OSSN Backgrounder
In 2007, an organization to promote the views of the many Ontarians who believe the time has come to end the public funding of religious schools in Ontario was established.
The One School System Network (OSSN) is a coalition, currently made up of 12 member organizations:
- Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity
- Canadian Hindu Advocacy
- Canadian Secular Alliance
- Centre for Inquiry Ontario
- Civil Rights in Public Education, Inc
- Coalition for a Unified Public School System
- Education Equality in Ontario
- International Campaign Against Sharia Court in Canada
- Muslim Canadian Congress
- Progressive Trustee Network
- Public Trustees for One School System
- Secular Ontario
Vision Statement
The organizations represented by the One School System Network [OSSN] are united in the conviction that:
Ontario’s publicly funded school system bring students of all backgrounds together in an environment that fosters mutual respect and understanding while respecting their fundamental equality and helping them to realize their full potential as citizens.
To realize that vision, OSSN seeks the establishment of a single secular school system for each official language, namely English and French public school boards.
Furthermore, OSSN seeks the elimination of costly duplication in the Ontario school system in order to minimize infrastructure costs and to maximize opportunities for student development.
Publicly funded schools in Ontario shall not discriminate on the basis of religion in any form including: school environment, enrolment of students, opportunities for all students, evaluation of students, employment and advancement of teachers and all other school board personnel, adherence to Ministry of Education curriculum guidelines including courses in World and Comparative Religions.
Publicly funded school boards may, where appropriate, permit voluntary religious programs for students provided by local faith groups outside regular instructional hours.
The Purpose of OSSN
The purpose of the One School System Network (OSSN) is to co-ordinate the activities of each member group to achieve a one non-sectarian publicly funded school system in Ontario. OSSN provides a natural vehicle for other organizations interested in achieving public funding of only non-sectarian schools in Ontario to join.
Respect for Human-Rights and Civil Liberties in Ontario
OSSN notes that Canada is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and as such is bound to uphold the rulings of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. That committee has ruled that Ontario should publicly fund one non-sectarian school system or fund all religious schools, not just Roman Catholic schools,
OSSN calls on the Government of Ontario to publicly fund no religious schools, or publicly fund all religious schools.
OSSN notes that the Government of Ontario is not bound to respect the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms if it enacts new legislation on school funding. However OSSN believes that Ontario must remove education as an exemption to the Charter and promote secular schools as in Quebec.
OSSN calls upon the Government of Ontario to uphold its full obligations under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and various international human rights instruments by withdrawing public funding for all sectarian religious schools.
OSSN seeks the elimination of religious discrimination and costly duplication in the Ontario school system through the establishment of a single, secular, publicly funded school system for each official language (English and French).
OSSN calls upon the Government of Ontario to uphold its full obligations under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and various international human rights instruments by withdrawing public funding for all sectarian religious schools. OSSN calls for a merger of the assets of Ontario’s public and separate systems in the new English and French public systems.
Legislation and Referendum
The Government of Ontario has two choices to implement its compliance with the UN ruling. It can pass a bill in the Legislature of Ontario to unilaterally change the Education Act to remove special privilege for Roman Catholics as Manitoba did just after Confederation. Alternatively it can pass a bill to seek a Constitutional change by the Parliament of Canada, as Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador did more recently.
Another tool available to the Government of Ontario is to hold a referendum, like Newfoundland and Labrador did prior to consultation with Parliament, in which the people of Ontario can finally chose whether they want a sectarian or non-sectarian school system.
Opposition to Extended Religious Funding
The Supreme Court of Canada has already ruled that Ontario does not need to extend funding to non-Catholic faith-based schools. The call by the Conservatives and the Multi-Faith Coalition for Equal Funding of Faith-Based Schools (MFC) for ‘fairness’ is based on false premises to hoodwink the voters of Ontario;
1. that one can divide people by religion to make them stronger multi-culturally, and
2. that the presently underfunded public school system will not miss the extra monies diverted for additional special minority religious education.
OSSN is opposed to the campaign by the MFC to have public funding extended to other religious schools, the present list consisting of Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, Evangelical Christian, Armenian, Greek and Coptic Orthodox, Seventh Day Adventist and Mennonite schools.
OSSN’s fairness principle is not that one Charter violation deserves another but that we have ‘Opportunity for all; favouritism for none’
OSSN is not opposed to the teaching of religion in private schools wholly funded by private funds, nor is it opposed to the teaching of courses about religions of the world in publicly funded schools, nor is it opposed to the implementation of arrangements by public boards to accommodate religious instruction in schools outside of common teaching hours.
Political Support
OSSN believes that Ontarians need to understand that the continuation and extension of public funding to special groups
1. Inherently undermines the basic premises of our democracy and
2. That future implications of faith based doctrines in education will serve to balkanize and separate Ontario society.
Consequently, OSSN encourages the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party to join the Green Party of Ontario in supporting one publicly funded system for each official language to avoid the costly and socially divisive Conservative proposal for extended public funding of religious schools.
Privileged Funding
OSSN has completed two analyses of grants from the Ministry of Education to the Public and Roman Catholic boards. These analyses, using posted data from the Ministry, show, in both a category by category and a board by board comparison, based on grants per student, that the Roman Catholic system has received about $650 million over the past 7 years, over and above grants to the Public Boards. That funding has been primarily for school building projects.
OSSN calls on the Government of Ontario to correct the privileged funding for privileged religious schools in Ontario.
Further Information:
OSSN invites all who wish to better understand the structure of OSSN and the positions of our members to click on the Members’ Menu or contact:
Leonard Baak leonard@OneSchoolSystem.org
Justin Trottier justin.trottier@gmail.com
Malcolm Buchanan macbuchanan@shaw.ca
Gary Fitzgibbon gary.fitzgibbon@gmail.com
or any of the component members of OSSN through their web pages.