Posted on 11/18/2005 9:42:27 AM PST by NYer
TORONTO, November 17, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The United Nations Human Rights Committee demanded November 3 that the government of Canada "eliminate discrimination on the basis of religion in the funding of schools in Ontario." The ruling was in response to a 1996 complaint filed on behalf of a Toronto Jewish parent who was sending his child to a Hebrew private school.
The UN committee released its ruling in 1999, but reiterated its demands this month. A coalition of representatives from non-Catholic religious schools protested the lack of funding by Ontario's Liberals yesterday in Ottawa, at Queen's Park in Toronto, and at the UN in New York.
A private Catholic educator in Ontario commented on the UN Human Rights ruling: "Ontario's Catholic education is under fire by the UN not because it wishes to promote the diversity of religious schooling in our land, but because its own secular collectivist dogmas are threatened by the existence of a unique Catholic intellectual tradition," said John O'Brien, principal of Wayside Academy in Peterborough. "Many countries teach a clear religious ethic in their schools, but Canada's Catholic schools are singled out for sanction because the UN and many of our country's elites are intent on promoting an irreligious culture here and on the global stage. State-funded Catholic schools remain an embarrassment to Canada's cherished leading role in this agenda."
Ottawa Torah Institute vice-principal Rabbi Boruch Clinton was at the Ottawa protest yesterday along with about 50 others, according to the Ottawa Sun. "It's an issue of inequality," he said. "The government does support Catholic schools, which we support and we feel that is fair. But it does not support other faith-based schools which we feel is discriminatory."
O'Brien explained that "Culturally and academically, there is little left to distinguish Ontario's Catholic schools from its public schools." Referring to the precedents in Newfoundland and Quebec, where religious education is no longer state funded, combined with the dwindling role that the Catholic Church plays in education, "it was only a matter of time before Ontario's schools would be targeted for elimination," he argued.
While private schools from other religions in Canada are seeking to use the UN ruling to their advantage, O'Brien said that the UN ruling is troubling because it does not seek to correct the inequality by encouraging Ontario to extend its support to all religious and independent schools. "A genuinely free and pluralistic society should develop forward not backward, and empower its citizens and communities," he argued. "Instead, they have issued a cease and desist order to supporting Catholic schools."
O'Brien also questioned the authority that the UN, "an unelected and unaccountable international body," should have over matters of Canadian sovereignty. "The right of Canadians to a Catholic education is established in Section 93 of the BNA Act (now Constitution Act of 1867)," he explained. "Support for Catholic schools was an essential plank in the creation of Canada, and we have our own historical and cultural reasons for making it so. Taking our marching orders from the UN, an unelected and unaccountable international body, begs the question as to whether we still command our sovereignty as a free nation. If our constitution can be overruled by the UN, then perhaps we do not."
Chairman of the Multi-Faith Coalition for Equal Funding of Religious Schools, Greek Orthodox Metropolitan, Archbishop Athanassoulas Sotirios was at the Toronto protest. "The multi-faith coalition has been pressing the government without results, including presenting a report to Education Minister Gerard Kennedy. We are not looking to set a new precedent," he added, according to the National Post. "We are only asking to be treated the same as other religious groups in the province."
Visit the Wayside Academy web site: http://waysideacademy.ca
And if they simply want their kids to get a decent education, with a fair chance of not being mugged on a weekly basis and a fair chance that the kids will learn some manners in the process.....what then?
Absolutely not true, when public schools teach beliefs about sexual morality that are diametrically opposed to the teachings of the faith. And people should be entitled to send children to schools in their faith tradition because they want to do so, not because they want to avoid discrimination or bad feelings elsewhere. If the government is going to fund one group, however, I agree it should fund all of them (Jewish, Muslim, etc. -- although I'd be a bit concerned in the Muslim case that children are being taught that violence against infidels and infidel nations is good). In any event, however, I don't see where the UN can tell a sovereign country what to do in a case like this.
The UN can take a long walk off a short pier. As for the funding issue: stop funding private schools altogether. Getting the government out of education entirely: even better!
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the NDP today is not the NDP of yesterdy.
Tommy Douglas must be really pissed off. Atleast he was honest and follow his conviction on healthcare even though it was evil.
I wonder if canadians would vote for Tommy for "greatest canadia" if they find out what he said about gay.
I honestly don't know very much about Tommy Douglas. In fact I never heard of him until he was voted Canada's greatest Canadian on that CBC poll. I just assumed he was the father of Canadian socialism. No, if they knew that probably not.
Thank God he beat out David Suzuki - psuedo scientist extraordinaire
As a product of the Ontario Catholic system I can tell you that it is an incubator of the Liberal Party. After all, any politically astute Canadian will tell you that the Catholics are the cornerstone of the Liberal Party.
My opinion, the Catholic Church sold its soul to the devil when they begged for state funding. You never get something for nothing.
I somehow missed the UN reports on Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, ad infinitum. I expect the media will be along presently to inform us. No? /s
The UN isn't giving us our marching orders; Canada signed and then ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1976, with the prior approval of all 10 provinces (including Ontario, by the way). In their 1999 decision, the UN was merely pointing out our hypocrisy in not living up to the obligations we voluntarily undertook to uphold. No one shoved those obligations down our throats; we said "Yes, were good and decent people and we will respect the fundamental equality of all of our citizens". What a load of crap that was, wasn't it? The UN was just saying (again, the first time was in 1999), "We weren't suckered Canada, you talk the talk, now walk the walk".
The fresh condemnation this month (Nov 2005) was in response to Canada's latest report on the measures they have taken to give effect to the rights "guaranteed" in the Covenant (or at least "guaranteed" in some of the places that have ratified it). We'll be slapped again in another 5 years if we haven't done anything to address the problem (maybe sooner - stay tuned).
Just days after the UN censure this month, McGuinty told Chinese law students (while on a trade mission to China) that he hoped China would soon ratify the Covenant. My guess is he didn't know we were just whacked upside the head again for violating its terms. Maybe he didn't know about the first time either. It would be odd if he did: "Please follow these human rights obligations that we don't."
Were also giving even bigger violators of human rights some wiggle room. Just after Canadas censure, Iran brushed off a Canadian sponsored resolution: Being charged itself with human rights violations, is Ottawa competent enough to initiate a human rights resolution in the UN against another country? Our own status as a violator, even though of less serious offenses, seriously compromises our legitimacy as a critic of other nations violations.
Regardless of what the UN says (even though they are bang on target and deserve kudos for it), we should get rid of the waste and discrimination in our school system just because it is wrong; just because it has an opportunity cost for all of our children and for our economy. Do we need any more reason?
Want to help? See www.OneSchoolSystem.org or www.cripeweb.org. They're keen on starting groups around the province to put an end to the discrimination and waste.
"I somehow missed the UN reports on Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, ad infinitum. I expect the media will be along presently to inform us. No?"
The UN censured all the usual suspects as well. How's it feel as a Canadian that we're in the lineup?
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