Settlement of Long-standing Question Gives Montreal Jews Their Own School System

United states and in the other provinces of Canada, but two separate denominational school systems, one French Catholic and the other English Protestant.

When Montreal Jews, who as taxpayers paying their school taxes into the Protestant Panel, began to demand representation on the Protestant School Board, the Protestants refused their demand. The Jews appealed to the highest courts both of the Province and of the Dominion, but lost their case. Finally, when the Jews of Montreal brought their case before the Privy Council in London, which is a sort of “Supreme Court” of the British Empire, the Privy Council too declared that the Protestants are not obligated to give the Jews representation on their school board. The Privy Council, however, did establish the right of Montreal Jews to have their own separate school system.

In the meantime, however, sharp differences of opinion developed among Montreal Jews themselves on the feasibility of setting up separate Jewish schools. Several leaders of Montreal Jewry, led by Peter Bercovitch, a member of the Provincial Legislature, thought that such schools would eventually prove harmful to Jewish interests. Others, on the contrary, led by the Montreal Yiddish daily, “Eagle,” and the English weekly, “Canadian Jewish Chronicle,” saw in the establishment of a separate Jewish school system an opportunity to instil a stronger Jewish spirit in the Jewish youth of Montreal.

Further negotiations about Jewish representation on the Protestant School Board ensued, even after the decision of the London Privy Council. A few months ago, the Protestant School Commissioners again rejected the Jewish demand for representation. As a result of this, Mr. Bercovitch, though declaring that he still hopes for a Jewish understanding with the Protestants which would preclude the necessity of separate Jewish schools, introduced a bill in the Quebec Legislature for the setting-up of a separate Jewish school panel, which might either establish its own schools or come to an understanding with the Protestants.

The present bill, as amended by the government, does away with any further negotiations between Montreal Jews and Protestants, providing as it does for the establishment of separate Jewish schools by next September.