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Manitoba School Question

Introduction

The world in which we live today is full of different people. These different people belong to different cultures, different languages and different customs. This element of difference keeps the factor of diversity alive in this world. Every country that exists in this world possesses its own culture and heritage. If we look at the history of these countries then it should be revealed to us that every country adopts and embraces its own culture through inspiration of culture of other countries. In a nutshell, it can be said that culture is an amalgamation of two or more cultures. Language is an important aspect of the culture. Language also gets inspired and derived from other languages. On one hand, this amalgamation of cultural elements becomes the source of unity and camaraderie between two nations and on the other hand this may also cause tension and create several issues. Similar situation is prevalent in Canada especially when it comes to the aspect of language. Canada has long been facing the debate about the official language. Both English and French languages are used to a greater extent in this country. This language conflict has raised many issues. One of the issues is of the Manitoba schools.

The school question of Manitoba is among the many crises on the right of minorities to education, by far the most complicated and most serious consequences. The Manitoba Act of 1870 established a dual system of Protestant and Roman Catholic schools. The 1870s and 1880s saw an influx of Anglo-Protestants from Ontario, thereby rapidly reducing the proportion of Francophones and Roman Catholics against the people of Manitoba. In March 1890, the Manitoba Liberal government of Thomas Greenway abolished all subsidies to Catholic schools. The Privy Council confirmed twice the validity of provincial legislation in 1892 and early 1895, but affirmed the federal government's power to restore the lost privileges in education. After much delay and several crises in the federal cabinet, the Conservative government, at the very end of its term, had this remedial legislation implemented in March 1896. The then Liberal leader Wilfrid Laurier was strongly supported by the votes of the openly anti-French and anti-Catholics, including that of Dalton McCarthy, forced the recall of the bill. The federal elections of June 1896 were mainly focused on this delicate subject. Laurier outweighed the outgoing government mainly because its candidates won 49 seats out of 65 in the province of Quebec. Laurier managed to avoid the threat of Catholic Bishops favorable to relief promised the province a less confrontational approach, but supposedly more efficient and clearer. The Laurier-Greenway compromise, which dates from the end of 1896, amended the Education Act of 1897, without restoring the separate school system, but allowed new Catholic teachers to be employed under certain circumstances; it also gave certain privileges for religious instructions in public schools. It was not until the late 70's that the need for more equitable schooling system was realised in Manitoba. In modern Quebec, we ...