The influence of Religious Teaching Orders on Catholic schools in Canada outside of Quebec

Abstract

A large number of Religious Orders administered and taught in Catholic elementary and secondary schools. This article examines their contributions to the Catholic formation and education of their students by their witness and curriculum. It discusses their contributions and the extent of them in the light of the provincial environment in which they worked. It examines the different laws and practices in each of Canada’s provinces which enhance or limit the contributions of the Religious Orders.

Keywords:

• religious teaching orders
• constitutional denominational rights
• Catholic schools
• Catholic school curriculum
• Catholic teacher witness
• funding for Catholic schools

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Legally a separate school is a separate common school, later a separate public school. The full term is never used.

2 Debates of the House of Commons, 6th Sess 7th Parl, 59 Vict. 1896, col 2719 at 2724, March 3, 1896.

3 The designation common school, originating in the United States, meant a school for the children of all. In law it was non-denominational, although in practice until the 1950s was a Protestant school in terms of its religious education curriculum. Its curriculum covered both elementary and secondary levels, depending on the student body. Each province after Confederation changed the term to public school covering the first eight or ten years of education.

4 Exparte Renaud, 2 Cartwright, 445.

5 Maher v. Town of Portland, 2 Cartwright, 486.

6 Barrett Case

7 Brophy Case

8 True Witness, 2 July 1858, quoting the speech of Thomas D'Arcy McGee in the legislature on 23 June 1858

9 The origin of the word Normal is related to the curriculum of the Normal School where its candidates to become teachers were expected to learn the norms of good pedagogy.

10 ‘Preface’ to The Literary Class-Book, or, Sixth Book of Reading Lessons in Prose and Verse, by Christian Brothers (1889). See also the Preface and Table of Contents for The Third Book of Reading Lessons, (undated); School Grammar of the English Language (1851); “Christian Brothers in Print”, Christian Brothers Educational Record, Mono Mills, Ontario: (1976), 131–137.

11 In 1986, the Institute for Catholic Education (ICE) was established by the Ontario Council of Catholic Bishops (now called the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario). Twelve provincial Catholic education associations along with the Bishops constitute ICE’s members. ICE has as its mission to support all those responsible for anglophone Catholic education in Ontario, to reinforce their efforts to define the nature and role of Catholic education, and to provide a learning environment that confirms and nurtures the students’ Catholic faith. ICE has established guidelines for courses in Catholic teacher preparation, and published curriculum documents in secondary school religious education, AIDS education, religious education for special education students, family life education, and for each of the secular subjects. In addition, it developed provincial expectations for secondary-school separate school graduates.

12 There have been two negative events with which Religious Teaching Orders have been associated: the Mount Cashel scandal in Newfoundland and the abusive treatment of the First Nations (i.e. Indigenous) children in residential schools. The Congregation of Christian Brothers of Ireland (CBIC) had been operating the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John’s, Newfoundland since the 1950s. In the late 1980s, sexual and physical abuse by the CBIC staffmembers of over 300 Mount Cashel residents was uncovered. Two commissions of inquiry – the Hughes Inquiry and the Winter Commission – led to criminal convictions, court-imposed financial settlements and the seizure and liquidation of several CBIC properties in Newfoundland and Labrador. In turn, since the CBIC taught in Catholic schools, the scandal led to a general lack of support for publicly-supported denominational schools. The provincial government conducted a referendum which narrowly supported the replacement of the four types of denominational schools with one public-school system. The legislature then passed a bill to ask the federal government to remove Term 17 of the 1949 Terms of Union with Canada. The federal government acquiesced. Newfoundland now has one public-school system. Any remaining Catholic schools are private.

 The Mount Cashel scandal was a cause of the elimination of publicly-funded Catholic schools, but was not the only cause. Many citizens felt that the existence of four types of public schools was expensive and duplicatory and produced in many communities small schools with a limited curriculum and staff expertise. Furthermore, the Newfoundland economy was not doing well due to the decline of the cod fishery. As well, the Catholic Church had been experiencing a decline in the number of practising Catholics.

 In the 1880s, the federal government with the Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, and United Churches established residential schools for the children of Aboriginals, Inuits and Métis. The Catholic Religious Orders operated more than three fifths of these schools. The Indigneous children were removed from their homes, isolated by often hundreds of miles from their communities, to implement a government policy of converting the children to Christianity and the Euro-Canadian culture. Eradication of their native languages, cultural and spiritual customs and heritage was the aim.

 Due to inadequate funding for teacher salaries, instructional supplies, proper clothing and food, and crowded classrooms, the system failed. Even if these serious shortcomings had been addressed, the experiment of cultural extinguishment was an unworthy one destined to fail. Worse still, with inadequate oversight, some teachers used excessive punishment and even physical abuse. As well, there were incidents of sexual abuse. The victims of such treatment were widespread. There were 130 residential schools, forty-four of them Catholic, located mostly in Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, northern Quebec, and northwestern Ontario. It is estimated that about 150,000 Indigneous children were extracted to residential schools from the 1890s to 1969, when the Department of Indian Affairs took over the schools, ended church involvement, and began phasing out the schools. By 1986, most residential schools were closed or turned over to the local First Nation.

 In the late 1990s, former residential school students began seeking compensation for their suffering, raising the consciousness of the Canadian public. In 2005, he federal government established a $1.9-billion compensation package for the survivors of abuse. In 2007, it and the churches agreed to provide financial compensation under the Residential School Settlement Agreement. In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper on behalf of the Canadian government apologized to the Indigneous peoples, stating that the assimilationist policy was wrong and caused great suffering. In the same year, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to uncover the trurh about the residential schools. As a result of its findings and lengthy report, the Premiers of Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario publicly apologized for their provinces’ toleration of residential schools.

 Unfortunately, associated with the residential school scandal were about three dozen Catholic Religious Orders, the largest group being the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI). A number of former students launched charges in court against the Order. In 1991, the OMI apologized for what it termed its cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious superiority in its relationship with Canada’s Aboriginal peoples and for the instances of physical and sexual abuse that occurred in some of their schools. The OMI committed itself to establishing a renewed covenant of solidarity with the Indigenous peoples.

On the other hand, one should not be too revisionist. The OMI and other Religious Orders were part of the accepted mindset of the government and much of the general public. Many of the Religious Order teachers at personal sacrifice chose to live out their vocations by doing what they mistakenly believed was best for their students, preparing them for entrance into the dominant Canadian culture and world of work. It is good that the OMI and the Assembly of Catholic Bishops are providing leadership in outreaches to the Indignous peoples and in urging Catholics to work for social justice for their First Nation brothers and sisters.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert T. Dixon

Dr. Robert Dixon is a previous director of education for two different separate school boards in Ontario and a retired adjunct professor at Niagara University, Lewiston, New York, and St. Augustine’s, University of Toronto. He is the author of six books on Catholic education in Ontario and has submitted eight affidavits to the Courts on matters of separate school constitutional rights.