Public Funding for Religious Schools - Ontario Election 2007

Religious Schools: Hello Public Funding, Goodbye Charter Protection

The religious freedom of schools that accepted public funding would lose the protection of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; schools could be secularized: McKeever

September 19, 2007, London, Ontario - Freedom Party leader Paul McKeever (candidate in the riding of London West) today is warning that the Progressive Conservative proposal to fund religious schools with taxpayer dollars would deprive participating religious schools of constitutionally-entrenched protections of their religious freedom. 

"The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a set of laws that limits what the government can do", says McKeever, a lawyer who has studied and written about Canadian constitutional law.  "Ontario's Superior Court of Justice has already stated that a school funded with tax revenues is a 'state actor'; in effect, such a school is legally regarded as a part of the government.  Therefore, once a school becomes publicly funded, its policies and curriculum become regulated by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  At that point, parents or student can use the Charter to have the Court outlaw any aspect of the school's curriculum, school policy, or learning environment that violates the student's Charter rights. 

"The Court has already decided* that, when a student claims his Charter right to equality is violated by a publicly-funded school's religiously-founded policies, the court will overrule the school's religiously-founded policy.  In short: once a school accepts tax funding, its policies, curriculum and learning environment will be overruled if they discriminate on the basis of such things as religious belief or custom.

"Therefore, were a religious school to accept tax funding, adults and their children would gain the power to secularize pretty much any of the school's curriculum, policies, or learning environment.  As examples, schools displaying Christian crosses might be forced to remove them so as not to violate the religious freedom of non-Christian students; religious schools requiring students to wear clothing dictated by the school's religious teachings might be prevented from enforcing such dress codes; schools that morally condemn some aspect of another religion might be prohibited from doing so.

"John Tory's proposal to fund religious schools with taxpayer money is rightly condemned by taxpayers who do not want to see their earnings spent on the religious indoctrination of other peoples' children.  However, at this stage in the election, the Charter implications have so far gone unnoticed.  I think it is important, before voting starts, for proponents of religious schooling also to realize that John Tory's proposal would deprive religious schools of Charter protection.  Those who oppose religious education would be empowered, by Tory's proposal, to secularize religious schools in Ontario."

Freedom Party is opposed to funding schools with tax revenues, whether those schools be government-owned or privately-owned, and whether they be religious or non-religious.  Accordingly, Freedom Party opposes education taxes.  Freedom Party takes the position that parents should instead pay tuition directly to the school that their child attends, whether that school is government-owned or privately-owned, and whether that school is religious or non-religious.  Freedom Party opposes the idea that a parent should pay taxes to support a school that his child does not attend.

*BACKGROUNDER