Yes! It's about goddamn time. And I say this as someone who went to publicly funded Catholic schools for K-12. Catholic schools teach bigotry and intolerance. And their very existence is an affront to a secular society. - ThreadSky

julieslalonde.bsky.social • 37 days ago

Yes! It's about goddamn time.

And I say this as someone who went to publicly funded Catholic schools for K-12.

Catholic schools teach bigotry and intolerance. And their very existence is an affront to a secular society.

Comments

amacgregor.bsky.social•37 days ago

Agreed. Freedom of religion should include the assumption that you do it on your own dime.
Oh yeah... tax the churches too. They're exempt on an obsolete assumption that they're making important philanthropic contributions.

hpd9999.bsky.social•37 days ago

Same for MB, even if partially funded! "...End public funding for Catholic schools. Having a vast separate system for Catholics makes no sense in 21st-century Canada. We don’t fund Jewish, Hindu or Muslim schools. Why Catholic ones?" #mbeducation #MBGov

rayhoang.bsky.social•37 days ago

Maybe, but I'm not too sure that a Canada without religion isn't a good thing either. *gestures to America*

rayhoang.bsky.social•37 days ago

Personally I think a series of schools of different faiths is a good thing, but also, that merging school board does cost a lot of money. There's a long term cost to these things.

surfhutte1972.bsky.social•36 days ago

Merging the Catholic and public boards would in fact save Ontario taxpayers around $1.5 billion each year. We shouldn’t be funding religious based schools in a secular society. Re: your other comment, the “religious” right are the problem in the US, we’ll be fine w/out Catholic schools :-)

rayhoang.bsky.social•36 days ago

So I did a bit of digging around... That 1.5 billion dollar paper seems like they're making up numbers, and not taking into account the cost of harmonising: https://urbanneighbourhoods.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ontario-public-and-catholic-school-merger-study.pdf

surfhutte1972.bsky.social•36 days ago

So this is from 2012, a bit outdated, but I’m not sure that they’re making up numbers. TBH, the savings are probably more now 13 years on. They’re big numbers but look to be reasonable. I’ve looked at TDSB financials before. Do you have any links to how much the cost of harmonizing would be? Curious

rayhoang.bsky.social•36 days ago

The reason why I claimed they're seemed making up number is because they're proposing x% savings, without explaining how they reached x%. For example, their claim of economies of scale does not show any math that x% will result.

jardinerob.bsky.social•36 days ago

The U.S. may have a number of problems, but a lack of religion isn’t one of them.

mrcansays.bsky.social•37 days ago

Yup. 💯

terraistrying.bsky.social•37 days ago

Tax churches.

theghost42.bsky.social•36 days ago

Use the revenue to pay for demolishing them.

dmfox.bsky.social•37 days ago

Unfortunately, Catholic-school educated Stephen Lecce supported the system. Many new schools for RC boards were announced during his tenure as Min of Ed. Doug Ford will not have the intestinal fortitude to go anywhere near this issue.

julieslalonde.bsky.social•37 days ago

Of course he wouldn't. He's not the one to push for it. But the other two parties could.

dmfox.bsky.social•37 days ago

I think they’re all afraid of the lesson John Tory learned.

hamishbuchanan.bsky.social•37 days ago

He wanted to extend public funding to other religious schools, not to abolish the separate Catholic system.

No doubt there would be some backlash, but even Newfoundland managed to do it.

imeating.bsky.social•37 days ago

It's definitely an affront to a lot of Indigenous people, I would think. Time to redirect those funds into the education system to benefit all students.

astill73.bsky.social•37 days ago

Raised Catholic and attended K-8. Only one high school in our town and it was public. Fully agree with you.

emgeekay.bsky.social•33 days ago

Here is where to change your school support preferences for Ontario:

https://mpac.ca/en/MakingChangesUpdates/SchoolSupportDesignation

emgeekay.bsky.social•37 days ago

I agree, Julie. It's time to publicly fund only secular schools.

julieslalonde.bsky.social•37 days ago

I knew this place was better than Twitter in every way, but this conversation is proof of it.

I nuked my Twitter account this week so I can't go back and test it but in the past, every time I mentioned this, I would drown in bad takes from otherwise sensible seeming people.

triball.bsky.social•37 days ago

I did not know they were publicly funded

annadrake.bsky.social•37 days ago

I've been raging against this since I wrote a high school paper on it in 1997.

kbyrd.bsky.social•37 days ago

Agree. If Catholic schools are better (they are NOT), why is access limited to them? If Catholic and public schools offer comparable education, why are we funding religious schools?

elusivejoemartin.bsky.social•37 days ago

I found bigotry in the public system so who’s to say…

elusivejoemartin.bsky.social•37 days ago

What are you taking about?? I also went to catholic school and no such thing happened!!

julieslalonde.bsky.social•37 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/julieslalonde.bsky.social/post/3lglglgvodk27

msandreamarie.bsky.social•37 days ago

My son briefly attended a Catholic high school and they took them on a retreat to a church where they were shown an anti-choice film and told they had to love gay people but not homosexuality. 2018.

bergonawire.bsky.social•37 days ago

I've been saying this for 30 years!

bcvet.bsky.social•37 days ago

This!

nauman.bsky.social•37 days ago

Most unCanadian thing that we do collectively, fund faith based schools from taxes

arborvitae10.bsky.social•36 days ago

This.

tangibullah.bsky.social•37 days ago

Never mind Conservative think tanks, which in my view are cultish political groups who, just like churches, don't need help from taxpayers.

arborvitae10.bsky.social•36 days ago

This!!

xau.bsky.social•37 days ago

I think that Catholic schools as a way to preserve Francophone heritage can makes sense, even with public money. Promoting bigotry and intolerance is not inherently Catholic, but where the Catholic school system is not conducive for an inclusive Canadian society, I have concerns about its funding.

xau.bsky.social•37 days ago

I've been in conversations with parents intolerant of LGBTQ+ rights who are sending their kids to Catholic schools to avoid the "wokeness" in Ontario public schools. This needs to stop.

bigbangbear.bsky.social•37 days ago

Agree with all of that. Financially it makes more sense too.

fagankara.bsky.social•37 days ago

Same here. No religious school should receive public funding.

betsyhogan.bsky.social•37 days ago

Yes. Full stop. Public funding for ANY sectarian school is unacceptable. And anyone who thinks "meh, whatever" bc "publicly funded Catholic schools" sounds benign to them, please systematically replace 'Catholic' with every other religion that sustaining this allows. Still ok? Didn't think so.

florose207.bsky.social•37 days ago

Back in my time, they were not publicly funded. Hmmm…

mslongpre.bsky.social•37 days ago

My understanding is that they've always been publicly funded: can you say more about what you're referring to?

florose207.bsky.social•37 days ago

Way back in the 60s they were whining about not being publicly funded. I don’t know when that changed.

princessfiona24.bsky.social•37 days ago

In the last 60 years Flo. They get more money per student than secular public schools do here.

florose207.bsky.social•37 days ago

Are you talking about Ontario?

princessfiona24.bsky.social•37 days ago

Yes

florose207.bsky.social•37 days ago

Well, that’s what I remember. I’m not going to make a hissy fit about it. Thanks for your input.

liz-hall-e.bsky.social•2 days ago

It is fairly recent that they were funded in ontario past gr8.

billhall.bsky.social•37 days ago

My lads went to the Catholic board since they had better programs for special needs students. I monitored what they were taught and found little bigotry, with more emphasis on ethics than religion.
But I still think there should be one board for admin efficiency.

whiskybaker.bsky.social•37 days ago

I'm sure the "lads" had a different experience than I did as a female. It was awful.

billhall.bsky.social•37 days ago

It would be no surprise or shock to me that people who attended different schools at different times with different teachers/ staff have their own experiences and that those are as just as valid.

julieslalonde.bsky.social•37 days ago

The point is that government mandated bigotry has no place in society.

We cannot claim to be a secular society with a division between church and state when only one religion gets tax funding and is on par with public schools. It's antithetical to a progressive society.

billhall.bsky.social•37 days ago

I think we’re all in agreement there.

wrambbit.bsky.social•37 days ago

Fun fact. Catholic high schools used to expel(not suspend)girls who were pregnant bc they were bad for the school’s image.

The fathers stayed&their reputations were protected. Feels like we’re on a slippery slope back to that for girls in catholic schools.

The public high school had a daycare.

saemg.bsky.social•37 days ago

I spent 1 and a half terms in an ontario elementary school and decades later I still remember the bigotry of the teachers and the kids

bluewolf86.bsky.social•36 days ago

Agree with this, although I will say the Catholic schools I attended (2 K-8, 1 HS), they were actually all very liberal.

persister.bsky.social•37 days ago

When I went to Catholic HS in the 70s when they were only partially funded. Parents had to pay tuition and we had to do a lot of fundraising for the rest.

taniaspencer.bsky.social•37 days ago

Same in the Yukon -

https://www.yukon-news.com/news/parents-concerned-about-homophobic-teachings-at-whitehorse-catholic-school-7326422#

anne-azon.bsky.social•37 days ago

All across the country. And tax the churches while you're at it!

themiffedginger.bsky.social•37 days ago

Either tax the churches to fund all schools or close the public purse to stop funding these institutions.

donleahy.bsky.social•37 days ago

Agree that they should be defunded, but disagree that the schools are teaching bigotry.

timchilds89.bsky.social•37 days ago

It's such a bummer that Catholic schools are now seen as superior in a lot of communities in Ontario. I suspect we are a long way away from actually merging the boards and it sucks. Faith based publicly funded schools are ridiculous

wrambbit.bsky.social•37 days ago

Catholic schools in Ontario can refuse students. Students with behavioural & learning needs are then required to attend public schools who can’t refuse any students. This discrimination starts with enrolment.

paolouche.bsky.social•37 days ago

Spot on. I was made to move my daughter who has autism, because « they don’t have enough support for her » being a small school. The one she ended up at was even smaller and the quality of support she got was unmeasurable.

wrambbit.bsky.social•37 days ago

Exactly the line they use. So sorry that happened.

moniqueac.bsky.social•37 days ago

Absolutely! K-13 here.

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