The attention of the Jews in the province of Quebec is now centered on the discussion as to whether their sore school problem has come nearer to a solution or not.
For thousands of Jewish parents in Montreal the school problem is a very painful one not only because in the eyes of the Quebec school laws they are not recognized as Jews but also because for decades now they have been offered constant affronts and injustices by the Protestant teachers of their children. It has now come to a point where the Jews feel that conditions are unbearable and that things will have to take a turn.
Unfortunately the discussion which has been going on in the Canadian and Jewish press relative to his matter has resulted in a situation where the Protestant point of view has been made thoroughly clear in Gentile circles while the Jewish point of view still remains obscured and misunderstood.
Last year, during the debate in the provincial legislature on the famous Protestant Bill No. 150, which deals with the school question, the Premier of Quebec said: “We have preached it too much, not to give to others that which we demanded for ourselves.” He referred to the Jews, and his broad-minded noble statement was really followed by the creation of a special commission to study the school question. On this commission the Jews had an equal representation; there were three Protestants, three Catholics and three Jews.
Several days ago this commission concluded its hearings and, after it has arrived at some understanding in the matter, it will present its report offering a solution to the school problem.
It is impossible to say what plan the commission will recommend. But it is interesting at this time to note some facts in the history of this school problem.
It must be understood that Canada has no national school system. The schools are divided into three systems, and the Constitution speaks only of Protestants and Catholics in this connection. That is why the Jews, ever since they formed a considerable settlement in Canada, have had trouble with their school problem. It occurred in many instances that Jewish children had to be sent to Catholic schools to be instructed by priests and nuns. The Jews even turned over their school taxes to the Catholic fund.
As for the Protestants, the Jews endeavored to come to some arrangement with them but never succeeded fully. At one time the Protestants agreed to employ a Jewish teacher for the Jewish pupils in the school of Dofrin, but they constantly complained that they were losing money on the Jews. Furthermore, they accepted and considered Jewish children not as Jews but as “Protestants.”
This actually meant that the Jews were denied recognition as a national and religious entity and their children classified as “Jewish Protestants.”
Another remarkable thing is the fact that a Jew cannot be represented on any Protestant school commission, so that whereas he has the right to be a councilor, a premier or even a governor-general, he has no right to sit on commissions which decide about the school taxes he is to pay and about the education of his children. Up to 1913 Jewish teachers, too, were kept out of the schools and today the number of those who have been accepted is very small.
The Protestants have always been complaining that it costs “too much” to teach the Jewish children, that the Jews have too many holidays, that Jewish pupils corrupt the Christian atmosphere in the schools. etc. They have even introduced a bill in the Legislature which, if passed, would give them the right to act entirely according to their own discretion in dealing with the Jewish pupils and even to segregate them in separate classes.
Everyone here, Jews as well as. Gentiles, are waiting anxiously to hear the report of the School Commission.
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.
