Greg Oliver, founder and president of the Canadian Secular Alliance, believes that governments should not favour one faith over another, nor believers over non-believers. That three Canadian provinces continue to this day to fully fund a Separate school system for a single faith - Catholicism - is an egregious violation of secular principles that should guide our public policy. Greg explains why Catholic schools are funded, how two provinces stopped funding sectarian schools, addresses many myths about the separate school system, and what we can do about it. (Check out the new organization Alumni to Amend Section 93.)
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I too would prefer a political or legal solution, in that order, but since the Catholic Separate School System has become the third rail of politics in Ontario, l would like to propose a third way to get rid of it: Relentless reductio ad absurdum pestering and needling to facilitate elimination through attrition!
ReplyDeleteStep One:
Where there are under-subscribed Catholic public elementary schools in your area, enroll your kids and insist on non-religious or other-religious accommodations! When they are forced to share space with secular public schools, where will one school system begin and the other end, under the circumstances?
https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/the-ford-government-wants-the-power-to-force-school-boards-to-share-space-how-could/article_df9567f8-b9e0-55f3-a7ca-c08be54b18a6.html
Step Two:
Enroll your kids in public Catholic high schools, and insist that they be exempted from religion class and all religious activity, as is your right under the Education Act of Ontario:
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2017/06/13/students-can-opt-out-of-religious-classes-at-catholic-school-after-complaint-settled/
Step Three:
Have your non-Catholic kids run for school board student trustee at said Catholic public schools! I wonder what would happen if non-Catholics ran for the school board proper... Let's test that by running candidates! Good luck banning non-Catholics who have kids in public Catholic schools...
Sorry, l forgot to add the reference for Step Three:
Deletehttps://www.oba.org/Sections/Education-Law/Articles/Articles-2023/May-2023/Ontario-Divisional-Court-Finds-Non-Catholic-Studen?lang=fr-ca