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Date: 1866-11-16
By: Perth Courier
Citation: “The Sectarian School Question”, Perth Courier (16 November, 1866)
Other formats: TBA

THE SECTARIAN SCHOOL QUESTION.

Just on the eve of the departure of seven out of the eleven Canadian Ministers, on what will probably turn out to be a ‘fool’s errand,’ ominous hints have been thrown out in regard to what is to be the programme concerning the Sectarian School Question of Upper and Lower Canada. The Lower Canada ministerial papers are unanimous in the assertion that the Ministry have come to the understanding that some clause is to be inserted in the Imperial Act of Confederation, guaranteeing to each province certain privileges in the way of Sectarian Schools adverse to the wishes of the majority of the section thus to be provided for. That any such arrangement will be calmly submitted to in Upper Canada it is useless to expect. The press and people have expressed themselves with singular unanimity on the point. The people for two years past have permitted the Coalition to violate nearly every right they possessed, constitutional and otherwise—without a murmur, but any interference with our School question will bring matters to a point beyond which it will be dangerous to move, and it is hard to say what may follow if the Ministry leave the country in doubt on the subject after the boasting of the French Canadian press as to what concessions the minority in Upper Canada are to receive. In regard to the way in which the Ministry are treating the people by going away without giving so much as a hint as to what the proposed concessions to the Roman Catholics of Upper Canada are to be, the Kingston News suggests that “in a matter of such great importance, and where the worst use may be made of popular misconceptions, is it not desirable that the people of Canada should have information more definite than those unauthorized and conflicting statements? It would be well if the Ministry, by some official memorandum, public speech, or authorized statement, would make fully public the true state of the case. If these suspicions of undue interference with the school matters are unfounded, as we now feel confident they are, they should be speedily dissipated, to the end that the public may repose the necessary confidence in the Administration. A timely announcement of the ministerial policy would perhaps save some people the expense and trouble of going to England as a private deputation to secure the conservation of our school system in which they feel so warm an interest; and it would besides allay an excitement which is being daily stimulated by the organs of the opposition.” After the manner in which the people have been treated for the past three years, we do not anticipate that the Ministry will now avail themselves of the suggestion of the News, and vouchsafe any explanation on this important subject. Indeed, we shall probably know nothing of what is to transpire, until we are saddled with an imposition that will lead to the very worst consequences. The advocates of Confederation have always, and do now, claim for that scheme, that it would give each section the ability to regulate its own internal affairs, free from external interferences; George Brown has always given this as his strongest reason for supporting the measure, but if the Ministry go to England and carry out what the French Canadian papers say they will, Upper Canada will be robbed of all that she has been contending for during the past ten years. Such an outrage, we feel satisfied, would not only defeat Confederation, but would more forcibly than ever array one section against the other, which would finally culminate in total and complete separation and antagonism. We hope the Ministry may be warned in time, and abandon this nefarious and high-handed game of tampering with our school system.