Strong support for Jewish requests that the Quebec provincial government allocate funds from school taxes to Jewish day schools was voiced today by the influential Catholic daily, Le Devoir. Some 4,000 Jewish children attend the Jewish day schools in Montreal. All other primary schools are under Catholic or Protestant direction supported by general school tax levies.
The editorial, signed by Catholic Action leader Claude Ryan, asserted that “in granting perfect school equality to those Jews who already bear heavy sacrifices to maintain their culture, we will show the entire country the true roots from which springs our attachment to our own cultural treasure.”
“We will prove that what we ask for ourselves we also want others to have,” the editorial continued, adding that Quebec Jewry was divided between attachment to a universal ideal of democracy with a single school system for all children, and a Jewish loyalty which requires an intensive and separate Jewish education. The editorial noted that Dr. Nahum Goldmann, the world Jewish leader, “sees no contradiction in this polarity, but rather finds true equality in a system which ensures survival for minorities.”
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.
