OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Feb. 16, 2012) - The
Constitution presents no real obstacle to the amalgamation of Ontario's
public and Catholic school systems, say the directors of Education
Equality in Ontario.
The directors of Education Equality in Ontario were still in a
state of disbelief today at the absence of any mention of the overlap
and duplication in the Ontario school system in the report of the
Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services. "It is incredible
that a commission that was tasked with identifying 'areas of overlap
and duplication that could be eliminated to save taxpayer dollars' could
fail to comment on four public school systems serving overlapping
territories", said chairman Geraint Jones.
"It was interesting and perhaps telling that rather than
answer a question about that omission himself, Drummond passed the ball
to fellow Commission member Dominic Giroux, a former Assistant Deputy
Minister of Education and a well known advocate of Catholic separate
schools", said president Leonard Baak. "Why would he do that? Was Giroux
primarily responsible for the omission - and Drummond uncomfortable in
being party to it? It certainly deserves an explanation."
In defending the omission, Giroux explained that the
Commission had no mandate to address constitutional guarantees and
therefore the Commission did not consider the idea of ending funding to
the separate school system. "Nonsense", said Baak. "Even Premier
McGuinty indicated that Drummond was not forbidden from making that
recommendation - only that he would ignore it if he did." "So why didn't
he at least make the recommendation?" wondered Baak, "Is there any
greater or more obvious area of overlap and duplication in Ontario? They
obviously didn't fail to notice it. The omission was calculated and
deliberate."
"It is becoming increasingly common knowledge that Ontario's
constitutional 'obligation' to fund Catholic separate schools is largely
illusory", said Jones, "as it can be removed very quickly or can even
be ignored."
Constitutional provisions notwithstanding, religiously
segregated school systems like Ontario's have now been eliminated in
Quebec (1997), Newfoundland and Labrador (1998), and Manitoba (1890).
Denominational school rights in the Constitution were rescinded quickly
by Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador through a straightforward
bilateral agreement with Ottawa (
Section 43 of the
Constitution Act, 1982
provides the necessary bilateral amendment mechanism). Manitoba
eliminated denominational school unilaterally, despite a Constitutional
"obligation" to provide them that reads almost identically to Ontario's.
Ontario could take either path to fiscally responsible education
reform.
"The Commission's recommendations for cuts and restraint in our truly
essential services imply a great deal of hardship for Ontarians
regardless of their faith", said Baak, "It would be a great tragedy to
enact these recommendations while costly and completely unnecessary
duplication in education was allowed to continue."
"It is time for politicians to revisit Ontario oldest sacred
cow", said Jones "It shouldn't be too much to ask that government
distinguish between our truly essential programs and those like
religious school funding that are not essential at all. With Ontario's
finances as they are, religious school funding for a single favoured
faith is a frivolity we can no longer afford."
About Education Equality in Ontario
Education Equality in Ontario is a non-governmental human
rights organization and education advocacy group. We seek the
elimination of religious discrimination and duplication in the Ontario
school system through the establishment of a single publicly-funded
school system for each official language (English and French).
Reference (McGuinty comments):
