Justice Committee hearing
On Wednesday the 22nd I got to make a presentation to the Standing committee on Justice about Bill 107, An Act to amend the Human Rights Code. My presentation centered around the funding of the Catholic schools in Ontario and how section 19 of the Human rights code will always be unacceptable if it is not removed. It seems very silly to have an exception that allows for government discrimination based on religion. I will post the article in the freethinkers press once it comes out.
I must say it was fun to go to a committee hearing. I ain't one for keeping my opinions to myself and I like having the ear of the government even if they are just ignoring me. I recommend it to anyone! I think I may have a go at the Finance committee presentation or at the very least a submission.
I must say it was fun to go to a committee hearing. I ain't one for keeping my opinions to myself and I like having the ear of the government even if they are just ignoring me. I recommend it to anyone! I think I may have a go at the Finance committee presentation or at the very least a submission.
Labels: politics
posted by Eddie | 8:55 PM
6 Comments:
You were one of the lucky ones that was allowed to present! As a member of a minority group that is currently excluded from the protection of the Code because of s.19 I am very glad you are raising this.
You are right that s.19(1) of the Human Rights Code is a problem, but you cannot fix the problem by eliminating that provision. If you try that you will then have a conflict with s. 93 of the Constitution, which guarantees Catholic funding in Ontario. And you can’t eliminate Cathoic funding without a constitutional amendment.
What you have to do instead is to amend s. 19 (1) as follows:
19. (1) This Act shall not be construed to adversely affect any right or privilege respecting separate schools enjoyed by separate school boards or their supporters under the Constitution Act, 1867 and the Education Act PROVIDED THAT FUNDING FOR COMPARABLE FAITH-BASED EDUCATIONAL OPTIONS IS OFFERED TO NON-CATHOLIC FAITH-BASED SCHOOLS.
The underlying political reality is this: All three parties represented in the Legislature support Catholic separate school funding as guaranteed by the Constitution of Canada, so that the only fair and viable solution to the discrimination is to extend funding to the small religious minorities that are currently excluded. (Only 7% of Ontario's faith-based schools are not already fully publicly funded!)
And why not? At a time when publicly funded education is catering to an ever greater variety of needs and preferences, e.g. special schools or programs for arts, natives, blacks, and gays, it would be a huge step backward for supporting families’ choices for their children’s education to eliminate our long-standing public support for faith based schools. Limiting public funding to only secular schools would have the immediate effect of pushing many tens of thousands out of the publicly funded education system. Why should religious families be the only ones whose choices are not supported?
THE DISCRIMINATION SHOULD BE FIXED BY INCLUSION, NOT EXCLUSION.
But I agree with you that s.19 as currently worded is a problem. Ontario is currently in violation of its obligations under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 2, to ensure that discrimination is prohibited under the law of Ontario. Though the Human Rights Code generally prohibits discrimination, there is an exception built into the Code that permits religious discrimination in the funding of faith-based schools in Ontario.
Article 2 of the ICCPR provides:
1. Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognizeD IN THE PRESENT COVENANT, WITHOUT DISTINCTION OF ANY KIND, SUCH AS race, colour, sex, language, RELIGION, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
2. Where not already provided for by existing legislative or other measures, each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to take the necessary steps, in accordance with its constitutional processes and with the provisions of the present Covenant, to ADOPT SUCH LAWS OR OTHER MEASURES AS MAY BE NECESSARY TO GIVE EFFECT TO THE RIGHTS RECOGNIZED IN THE PRESENT COVENANT.
That is why the Code needs to be amended as set out above (or something similar.
Contact: equalfunding@yahoo.ca
While I can appreciate your point it is not entirely correct that funding all schools will solve the problem. It won't and I'll get to that in a sec. Firstly you are correct that an amendment to the Constitution is required to get out of Section 93 (i)-(iv) as Quebec and Newfoundland have done.
Now as for funding all faiths, this will only address the fairness issue not the discrimination. You would still have a Catholic system that COULD discriminate. The teachers would still be subject to the discrimination based on their adherence to the faith. This does not solve the problem at all.
As for the idea itself, it is a bad one, just see Newfoundland. They were funding many (8 or 9 I think) school systems and going bankrupt. The duplication penalty for two systems is already huge adding to it would be fiscally irresponsible. Also, this multi-faith system would effectively segregate our religious communities, something we should avoid (or at least avoid encouraging it). Further it would allow the government to decide what constitutes a religion. For instance, there are 20,000 'Jedi' (http://www.canada.com/national/features/census/story.html?id=A4623A62-5195-4B57-B40B-087D8F38CF6F) in Canada at what population do they get a school?
There is no lack of religious institution in our society and it is the parents job to instill religion not the states. Let's address the actual discrimination problem and the funding problem all at once and get it right. I hope you can see the solution now.
www.oneschoolsystem.org
Let me jump in to this interesting discussion and address a few of Eddie's points:
Eddie, you seem to want quite a revolution, pushing tens of thousands of children out of publicly funded education! That is what would result from what your organization is suggesting. It may further the cause of those who which to further secularize our society, but it would not be fair to religious minorities.
Parents who wish to educate their children in a manner actively supportive of their minority religious culture and beliefs cannot be accommodated in secular public schools. Real multiculturalism goes beyond superficial measures. For religious and cultural minorities that are significantly unique, experience has shown that after-school supplementary programs do not work to provide the education necessary for maintaining the religion and culture intact in the next generation. While effectively forcing everyone together in the same school may produce a kind of social harmony, it is wrong to purchase social harmony at the cost of the cultural existence of distinctive religious minorities. One can still have social harmony without forcing everyone into the same schools, as shown by Ontario's long experience with Catholic separate schools. The survival of multi-cultural communities is at stake. In the Adler case that went to the Supreme Court of Canada, expert evidence was presented, and accepted by the court, showing that “the Jewish community's survival as an identifiable and practising religious community depends upon broad access for Jewish children to Jewish day schools.” Other religious minority communities are similarly affected. (It' not rocket science -- you can see very clearly what happens to the kids who do not have a proper education in their culture - they cannot and do not continue as carriers of that culture.) As a result, for many affected families, providing a faith-based education for their children is conscientiously seen as a necessity.
It is true that Quebec got rid of its constitutionalized faith-based public schools. What you do not mention is that at the same time Quebec moved to accommodate faith-based schools by providing substantial partial funding to private schools that meet provincial standards. Ontario could solve the problem this way. The fact is that all other provinces except the Atlantic provinces fund faith-based schools and have thriving public school systems. Meanwhile Ontario is the only Western democracy that fully funds faith-based schools of one religion to the total exclusion of all other religions.
Re discrimination relating to teachers in the Catholics system. Obviously if you are going to have a school that teaches a particular religion, the teachers involved in doing so will likely have to be adherents of that religion for it to be effective.
Deciding who is a religion is not a problem. It is already done for the purposes of taxation law.
I agree with your assertion that “it is the parents job to instill religion not the state’s”. What you are missing is that it is also the parents’ right and responsibility to direct the education of their children. State support for this should be provided in a manner that does not discriminate against parents who determine that their children should be educated in a context and manner that will be consistent with and supportive of their religious beliefs. If you fund only secular public schools, you will be excluding many religious minorities.
What everyone can agree on though is that the status quo is totally unacceptable, since it is based on official religious discrimination in open violation of binding international human rights law.
Why do you feel the need to fix the discrimination by excluding even more people from the benefits of publicly funded education? It is fairer and more politically viable to solve the problem in an inclusive manner.
I do not see your movement having any influence until you modify your position of totally excluding religious people who conscientiously require faith-based schools to preserve their cultures. You would have much more prospect of success, in my opinion, if you would at least advocate for partial funding of faith-based schools (as in B.C., Alta, Sask, Man, and Que.) to go along with removing the constitutional guarantee of full Catholic funding.
Why would people require faith -based schools to preserve their cultures? In Canada, we have people who are carrying religious cultures, many of which date back centuries before a school system was a commonplace and most children, especially girls did not attend school. Yet the culture is still strong. Example: Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Longhouse religion, Jainism ,many Christian sects,several Pantheistic sects, which are growing in Canada ,not to include all of them.
From this historical fact we can draw the conclusion that parents do not need a school system in order to teach and preserve their beliefs. On the other hand, all public school systems should incorporate the ethics which are integral to all humane religious beliefs and practise them .
The curriculum of the school system grows as our body of knowledge and skills do. To treat a young human with respect is to make sure that that person can gain the knowledge and skills he or she needs to function as a full person, able to use abilities and potential to the optimum. The curriculum should be as universal as possible to achieve this. Including a religious curriculum during allotted school hours would subtract from time needed for the already loade curriculum. (I say that as a teacher with 35 years experience.)
Let's test the idea of rectifying the unequality created by favouring the funding of Catholic- based schooling over that sponsored by other religious establishments by pushing it to its logical extreme. By receiving equal treatment, all of the religious groups named above would have the right to shift their taxes to their own "faith-based" schools. Many more religious groups would show up as well and demand their rights. Who is to say people who are Wiccan, for example, are not part of a real religion?7th -Day Adventists,Jehovah's Witnesses?Mormons? It could and should happen if they"conscientiously require fauth-based schools to preserve their culture"
A word about culture: it is a set of attitudes, habits, values accumulated through time as a human group tries to find the best way to survive and be human. It is not immutable. Religion is not the only factor but it is powerful;we all know the terrible things that human groups have done to each other and still do in the name of religious doctrine. Of course no religion started out with that intentbut the widely -held belief that one's own particular faith has the favour of the creator and everyone else is wrong -perhaps should be punished or eliminated seems to happen throughout history.
Would not a school system wherein all children of Ontario can freely mix with each other and witness their differences be treated with respect help our little section of the human race learn what all of the race needs to learn eventually if we are ever to have achieved true civilization?
Best regards to all,
Joan Pella
Ben writes, "Parents who wish to educate their children in a manner actively supportive of their minority religious culture and beliefs cannot be accommodated in secular public schools."
Why not? When I grew up, I went to a secular school, while learning about Judaism (the religion of my cultural heritage) in an Sunday program run by a network of Jewish parents. Catholic mathematics is no different from Protestant, Buddhist, secular humanist or Wiccan mathematics, so why can't the kids all study math, history, English, etc. together? If their parents think it important also to get some religious education, that can be done outside school hours. Can't Catholic churches run Sunday schools too?
I'm glad I had the chance to learn about Judaism, even though I neither believe nor practice it today. I'm even more glad that in order to do so I didn't need to go to school in a culturally homogeneous environment five days a week. I appreciate having friends who mirrored the religious and cultural diversity of Toronto.
John Tory's proposal, endorsed by Mike, to fund schools of all religions, would balkanize education. Much better to have public schools accommodate all students by sticking to secular subjects, and leave the religion to the churches or other private institutions.
RAmen!
Post a Comment
<< Home