In Canada in the large and economically significant Province of Ontario there is an election coming next month to decide who will run Canada's largest economy, yet the focus is not on recessions and profits, but on who has the right to demand funding for religious schooling in the Province of Ontario.
Since the formation of Canada's two largest populations in 1867, mostly French speaking Catholics and the British English speaking Protestant populations, there has been a compromise allowing funding for the Catholic school system along with the public system to accommodate the reality of society at the time. The issue is that since 1867 Canada has become one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse populations in the world and in 2007 the country is no longer rooted in the same ethnic heritage as it once was. Despite a 1989 UN report condemning the funding of only one religious group in Ontario, the funding of the Catholic school system and no other system has not seriously been addressed. Despite the current Primier of Ontario being married to a teacher from the Catholic school system and his children attending the same school system, there has not been significant criticism of the current system in the government nor in society as a whole until the official opposition brought the issue to the forum in the current election. The reality is that with severe funding issues in Toronto and other structural issues it will be difficult to change the status quo in education and funding. Despite that, most do agree it is not a just system, but no one dared to change anything about the situation. It went so far that Primier Mcguinty of Ontario is publicising funding for other groups as “Segregation”, but despite all the advantages he personally takes from one religious group having rights above any others, he has labelled a term which honourable people such a Dr. Martin Luther King coined to describe a true tragedy in history and used it to maintain true segregation in the Province.
“Exaggeration is truth that has lost its temper” – Gibran Khalil Gibran
Difficulties in the Americas does not only stop with public schooling. In California there is a debate about the rights of homosexuals in the private religious schooling systems and if children who do an act against the tenants of the religious group who run the school have a right to attend the school despite their actions being contrary to the basic rules of the religion. While it is really not clear how the situation will turn out, it will most likely depend on the funding status of the school as well as the rights individuals have in a congregation as opposed to rights of an individual.
The real issue at hand in both the above scenarios is what to do with groups which have been in the US and Canada for a short period of time in comparison to other groups and their rights to education for their children. In the case of Ontario, despite some religious affiliations being able to submit to religious tribunals in the Province, when Muslim groups sought to open tribunals based upon Shari'a Law it was denied by public authorities. Many see the denial of religious funding as an issue of denial of funding to Muslim schools as opposed to funding simply non-Catholics. While Jewish, Hindu, and Evangel groups are the vast majority seeking funding for schooling in Ontario, there is some discussion of the issue as being more anti-Muslim as opposed to pro-diversity, even though there are relatively small numbers of Muslims in Ontario compared to other groups in Canada and similar countries in Europe. While the debate is not clearly defined yet in the election campaign due Oct 10th in Ontario, a reflection of the issue is taking place currently in New York State.
Opening this week is the Khalil Gibran International Academy, which is rooted in the study of Arabic culture and literature. Despite concerns about the Academy being a school to teach radical Islam to young children by paranoid people in the community via public funding, the reality is that Arabic culture is as diverse as anywhere else in the world and is not solely rooted in Radicalism or even Islam itself. Gibran, a resident of New York an immigrant from Lebanon of Christian origin in the early 20th Century is one of the most well known poets in Middle Eastern literature and is studied by most of the groups residing in the Middle East and abroad. Paranoia about education serves in all these instances above as a disservice to those who seek to study the tradition of one culture yet must gain permission from others who do not wish to acknowledge equality in education. Often the criticism comes from groups beyond those who currently do not possess the rights and power to educate their children in any fashion they see fit with full public support. Education is power when the rights to disagree still allows to have the maturity to fund schools and education in a community, even if you do not agree with it or as seen above, understand it. Anyone who read Gibran before would note this debate his words:
"I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit" – Gibran Khalil Gibran
