Faith school funding and pluralism

Kris Dmytrenko

October 3, 2007
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Catholic Focus: “Faith Schools in Question” is now ONLINE. In my interview with Ontario Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, she admits that there have been no concerns about the integration of Catholic school graduates in greater society. This doesn’t seem like much of a revelation. But then how does this square with her party leader’s insinuations that private religious schools harbour discord?
If a judgment is not being made about non-Catholic religions, someone ought to reassure M.D. Khalid, the director of the ISNA Islamic schools. Khalid, who appears in this Focus, struggles to understand the government’s opposition to funding his school. Do post-9/11 anxieties underlie the public outcry against the PC Party’s funding proposal? Many are similarly uneasy with Evangelicals, judging by the recent uproar over creationism being taught in private school religion classes.
Meanwhile, as English Canada wagged a self-righteous finger, Quebec commissioned a traveling forum to address the conflicts between secularism, pluralism and religious rights. Would that we in Ontario were honest enough to address our own.