The Quebec provincial legislature has adopted a bill compelling local school boards to accept Jewish children as students in the institutions under their jurisdiction.
The legislation was drafted by the Government following the refusal of the Protestant educational authorities in Outremont, a suburb of Montreal, to renew a contract under which Jewish children in the community were educated at Protestant schools. The Outremont school authorities charged that the Jewish community was not contributing sufficient funds to defray the expenses incurred in educating the Jewish children.
The problem arose as a result of the fact that Quebec, in place of the system of public schools existing elsewhere in Canada, has separate Protestant and Catholic systems. Jewish children have always attended Protestant schools.
The government bill, which has been hailed by Jewish leaders and condemned by the school authorities, is only a temporary solution of the problem, however, since it compels the admittance of Jewish children to Outremont schools only through June 30, 1947.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
