Time has come to amalgamate school systems
Catholics no longer need special protection, writes Ailsa M. Watkinson.
The Sask. Party’s response to the decision concerning public funding of non-Catholic students who attend Catholic separate schools is disquieting. Instead of taking the opportunity to review and update the provision of public education, Premier Brad Wall threatened to use the notwithstanding clause, in an attempt to stun us into silence and trump an otherwise worthwhile and overdue public discussion on whether to maintain two parallel and competing systems.
We are all fully aware of the drastic cuts being proposed by the Sask. Party. Within this austerity milieu sits one public program, education, that if amalgamated could save us all money.
The drafters of our Constitution drew up a plan to protect certain minority religious groups by permitting them to establish their own schools to ensure they were educated in their parents’ beliefs, “untrammeled by the domination of the larger group.” In Quebec, the minority religious group was Protestants, in Saskatchewan it was Catholics.
The original purpose of the constitutional agreement of 1867 that folded into the 1905 Saskatchewan Act was based on the minority status of Catholics in Saskatchewan which, around 1905, was estimated to be 18.4 per cent of the population while the Protestant population was 74.35 per cent. As of 2011, Roman Catholics represented 29.52 per cent of Saskatchewan’s population and Protestants 35.74 per cent. Other religious groups make up 10.32 per cent, while 24.4 per cent have no religious affiliation. Justice Layh, in his decision, notes that “expressed as a ratio, for every 100 Protestants there were 24.7 Catholics in 1902 and 82.6 in 2011.” Thus the goal of protecting the Catholic faith in Saskatchewan has been achieved. Over the last 150 years their representation has almost doubled. They no longer require protection.
The special status still in place for Catholic separate schools, which allowed them to receive funding for nonCatholic students, is not available to other religious schools. This is why public funding of non-Catholic students was deemed an infringement of the state’s duty to religious neutrality. As noted in the decision: “When the state, at public expense, funds and thereby promotes the interest of the Catholic faith by enabling it to disseminate its teaching to non-Catholic students in a manner denied to any other religious group, the state has infringed its duty of religious neutrality.”
Saskatchewan could and should seek a constitutional amendment and remove the special status afforded Catholic separate schools for a number of other reasons as well. Catholic separate education is mainly found in urban areas, which means rural taxpayers are subsidizing what some refer to as “a choice” but not for them. Also, as part of the fallout to this outdated agreement, the Catholic system has been permitted to discriminate by limiting employment to Catholic teachers and staff.
It is also important to point out that the Roman Catholic Church and other religions promote tenets contrary to our agreed-upon contract of ensuring that equality rights are upheld. Catholic theology is opposed to women’s reproductive health rights as guaranteed in the charter. There are other clashes with equality rights, including discriminating against teachers and staff on the basis of their marital status, family status and sexual orientation. In some jurisdictions, religious and Catholic separate schools have refused to permit gaystraight alliances and due to the constitutional licence given Catholic schools, they do not have to provide an even-handed approach to other religious beliefs.
By amalgamating the school systems we would save the costs associated with duplicate administration, school boards, busing and infrastructure. A study in Ontario estimated the savings associated with amalgamation of their two systems would be between $1.2 billion-$1.4 billion. No schools would be half-empty, as suggested by the premier, rather every school would be public, brimming with students and an array of programs to provide parents and students with choices. We would be one public education system that promotes equality, non-discrimination and is inclusive and respectful of all religions and non-believers.
Ailsa M. Watkinson is a professor with the faculty of social work at the University of Regina, Saskatoon campus.