Ashley Fredette: Blog 3

This was an extremely information-heavy chapter that details the history of education in Canada, largely concerning the relationship between Upper and Lower Canada in regards to education. I was very interested to learn about the reasons behind Quebec’s issues with the rest of Canada. It makes a lot of sense that ultramontanism is at the heart of it all and that Catholic education is prevalent in the French-Canadian community. The threat to the role of the Church in Lower Canada/Quebec’s education system would definitely fuel the fire between the French and the English. With respect toward the efforts of the English to reform Canada’s education system, I sympathize with the French because my family is French-Canadian, and I grew up in the Roman Catholic Church. While I do not agree with everything the Church stands for, does, or has done (the Residential Schools situation makes me quite embarrassed, actually, to be Catholic), it is a part of my identity and my belief in God is a comfort. I love having a sense of tradition in a world where the only certain thing is change.

My religious identity aside, as a Teacher Candidate I have to agree that the demographic in Canada has changed more than significantly over the years, and we have to accommodate people from many different backgrounds. I am ashamed that Canada has done such a poor job of integrating its immigrants. I think that we have learned from our mistakes and that we are doing a much better job, but racism still goes on and we need to continue putting in the effort to stop it from happening. I think that Ryerson’s drive to implement the public school system really paid off, and that integration is the best way to have a functional, tolerant society.

I never knew that Manitoba is home to the widest controversy in the history of Canadian education! Having gone to a religious institution myself (Canadian Mennonite University), I couldn’t help but wonder if my university could have existed without the amendment by Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier. I know that the concern was with Catholic schools, but did Mennonite schools escape unscathed? I think there is a bit of an over-generalization in the text in regards to this issue. I think that the word “Catholicism” is stereotypically French in this text, and I know for a fact that not all Catholics are (or were, at the time) French. In any case, I am glad that the amendment served as protection for Catholic education in Manitoba.

Discussion Question: I wonder if other religious institutions were affected in Manitoba with the instalment of the public school system? In other provinces/territories?