Language or Religion, constitutional crisis ahead
TORONTO – An international axiom taught to all “diplomats in training” goes something like this: when war breaks out, truth breaks down. So it is in the political arena, even where there are established constitutional safeguards ton ensure tenets and respect for the “rights” of partners in an agreement. Those agreements “rights” are different from “wants”.
For example, Catholics in Ontario (and elsewhere in Canada, which we will treat in separate articles) have a right to their own separate school system where their religion and culture must be respected in law and in fact. They have a governance structure where those entrusted by their electorate – their trustees – and the staff, instructional and Senior administrative staff, have complete control over “denominational issues”.
It does not help the discussion when some of those trustees cause negative attention by questionable behaviour (See the reasons cited by the Ontario government in our previous articles leading up to the imposition of Supervision), the government “threw the baby out with the bathwater”. Financial balance sheets trump pedagogical justifications for programs; it would seem, of the raison d’etre of the school system itself.
In their cost-cutting measures to reach a financially sound balance sheet, the Supervisor and the Senior Staff announced an approved end to an integrated International Languages program ($7.5 million) by eliminating the positions of seventy-seven instructors in a fifty-year-old program. That program had seen its genesis in the recruitment of newly arrived immigrants, of a Catholic persuasion, to attend Catholic schools. Non-Catholic children have equal opportunity in the public non-denominational system.
In response to public outrage, a local provincial member of the Legislature, MPP Kinga Surma, Etobicoke Center, issued a “reassuring” to her constituents. (here below) She advised the Ukrainian parents in the area at three schools that the language classes could/will be offered in religion classes!
That suggestion was not offered to schools where there might be large Portuguese, Hispanic, Philippine or Italian residents. Teresa Lubinski Trustee for the Etobicoke Lakeshore area to the south, launched a campaign against the proposal. “I am trustee for all the Catholic families in my ward”, she said, “how can I justify preferring one group over others. This accompanying surreptitious campaign to transfer the economic burden to parents constrained to register their children in weekend classes for an additional $700 each is totally unacceptable.”
What should be equally unacceptable is the assumption that religion, a clear denominational issue, can be replaced by language, or any other subject, to cut costs. Which priests were authorized by the diocese to do that? Which trustees agreed? They are required to swear allegiance to the Magisterium, every November as part of their denominational obligations.
Former Premier Kathleen Wynne could only have wished her machinations to completely secularize the Catholic school boards could have worked as smoothly. She and her Party suffered an abysmal defeat instead.
Here below is the table taken from page 3 of the TCDSB’s 2026–27 Budget Estimates that shows a budget with revenues of $ 1,292,800,000 and expenditures of $ $ 1,332,300,000 of which only $7.5 million is allocated to languages
