(viii.) Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning 220

A. An account of the Protestant Schools of Montreal, 1900.
By the Secretary-Superintendent -

232

B. Extracts from the Regulations of the Protestant School
Commissioners for Montreal, 1900

236

C. Regulations of 1890 for the issue of debentures by the Roman Catholic and Protestant School Commissioners for Montreal 250

D. Special Regulation of 1893 concerning tenure of Roman
Catholic School Commissioners for Montreal

253

E. Course of study in Roman Catholic Academies and Model
Schools

-254-5

F. Course of study in Protestant Elementary Schools

256

G. From the Report of the Montreal Protestant School Commissioners 1897-1899

257

THE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC.

[This account has been compiled mainly from the "Revised Statutes" of the Province. Use has also been made of the annual reports of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for recent years, which have been supplied to the Board of Education by the Quebec Department of Public Instruction.]

INTRODUCTORY.

Among the Provinces of the Dominion, Quebec shares with Nova Scotia the distinction of having two Chambers constituting its Parliament. The Upper Chamber is called the Legislative Council, and the Lower, the Legislative Assembly. The total area of the Province is 347,350 square miles, of which 344,050 square miles are" land area."

Quebec was, of course, one of the original Provinces of the Dominion. The original Act of 1791 divided Canada into two Provinces, Upper Canada, now Ontario, and Lower Canada, now Quebec. The present constitution of the Province was, in its main outlines, fixed by the "British North America Act" of 1867.

It is not without reason that the experience of the Dominion of Canada is cited as showing how completely a fusion may be effected by judicious legislation between two races of different language, creed, and ideals. We need not stop to estimate how far this wonderful fusion of the French and the British, the Roman Catholic and the Protestant, population has been the result of the educational legislation in particular. It is at least obvious that in the three provinces of the Dominion where " separate or dissentient" schools are provided for the religious minority in each educational unit of the country, a working arrangement has been devised which recognises in large measure the rights of conscience, at least so far as two broadly distinguished types of religious belief are concerned, while maintaining effective Government control and securing to every school, whether sectarian or not, its national character.

The Provinces which first succeeded in this were Ontario, Quebec, and the North-west Territories. But in the last case a distinction must be made; for in the Territories little short of half the financial support of the schools comes from the Government, and it is not until differences of creed involve, or threaten to involve, some disputable incidence of local taxation that the problem becomes really difficult. In Ontario and Quebec, on the other hand, the difficulty of preserving the rights of conscience to "religious minorities" while providing for the local support of all schools by taxation, could hardly have presented

itself in a more striking form. The educational systems of the two Provinces should be studied side by side by those who wish to ascertain how this problem of religious creeds as affecting education has been solved. They make an effective contrast, inasmuch as the preponderance of Protestants in Ontario though smaller is not less decisive than the preponderance of Roman Catholics in Quebec, while in both Provinces the privileges of the vast majority are secured to the dissentient few. The statistics of the census of 1891 show that in Ontario out of a total population of 2,114,320, 358,300 were Roman Catholic, and 1,599,226 Protestant; while in Quebec out of a population of 1,488,535, 175,680 were Protestant, and 1,291,709 Roman Catholic.*

The Regulations which follow in this Report scarcely need any introductory comment, since the corpus of school law is admirably clear. On the other hand, the task of abstracting what follows may be justified on the ground that much unnecessary and uninteresting detail has thus been omitted, and that a clearer idea of the main features of the system will be gathered from a study of it than from reading through the Revised Statutes of the Province in their entirety.

It may be as well, however, to draw special attention to one or two points. All persons elected to serve on the local authorities for schools, except Roman Catholic and Protestant clergymen, are obliged to accept office. The relations and the differences. between school commissioners and school trustees will be clearly enough explained in what follows, but it must be pointed out here that any powers given to, or any obligations imposed upon, school commissioners apply also to trustees of separate schools in reference to the schools and school districts under their control. Special attention may be called to the provision giving power to school commissioners (ie., the local authority for the schools of the religious majority in the educational unit of the system) to grant annually a certain sum to school trustees in their municipality (ie., the local authority for the schools of the religious minority in the same unit) in respect of those children whose parents pay taxes to the school commissioners though they send their children to the dissentient schools.

The

Equally noteworthy are the financial regulations restricting the levying of taxes on corporations or incorporated companies, including religious, charitable, or educational institutions." tax may be imposed on such institutions only by the School Corporation (whether of commissioners or of trustees) of the same religious faith as is held in the institution; and must, when collected, be applied to the exclusive benefit of that religious majority or religious minority, as the case may be. It should also be noted that, while the Superintendent is ex officio a member of both the Protestant and the Roman Catholic

The only difference of creed recognised in the educational law of either Province is that between Roman Catholic and Protestant. The Protestant Churches included in the census are Church of England, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist. In Ontario the Methodist is the largest Protestant Communion, and in Quebec the Church of England.

Committees of the Council of Public Instruction, he is entitled to vote only in the Committee to which he, by religion, belongs. The punctual payment of the teachers' salaries every six months figures among the conditions to be fulfilled before a Government grant can be received; and the elasticity of the provisions is well exemplified in the exemption from taxes of poor municipalities which can be shown to have "done their best" to fulfil all the necessary conditions.

Attention may also be drawn to the principle which lies at the root of the financial administration of the schools-the "dollar for dollar principle." The wide power given to the local authorities in the application of Government grants is also notable. The School Corporation can either distribute the money to the schools under it in proportion to the number of children of school age (seven to fourteen years) capable of attending school in each district; or it may make a common fund from which teachers' salaries and all other expenses of the schools are paid. By this method, given a well-constituted school corporation, an elasticity is introduced that may often prevent that objectionable feature of educational systems familiar to any student of them-the facilis descensus Averni of the necessitous school whose grant from Government decreases almost in proportion to its need of assistance.

The protection afforded to teachers by the Regulations will be frequently noticed in what follows, more especially in regard to their dismissal and the term of their tenure.

I. CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION.

Governor.

The titular and, in many respects, actual head of the educa- Lieutenanttional system is the Lieutenant-Governor or "the LieutenantGovernor in Council." He appoints the Superintendent and the officers of the Department of Public Instruction.

It is necessary to note that the Department of Instruction is Department distinct from the Council of Public Instruction. The Depart- and Council. ment is in reality the staff of the Superintendent ;** the Council is the body responsible for all important changes in the method of providing public education, and has, within the limits set by statute and subject to the approval of the LieutenantGovernor in Council, full power to control the management of all schools.

The Superintendent (with the Department under him) is Superinsubordinate to the Council in all matters not expressly assigned tendent. to him. Such at least is the practical outcome of the system, though it is not actually stated in the Statutes. The Superintendent is required to enforce regulations made by the Council and approved by the Lieutenant-Governor.

* In the school year 1897-8 the Department consisted of the Superintendent, a French Secretary, an English Secretary, a Special Officer and Assistant Secretary, Curator of Museum, Accountant, Assistant Accountant and Clerk of Statistics, Clerk of Records, Librarian and Clerk of French Correspondence, Clerk of Accounts, Clerk of English Correspondence Assistant Book-keeper, four ordinary Clerks, and three Messengers.