Constitutional Facts

Constitutional Facts
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Denominational School Rights in the Canadian Constitution, provided by the member organization Education Equality in Ontario

Presentation to the Standing Committee on Justice about Bill 107, An Act to Amend the Human Rights Code, November 22, 2006, by Edward Ackad, co-chair, Coalition for a Unified Public School System

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Myth:The Ontario Government cannot do away with separate schools; their hands are constitutionally tied.

Fact:  The Ontario government can indeed do away with separate schools. Suggestions to the contrary are at best misinformed and at worst, deliberately dishonest. While Section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867 offers some protection for the denominational school rights existing at Confederation, it did not tie the hands of legislators for perpetuity. Constitutional change in an area of provincial jurisdiction (such as education) can be accomplished through bilateral agreement between the province and the Parliament of Canada alone. A wider consensus is not required. Quebec and Newfoundland once had denominational school systems not unlike Ontario’s. Both provinces modernized their school systems in the 1990s following constitutional amendments permitting them to eliminate denominational schools. Both provinces worked bilaterally with Ottawa alone in achieving those amendments. In Newfoundland’s case, the elapsed time from request to proclamation of the amendment was only four months. Ontario could easily follow suit.

Constitution Amendment, 1997, (Quebec)
Constitution Amendment, 1998 (Newfoundland Act)

Ontario Catholics Support One School System!

“Our continued status as part of the publicly funded education system is not only dependent on legislation (provincial and federal), but it is also dependent on the political commitment of the prevailing government of the day, and the political will is in no small way influenced by prevailing public opinion.
Survey results of a Vector Poll for the Canadian Opinion Coalition, conducted in June, 2001, presented a very disturbing challenge to Catholic education from within. The results stated that 56% of Catholics who responded to the poll indicated that they believed a unified school system (Catholic and Public) would cost less to run and save money, while 52% of the Catholics polled said that a unified board would be more accountable and provide better education.” – from an undated document entitled “Preserve The Legacy Of The Enduring Gift Of Catholic Education”, posted on a separate school board web site.