Catholic school boards on the edge of a precipice

Joe Volpe August 13, 2026

TORONTO – Yawn. Another dawn, another news item about which we can do absolutely nothing… because, well we seem to have replaced our “National Ambition” with an acumen for whining and moralizing. I must confess to lapsing into that malaise myself until memories of my parents, ancestors and what pushed them to come to this territory to work for a better future come to mind.

Then I recall those who already had/have access to everything but concern themselves with how to take away from others a birthright earned by own ancestors while, in concert with a disparate local population, they built a country (not nation-state) welcoming of people appreciative of the new ethos. One of the foundational pillars of Canada was, and is, the historic compromise resulting in what we call our Constitution. Federal and provincial legislation must meet the smell test of the Constitution, the rights and obligations that flow from it, and what it permits.

Essentially, the founding fathers accepted that growth and change could only be salutary if everyone would “accept what is and build on that.” Education, and rights over who controls it in the schools would of necessity play the pivotal role hence its significance in local the issue of authorities and governance.

Without descending into pedantic discussions about who does what and why, local government exemplify this better than most: if you pay your taxes to a jurisdiction that offers Catholic education, you can determine how it operates; if not, send your children to a secular public environment and work with the taxpayers of similar views. No problem.

In 2017, Trustee Michael Del Grande (in the pic below) became the target of a “progressive” organization, aided and abetted by some of his own colleagues, for these Catholic values. They took their vitriol to the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) to strip him of his teaching certificate (he also has a Master’s Degree) because his traditional Catholic views, enunciated in the context of a debate on curriculum, “offended” the feelings of some people present (two, as I recall, who had come specifically to seek an opportunity to be offended).

Thus began a “persecution” by a Court of Jesters whose latest chapter was the publication of the findings of the OCT Discipline panel which hopes to fine him in the thousands of dollars and saddle him with the “costs” as well. You see; the Jesters claim the right to o so because Del Grande is a member “in good standing” of OCT. That phrase means he pays his dues, even though he has never taught.

The loyal Catholic trustees who gloated over his difficulties, in the meanwhile, voted for everything the Senior Staff put forward for their deliberation and approval. In February of 2024 they Declared an in-year surplus of $100 million dollars. Bravo! By November 2024, that became a $40 million deficit, by Spring of 2025 a $8 million. The Provincial government put the TCDSB under supervision, gave the Staff a handsome raise, told trustees they could only deal with denominational rights and forbade them from entering Board premises or engaging in School ceremonies.

The Provincial government, which had justified their own actions because these people were financially incompetent and “pedagogically unsound” cancelled the International Languages integrated Day program to save $7.5 million and restore fiscal sanity. A government MPP, responded by a mailout (reprinted in a Corriere Caanadese June edition) saying stop whining the kids can take the language courses in religion class.

One is compelled to conclude that trustees cannot even share responsibility for denominational issues.

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