 to discuss Canadian Confederation.The 16 delegates from the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island had agreed at the close of the Charlottetown Conference to meet again at Quebec City October 1864...
and was finally resolved at the London Conference
London Conference
The London Conference could refer to several conferences:* London Conference of 1832* London Conference of 1838–39* London Conference of 1852* London Conference of 1866* London Conference of 1881 * London Conference of 1908...
of 1866 with a proposal to preserve the separate school systems in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
and Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. The way in which this agreement was written into the British North America Act, 1867 was to the effect that the condition of education in each colony (or territory) at the time it entered Confederation would be continued thereafter.
Consequently, there is no and never was separate school education in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, or Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
.
In the Quebec education system there were separate Protestant and Catholic school boards until 1998 when they were replaced with linguistically based secular school systems.
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
, both historically and currently, provide another interesting variant. At the time that colony entered Confederation (1949), there were no public schools as the term is usually understood. The schools of that colony were all organized on a confessional basis with separate denominational schools for Roman Catholics, Seventh-day Adventists
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
, Salvationists
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
, Pentecostals
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
, and an integrated stream, schooling the children of many members of so-called "mainstream" Protestant denominations. All these schools received grants from the provincial government, but locally the government ranged from parochial (owned and operated directly by a Church) to ownership and operation by a not-for-profit society. This system of confessional schools was abolished by constitutional amendment following a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
in 1997 and a single multidenominational Christian system was introduced to replace the previous streams. The constitutional amendment that created the current public school system also provided assurance that certain expressions of faith could continue to be manifested in the local public school itself, depending upon the sentiment of the local community. In public schools today, morning prayer and afternoon grace are not still performed daily. Religious Education is graded, along with other curricula on report cards three times annually. The system is multidenominational within Christianity, and four major religions are studied in grade 4-6 (Three of which are Hinduism, Islam and Judaism). There is only one private secular school in all of Newfoundland and Labrador, located in St. John's. The remainder of public schools throughout the province are Christian focused in their Religious Education. Another semi private nonsecular school exists in Churchill Falls.
Controversy
The question of separate schools has been most controversial in OntarioOntario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and 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...
. In the former, the issue of separate schools aggravated tensions between anglophones and francophones, both Protestant and 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"...
. The ending of public support for separate schools in the latter province in the 1890s prompted a national crisis known as the Manitoba Schools Question
Manitoba Schools Question
The Manitoba Schools Question was a political crisis in the Canadian Province of Manitoba that occurred late in the 19th century, involving publicly funded separate schools for Roman Catholics and Protestants...
, and led to Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
's papal encyclical Affari Vos.
Separate school rights have often been criticized as contrary to the spirit of official multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
, primarily, but not exclusively, because only adherents of the Protestant or Roman Catholic faith have these constitutional rights and only in some provinces and territories. In addition, where separate school systems exist, employees or prospective employees who are of the minority faith have more employment opportunities. (All other things being equal, a member of the minority faith can be employed by either the public board or by the separate board, while anyone else can be excluded from employment by the separate system.) On November 5, 1999 the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Human Rights Committee
Human Rights Committee
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a United Nations body of 18 experts that meets three times a year for four-week sessions to consider the five-yearly reports submitted by 162 UN member states on their compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,...
condemned Canada and Ontario for having violated the equality provisions (Article 26) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from March 23, 1976...
. The Committee restated its concerns on November 2, 2005, when it published its Concluding Observations regarding Canada's fifth periodic report under the Covenant. The Committee observed that Canada had failed to "adopt steps in order to eliminate discrimination on the basis of religion in the funding of schools in Ontario."