September, 1927 THE BUILDER

Church and Schools in Quebec

By BRO. M. W. JOHNSTON, Canada

IT is probable that in this second decade of the twentieth century
there is no part of the world where the Roman Church is in a
position of greater power and influence than in the Province of
Quebec, not even excepting the Irish Free state. The nominally
Roman Catholic countries everywhere put restrictions on the Church
to an extent scarcely realized in Protestant countries. It would
seem that they have "had enough." The same process seems to be
under way in Ireland, too, now that that distressful country
possesses a government of its own, republican in everything but
name and external form, and is discovering to its astonishment that
many of the ills incident to a government were not due to heartless
English tyranny. Thus it is that in Quebec the result of Church
domination can be seen at its best, or as that word is ambiguous in
this connection, in its completest development.

In order that the present position of affairs may be made clear to
American readers of THE BUILDER a few words need to be said as to
the history of the Province. In 1763 Canada was ceded to Great
Britain by the Treaty of Paris, being already in its possession
through the capture of Quebec in 1759 by Wolfe, and the surrender
of Montreal in the following year. Before peace was signed, the
British by Royal Proclamation had assured to the French colonists
their law, religion and property rights. And all this was formally
reaffirmed when peace was made. Contemporary documents prove the
deep gratitude of the Canadians--then of course entirely French
Canadians--for this generosity, which their leaders both clerical
and lay repeatedly affirmed to be as great as it was, to them,
unexpected. In fact, until after the War of Independence the change
of ownership made no difference at all to the people; the only
change was that the Governor was an Englishman instead of a
Frenchman, and that the new governors were less autocratic than
those sent out from France.

As a result of the War of Independence and the formation of the
United States out of the old British Colonies there was a
considerable immigration into Canada from south of the borderland.
A very large number of families and individuals, known as Tories in
American history books, but who are honored in Canada under the
name of United Empire Loyalists, left their old homes and, in most
cases with little but such belongings as they could bring with
them, trekked into the unsettled wilderness of Canada to carve out
new homes for themselves. Most of them settled in Upper Canada, now
the Province of Ontario, but a considerable number came up through
New Hampshire and Vermont, and crossed the border into the district
known as the Eastern Townships in Quebec. They were followed by
other immigrants from the Eastern states, largely from New
Hampshire, so that this part of Canada, up until about twenty-five
years ago, was almost as American as the Americans themselves, in
everything but allegiance. Their customs, habits, manners, speech,
methods of farming, houses and barns were practically identical.
This community formed the only compact English speaking and
Protestant group of the population of Quebec, of which more than 80
per cent is French. The local government of this community was from
the very first different from that of the rest of the Province. The
French had introduced the feudal system into Canada. The seigneurs
and the Church both had rights and privileges, which the latter to
all intents and purposes still retains. The new English speaking
communities naturally improvised a government for themselves as it
was required, on the basis of their past habits and customs, and
this gradually became officially recognized, with on the whole
remarkably little friction. One of the very first things done was
to arrange for schools, at first on what might almost be called the
subscription plan. A log cabin would be built by a "bee" for a
schoolhouse, a teacher would be hired, every household chipping in
to pay the bargained salary, and taking turns to board the teacher.
It was a makeshift method, but not so inefficient as might be
supposed. The teachers were generally young men, aiming to become
either ministers, lawyers or physicians. Though the average scholar
learned little more than to read and write and "cipher," yet those
with more in them had sufficient opportunity to forge ahead, and go
later on to some other town where there was an academy, and from
there perhaps to college.

So far as the Townships near the border line were concerned it was
quite usual for young men to go to one or other of the Colleges in
the New England States, as communications were more natural and
easy to the south. A great part of the people had relatives in the
United States, which also was a pre-disposing cause for this state
of affairs. But M'Gill University was founded in 1820 at Montreal,
and Academies were started in most centers of population almost
from the first. These Academies frequently had teachers competent
to take students as far as what would now be second or third year
Arts in a University, and often turned out more all-around educated
graduates than the specialized College courses succeed in doing
today in a great many cases.

In contrast to the early foundation, comparatively speaking, of a
Protestant College in Montreal, Laval, the Roman Catholic
institution, was not chartered until 1852, just a year before the
foundation of a second Protestant University, this time in the
Eastern Townships. But though the Roman Catholics had no university
of their own until this time it must not be supposed that they had
no educational arrangements at all. Just what, if anything, was
done for the country people, the habitants, who then formed (as
they still do) by far the larger part of the French population, is
not easy-to discover. There was no system. Schools existed here and
there where some exceptional cure or parish priest was interested;
but judging by such indications as are available it is probable
that a very large proportion of these people had no school
education at all. Even today a very large proportion of them can
neither read nor write. It simply was not considered necessary or
advisable that they should be literate. They were born to cultivate
the soil, pay tithes and taxes to the Church and service to their
seigneurs, and produce another generation to take their place. The
seignorial rights did not endure very long under British rule
except for some annoying "servitudes," to use the legal phrase,
attached to the land in many places in the "French country," such
as liability to clear watercourses or repair roads, or pay a sort
of tax or quit rent in lieu of such service. But the Roman Church
has never let go anything she held under the old regime. Or rather
she has let go with one hand while taking a firmer grasp with
another. Though not in form established by law, she is so in effect
so far as her own people are concerned, and even if one of them
should become Protestant, as occasionally happens, he finds it most
difficult to break out of the legal network that compels him to go
on paying Church dues. This of course applies only to the habitant.
The other classes, not being tied to the land, are not so much at
the mercy of the ecclesiastical organization.

The professional and ruling classes up to the middle of the last
century were edulcated in convents and monasteries. Girls of the
same classes still go to Convent schools as a matter of course, and
receive an excellent education. Perhaps rather old-fashioned now-a-
days, more calculated to make refined ladies capable of intelligent
interest in many different things rather than young women able to
make a living for themselves. But their schools are good, and many
Protestant girls are sent to them. The proportion of such pupils
who become Roman Catholics is negligible and there seems to be no
attempt made to proselytize. For boys there are many similar
schools conducted by various brotherhoods, and these, too, are
excellent. Not infrequently unmanageable Protestant boys are sent
to them for the sake of the discipline which is exceedingly strict;
too much so to be of lasting benefit, in fact, if such cases as
have come under the writer's notice are any criterion. Most French
Canadian professional men are educated at Laval, which has splendid
medical and legal schools. Engineers, however, frequently go to
M'Gill, after taking an Arts course or its equivalent at Laval or
one of the Brotherhood schools or colleges. While conversely many
Protestant law students go to the French colleges, partly to
perfect themselves in speaking French, which is absolutely
necessary for a lawyer practicing in the Province of Quebec.

But of course higher education is always arranged for in every
country under all types of government. When it comes to popular
elementary instruction it is quite another thing. In a brief
article it is impossible to give any account of the development of
the present state of affairs, but the school question has always
been a bone of contention in Canada. The trouble arises inevitably
from the opposing ideals of two races intensified by religious
questions. It is doing the Roman Church no injustice to say that it
is only interested ill education as a means of attaching its
children to the system. Looked at fairly it is impossible to
condemn this. Every Church wants to do the same. But the Roman
Church seems to prefer, or if that is too sweeping, is at least
very willing to acquiesce in having the great majority of children
left uneducated except so far as teaching them "their religion" is
concerned. Literary education for the ruling and professional
classes, for the rest no more is necessary than to learn to do
their work in the station and class into which they are born. They
are thus docile, submissive and content, and as the Church claims,
far happier. There may be some truth in this, too. But it is a
totally different ideal from that of the English Protestant people,
and conflict is bound to arise until by some compromise a modus
vivendi is arrived at.

There was first a school question in Ontario. The Roman Church won
that round. Ontario and Quebec together were originally Canada; on
that ground the claims that the French had by the original Royal
Proclamations at the conquest and later embodied in the Treaty of
Paris, were adjudged to hold for the whole of the original Canada;
it did not affect the maritime Provinces which were British long
before, nor Prince Rupert's Land, long known as Hudson Bay or
Northwest Territories. So Ontario much against her will was saddled
with separate schools. The battle then shifted to Manitoba, erected
into a Province about 1870. After much political bickering and
appeals to the courts, which were eventually taken to the final
judicial authority of the Empire, the Privy Council, it was decided
that Manitoba did not come under this rule. So round number two
went to the Protestants. But the Church learned a lesson, and when
in 1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan were made into Provinces the
Dominion Government, then dominated by the French Liberals of
Quebec and led by the devout Laurier, saw to it that the
Constitutions of the new Provinces contained clauses requiring
separate schools. These two Provinces would now like to have it
otherwise, but it seems that this last bout also goes to the
Church.

The question is not wholly religious, it is in large part political
and racial. The Roman Church (quite naturally) would like to keep
the French separate, a racial block with another language as well
as another religion. By doing this they hope to eventually get
control of the whole Dominion. The Western Provinces wish to break
up this racial exclusiveness and make English speech and English
traditions prevail. They are otherwise not specially interested in
the purely religious side of the matter. This is how the matter
stands generally, and though this has been something of a
digression, it will help to make it easier to understand the
position in Quebec. And that may be taken as an object lesson, an
actual example of a Church controlled state. It is a little hard to
say if the situation would remain so favorable to Protestants if
Quebec were an independent Republic, as some French groups pretend
to desire. Although perhaps the chief check on any open
discrimination lies in the fact that in Ontario a very considerable
French population is similarly at the mercy of a strong Protestant
majority. Thus each dominating group has a hostage in the hands of
the other, and it may be that the possibility of reprisals has
helped to keep things fairly adjusted--possibly on both sides.

The organization of education in the Province is dual; that follows
from the separate school system. There is a Provincial Council of
Public Instruction which is divided into two permanent committees,
really separate Boards, one Roman Catholic, the other Protestant.
The Roman Bishops of the Province have a seat on their Board ex
officio. But the powers of the two sides of this Council are really
not very great. There is no compulsory education act, and the local
School Commissioners or Trustees can do pretty much as they like.
The Council suggests textbooks, curricula and is ready to advise.
They also have inspectors, who, however, can do little more than
advise and report. In certain cases the government by the advice of
the Council will make grants in aid for new school buildings, but
there does not seem to be much of the Provincial revenue allotted
for this purpose. The real working part of the system is the
machinery of the local School Commissioners. There is a difference
hetween Commissioners and Trustees, though in function they are
about the same thing.

In an unmixed community, all French or all English, a School Board
is elected by the tax payers, that is the owners of real estate.
The board consists of six members elected for a three-year period,
two retiring every year. They have full power over the schools in
the Township or Municipality. They decide on the school districts,
the school year, where the buildings are to be, engaging teachers
and paying them. For these purposes they have power to levy a tax
on all real property. If, however, there is a dissenting group of
families who want a separate school, a new machine is set up. The
dissenters are empowered to elect a Board of Trustees instead of
Commissioners, but their powers are the same, except that they are
not empowered to collect their tax. This must be done by the
Secretary Treasurer of the School Commissioners, who has to
transfer it to the Treasurer of the Board. This, however, is a mere
formality. Each body taxes its own people and sets its own rate.
The taxes on neutral property, that belonging to corporations,
railways and so on, are divided pro-rata, but the tax rate on such
property is that set by the Commissioners.

In the description this sounds rather complicated, but it works
very smoothly, and though of course there is often some friction
when a new separation is made it is chiefly due to lack of
knowledge of the respective rights and duties on each side. When
got into running order it goes as smoothly as any such machinery
can be expected to. The two groups are really independent and have
only themselves to blame if things go wrong.

During the last ten or twelve years there have been many new
separations in the district spoken of above, the Eastern Townships.
During the war farmers were exempted from service. The French
Canadians were very generally influenced by their priests against
the idea.of participation in the conflict. Some of them said, even
in the pulpit, that godless France deserved to be destroyed, and
that the thing to do was to let the English go and fight the
Germans and get killed and the French could take possession of
Canada. This is not at all exaggerated, though it was all
unofficial. However, the English speaking young men did go, while
the young French Canadians, or their fathers for them, bought the
homesteads of the English farmers so as to gain exemption. Prices
went up, of course, to even three times normal value. However,
there seems to be some way of financing this sort of thing, and the
result was that French Canadians were moving in to districts where
there had been very few before. The process, however, was not new,
though the war accelerated it. The young English speaking Canadians
are greatly drawn to the west, and thus leave the east for the
French, who are always ready to buy them out. But until
comparatively recently such French as were living in Protestant
districts were content to send their children to the schools
already in existence. Left to themselves they would have continued
to do so, but so soon as there are enough to make it at all
possible the priests insist on a separate school. The result is, of
course, in a rural community, to diminish the efflciency all
around. The Protestants are meeting this by amalgamated schools,
and hiring transportation of the children. This being usually done
by contract for the school year. By this means Protestant education
is being definitely improved in the country, for the amalgamated
schools are graded, better furnished, and have usually a college
graduate as principal.

Perhaps an account of an actual case will serve as a useful
example. It is a typical history, though of course the details vary
in different places. During the war the influx of French families
into this village was considerable, indeed in 1919 they outnumbered
the Protestants by a hundred or more; but the Protestants still
held three-quarters approximately of real estate. However, the Cure
insisted on a separate school, and the various formalities were
gone through and the dissenting Board of Trustees set up. The
School Commissioners had united some years before with another
village and had a combination school of very high quality. To this
school the better class French people had been sending their
children, the others went nowhere, though they might have gone to
this school had their parents sent them. After the separate school
was started, most of these better class children continued to go to
the Protestant school, though their parents had to pay scholar
fees. Some could not afford it. One man held out and refused to
dissent as he had three children going to school. Pressure was put
on him, however, with the result that he agreed to pay double
taxes, which came cheaper than the scholar fees.

The Board of Trustees elected by the Roman Catholic dissentients
had three members who could not sign their own names; their
Secretary-Treasurer could scarcely write and had to get assistance
from the Cure with his books. They appointed as teacher a girl of
seventeen who had only an elementary school education -- but she
knew the Catechism by heart. She was a daughter of one of the
Trustees and niece of another. This was the provision for a number
of children considerably larger than the Protestants. The tax rate
for the French is three times that of the English, but of course it
is paid on a smaller valuation and so does not bring in as large a
revenue. Still the Protestants sometimes wonder what is done with
the money, as the girl teacher is paid very little -- even though
more than she is worth from an educational point of view. From the
point of view of the Cure, and one must suppose of the Church, it
is all right. The children are taught in French, and they are
taught the Catechism, and they go to church on every Saint's day,
and possibly the brighter ones may learn to read and write a
little.

It is very curious, though. The Protestant children are taught
French in school (every child should learn to speak another
language) but they rarely learn French. The French children are not
taught English, but in mixed communities they invariably learn it
and most of them speak it among themselves by preference, in spite
of all the efforts of the priest and sometimes of their parents.

Thus it is clear that there are two conflicting ideals, and it may
be seen why Protestants view the situation with some concern. Not
with alarm for the problem is an old one and they have grown up
with it. But they are determined their own children shall be
educated as well as possible, and the result is, that in spite of
being such a small fraction of the total population, the
Protestants hold a preponderance of wealth, and far more than their
own share, numerically judged, of influence both social and
political -- though they have to work for it. But they naturally
often wish that there could be a single system of education.
However, under present conditions the separate school is really
their safeguard. Without it they would either sink to the lower
level or be forced to send their children to private schools and
thus pay twice over for their education.

