Public funding means the government, not the church or the faith, pulls the ideological strings in Ontario’s Catholic school system, some stakeholders say. And this particularly affects how the schools handle matters of gender and sexuality.
It’s a cautionary tale to any institution assured it will remain independent when accepting government funding, says Jake Zwart, executive director of the Ontario Christian Home Educators’ Connection.
“Initially there won’t be any strings,” Zwart told The Epoch Times. But after some years, when you’re already reliant on the funding, he said, the conversation will turn to, “It is, after all, government money, so we can tell you what you have to do with the government money.”
He added, “Even though it’s your money because they taxed you, that’s not the perception.”
Zwart has watched Ontario’s education system closely for decades, even as he chose to homeschool his four boys, and seen this play out.
The tension between traditional faith and modern approaches to gender and sexuality has erupted in Catholic school boards across the province recently. In some cases, police have even been called to board meetings.
The conflict came to the fore in recent months with the case of Josh Alexander, a Grade 11 student who was barred from St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Renfrew for the rest of the school year for insisting on expressing his belief that God created only two genders.
The school said his views were harmful to transgender students. He was arrested on Feb. 6 after he disregarded the terms of a suspension set by the school, believing it to be discriminatory.
Alexander, 17, told The Epoch Times he believes Catholic schools “have to push even harder to be noticed and almost get a higher social credit score than the public board, because they rely totally on the funding, and they’re afraid of losing it.”
Another contentious issue is whether Catholic schools should raise or display the pride flag.
The York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) is currently deciding whether to fly the Progress Pride flag for Pride month in June. The board has strongly stood behind the LGBTQ community in its recent public statements, but spokesperson Mark Brosens told The Epoch Times via email that parents against flying the flag are still welcome to voice their opposition in a respectful manner.
Reactions to such conflicts by the province’s minister of education, church leaders, and the Ontario Human Rights Commission reveal the tenuous hold Catholics maintain on their publicly funded Catholic schools.
The right to a publicly funded Catholic school system was written into Canada’s Constitution at the time of Confederation in 1867. It was key in uniting the French Catholic half of the budding nation with the English Protestant half.
The Church’s Stance
In a March interview with Argentine newspaper La Nación, Pope Francis said that “gender ideology” is “dangerous.” At a meeting with bishops in 2016, he also spoke out against teaching children they can choose their gender, according to a translation by the Catholic News Agency.This Archdiocese statement was presented as evidence in ongoing disciplinary hearings against TCDSB trustee Mike Del Grande, who is accused of making LGBTQ students feel unsafe.
Del Grande’s fellow trustee Markus de Domenico testified at a disciplinary hearing on April 11 that he thinks Catholic schools should favour inclusion over directions from the church.
The Archdiocese declined to comment further when The Epoch Times reached out for an interview. The Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario also declined to be interviewed.
A source familiar with the inner workings of the Catholic system in Ontario, who asked not to be named as he is not authorized to discuss these matters publicly, described how the schools have become increasingly secular.
The local bishop may be consulted on matters of faith in the schools, he said, but usually when secular views clash with the faith, the secular view wins because the government—a secular entity—provides the funding.
Flag
Education Minister Stephen Lecce met with Toronto’s new Archbishop, Francis Leo, in April and reaffirmed his “unshakeable commitment to protecting Catholic education in Ontario,” he said on Instagram. His office did not respond to an Epoch Times inquiry as to how far Catholic independence will go, whether for example, Lecce could force a Catholic board to fly a pride flag.In response to the YCDSB flag controversy in his own riding, Lecce told reporters in Burlington on May 1 that flying the flag is “something that’s done to send a signal of respect and inclusion, and I would welcome that in publicly funded schools.”
He said he would not, however, intervene in the board’s decision.
The Pope, Toronto’s Archdiocese, and Ontario’s bishops have all expressed concern about schools affirming LGBTQ identities. The Progress Pride flag in particular has colours that represent the transgender community, above and beyond the rainbow flag which represents only homosexuals.