The Borough of North York, largest suburb within Metropolitan Toronto removed religious instruction from its public school system this weekend. Schools in Ontario possess the right to ask exemption from giving religious instruction if the school board puts such a request to the Department of Education. The motion was presented by trustee Sidney Moscoe and seconded by trustee Val Scott. It passed by a vote of 8-4, Of the 12 trustees, two are Jewish.
Back in 1959-63 North York was the center of a strenuous battle on the subject. Half of Metropolitan Toronto’s 36,000 Jewish residents live there and in the early 1960’s there were constant complaints about the doctrinal nature of the course. The Committee for a Fair Religious Policy carried on a move to introduce the “3:30 plan.” providing that religious instruction be given at 3:30 to enable exempted pupils to leave the school. This plan was adopted in a number of schools but the borough’s school administration, it was claimed, tended to permit this only in schools where there was a majority of Jewish pupils. The tension and conflict in North York in the early 60’s gave rise to open public discussion on the subject of religious education in the public schools.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
