Clauses in Government’s Jewish School Bill for Montreal Cause Apprehension Among Supporters of Separ

The clauses in the government’s projected Jewish school bill which were announced yesterday, have caused further misapprehension in the ranks of those Jews here who are fighting for separate Jewish schools. Although the bill creates a Jewish school commission and lays down the principle of a separate school status for the Jews, it not only leaves the doors open for negotiations with the Protestants, but also leaves all questions pertaining to the education of Jewish children under the jurisdiction of the Superintendent of Education, the Jewish school commission acting only in an advisory capacity in questions pertaining to the curriculum, etc.

Another barrier to separate Jewish schools, even if negotiations with the Protestants should fail, may be the clause in the new Education Act whereby the consent of two-thirds of the property owners will be needed for the creation of separate Jewish schools in any municipality.

The main clauses in the new bill are as follows:

1. A commission is to be incorporated under the name of “Jewish School Commission of Montreal,” composed of five members of the Jewish faith, appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council (i.e., the government), one of which shall be designated as President. The President and members of the commission shall remain in office for a period of five years, but they may be replaced at any time by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council. The territory under the jurisdiction of the commission shall include the entire Island of Montreal.

2. The commission shall have with respect to the education of persons of Jewish faith the same powers as those possessed by the Montreal Catholic and Protestant School Commissions over the education of persons of their respective faiths. Upon the invitation of the Provincial Council of Education or the Superintendent of Education, the Montreal Jewish Commission may be summoned to meet each council in any advisory capacity with respect to educational questions affecting the whole population of Montreal or matters affecting especially the education of persons of Jewish faith. The Jewish Commission may make such regulations as it may deem necessary for the government of its schools, but such regulations cannot come into force until they are approved by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council upon the recommendation of the Provincial Superintendent of Education, who has jurisdiction over all questions pertaining to the education of persons of Jewish faith.

3. The government may, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Education or upon the application of the Jewish School Commission of Montreal, establish by proclamation a Jewish Central Board of Examiners for the examination of candidates for teachers for persons of that faith.

4. One or more school municipalities for persons professing the Jewish faith may be erected in every school municipality on the Island of Montreal, under Sections 71 and 72 of the Education Act. (This clause is considered a great barrier to the establishment of separate Jewish schools, because the consent of two-thirds of the property owners of a certain municipality are needed for that purpose under these two sections).

5. The Jewish School Commission, instead of establishing separate schools for the education of children of the Jewish faith, may enter into an arrangement with any other board of school commissioners for the education of Jewish children, provided all such arrangements are subjected to the approval of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council on the recommendation of the Superintendent of Education.

Other clauses in the bill provide for the inclusion of the Jewish Commission in the sharing of the funds of the neutral panel, relative to the proportion of the Jewish population, and that the government may also by a proclamation repeal the Act of 1903, which declared Jews “Protestants” for school purposes.