The Ontario Progressive Conservatives offered a solution four years ago to the difficult question of religion in education. For the sake of consistency, the Tories offered faith-based schools the same funding arrangement enjoyed by Catholic schools. In doing so, the PCs thought they were getting with the times and showing their multicultural colours. They were hoping to put behind them suggestions that there were pockets of intolerance within the party. Boy did that backfire. When people figured out this meant funding for madrasas-like Islamic schools, the sacred cow of multiculturalism proved eminently expendable. The McGuinty Liberals, hitherto champions of the multicultural ethic, were only too happy to ride opposition to the PC plan to another majority.
But now the chickens have come home to roost. Islamic parents in certain Toronto neighbourhoods have demanded a faith-based component to their children's education. Surprisingly, the Toronto District School Board is giving it to them. At a middle school in the city, prayer services presided over by an imam were said on a regular basis from November to March. The 40-minute services were said in the cafeteria and involved nearly 400 students. According to Islamic tradition, male students sat at the front, while female students sat at the rear.
This has piqued the ire of Hindu parents who don't appreciate their school being turned into a mosque. They are no less devout. But they believe a public school should be neutral territory when it comes to religion. They have a point, as do critics who accuse the McGuinty government of sucking and blowing at the same time. The Toronto District School Board is guilty of its share of hypocrisy as well, having banned Christian opening exercises several years ago. Yet it turns around and allows this.
In typical Liberal fashion, McGuinty government officials refuse to address the situation directly. Instead, when asked of it, they change the subject to allegedly higher test scores and lower dropout rates.
Ontarians could have neutralized controversies like this four years ago by endorsing the PC's funding program for faith-based education. In overwhelming numbers, voters chose not to. Instead, they sent a strong signal that parents who want a religious education for their children should fund it out of their own pocket. That, apparently, isn't happening in Toronto. The responsible parties owe us an explanation as to why the province's wishes are not being respected.