Quebec passes law eliminating Catholic instruction in public schools
QUEBEC CITY, Canada, September 8 (CNA) - School's back in. But in
Quebec public schools, Catholic and Protestant religious instruction are on
their� way out.
While most people were thinking about summer holidays, Quebec's
provincial
government quietly passed a bill on June 15 that will eliminate
Catholic and
Protestant religious instruction in the province's public schools by
2008,
reported the Catholic Times of Montreal.
The Ministry of Education did not issue a press release notifying the
public. As well, no reports appeared in the English-language secular
press.
A new program on ethics and religious culture will replace the current
Catholic, Protestant and moral instruction program in 2008.
Schools can offer Catholic and Protestant religious instruction until
then,
but the law stipulates that a school may decide to replace it with an
ecumenical program before that time.
Even faith-based private schools will have to offer the new program as
of
2008. They may continue to offer confessional instruction, but only as
an
additional course, the minister's press attach� told the Montreal
newspaper.
Education Minister Jean-Marc Fournier presented Bill 95 in May, saying
that
it would better respond to "the current social challenges and the needs
of
Quebec youth today."
However, parents and citizens groups, and the Assembly of Quebec
Catholic
Bishops rallied against the bill. A committee in favor of maintaining
religious instruction in public schools submitted a petition of more
than
60,000 signatures to the provincial government.
At the beginning of June, the citizens' committee and the Quebec
bishops
also presented a brief to a parliamentary hearing committee, which had
been
set up to hold public consultations on the bill.
The bishops said confessional instruction in public schools should be
maintained because religious instruction is an important part of a
child's
formation. Christianity is also a significant aspect of Quebec heritage
and
children must learn about it in school. They also argued that the new
program would likely conflict with the values Christian parents are
teaching
their children at home.
However, none of these arguments or petitions proved to be persuasive.
"The
hearings were merely a fa�ade," Jocelyne St-Cyr told the Catholic
Times.
St-Cyr heads the committee in favor of maintaining religious
instruction in
public schools. "The minister thinks that he has respected democracy
but he
has not."
Brief history of Catholic instruction in Quebec
Quebecers have received Catholic and Protestant religious instruction
in
public schools for more than 150 years. It was even guaranteed as a
right in
Canada's founding document-the British North America Act of 1867.
However, in 1997, the Quebec government sought an amendment to the
Constitution, requesting to opt out of this legal assurance, and the
Supreme
Court of Canada granted the request.
Since then, the Quebec government has been slowly phasing out religious
instruction through a series of successive laws, despite repeated
promises
to Catholic and Protestant parents that religious instruction would be
maintained.