Should a Protestant work in the Catholic school board?
By Ken Gallinger
Posted with permission from Toronto Star
Q: I’m an active member of a liberal Protestant church. I’ve been hired at a local school board in a casual capacity. A friend, recently hired by the Catholic board, tells me her casual position pays significantly more. She has encouraged me to apply; is it ethical to do so?
A: Ontario has two publicly funded school systems, and they are fundamentally different.
Complete answer at: http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=MTcxNzQ2MDM%3D
CRIPE’s response
Ken Gallinger
RE: Should a Protestant work in the Catholic school board? May 17, 2013
As a researcher on the topic of Roman Catholic separate schools since 1984, I have a few comments to make on your column.
To set the stage, briefly, the Roman Catholic Church is the only Christian, or any other religious denomination to receive public monies from all Ontario taxpayers to pay for the Roman Catholic separate school system which is, effectively, an arm of the Roman Catholic Church. The Ontario government, then, discriminates against all citizens who are not members of the Roman Catholic Church.
The first point I wish to make is to your reference to John Tory’s run for a seat in the Ontario Legislature on the basis of, presumably, eliminating Ontario’s violation of sections 2(a) and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the United Nations’ Human Rights committee’s 1999 (and continuing) condemnation of Canada/Ontario for a violation of Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all due to the discriminatory allocation of public funds to only the Roman Catholic Church. John Tory’s proposal was to eliminate this discrimination by providing public funds to all other churches, presumably with some limitations. In defeating him, the public’s response was to tell him, and all other politicians, that the public will not tolerate the public funding of any religion. Had Tory provided the same solution of fairness through the elimination of public funds for Roman Catholics, the result would have been much different. [The three major parties, very cozy with the RCs, (another story) spun the results of John Tory’s defeat to suit their own position. I am surprised that you, and so many others, were also “spun”.]
When an Ontario politician, Frank de Jong of the Ontario Green Party, campaigned in 2007 for one school system, the Green Party’s popular vote was tripled, and the Green Party candidates beat the NDP candidates in 17 – that’s seventeen – ridings. More recently the Toronto Sun of February 21st 2013 reported the results of a Forum Research poll that put 54% opposed to the public funding of Roman Catholic separate schools while only 39% supported the funding. Democracy is defined as government by the people. None of the three major parties have offered to us, the people, the elimination of Ontario’s two-tiered citizenship based on religious affiliation. Therefore, many count on the Green Party to kick-start social justice to this province.
Roman Catholic separate elementary schools are allowed to discriminate against children on the basis of baptism, but some children are allowed to register when a particular school needs the public dollars that follow every registered student. Roman Catholic separate high schools are different – they are “open access” schools, and any person within the school’s geographical boundary is allowed to enroll AND be exempt from all religious programs and courses upon making an exemption request in writing. Please see the attached newsletter for the full story on this.
I enjoyed reading your answer, you have a fun job.
Sincerely, Renton Patterson, President
Civil Rights in Public Education, Inc. www.CRIPEweb.org