Before the British Conquest in1760, education in the province of Quebec was provided mostly by religious groups. Around the turn of the nineteenth century, the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning built a number of schools, but the attempt was a failure. Other Acts followed, but it was not until 1841 that the United Parliament of Lower and Upper Canada integrated the school system into the municipal organization. In 1846 the Great Charter of Education for Lower Canada provided for election of school commissioners in each parish. Minority rights were protected by the possibility for Protestants to make a simple declaration Qf dissidence. From then on it became possible to establish a corporation of trustees empowered to manage schools, raise taxes and appoint teachers. In 1867, the BNA Act brought education under the exclusive control of the provinces. In 1869 the Council of Education, created ten years earlier, was reorganized and divided into Catholic and Protestant committees. Attempts to improve the quality of education included the appointment of inspectors in 1851, and opening of the McGill Normal School in 1857 to supply teachers to Protestant schools. In 1875, a change in the law removed control over education from the Minister to the Superintendent of Education, who was assisted by one French and one English secretary (also called Director of Protestant Education).
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the most important problem was the excessive number of small rural schools. School inspectors proposed consolidation, in which one larger school would replace a number of common one-room school houses. This would not only decrease cost, they said, but would allow boards to hire better qualified teachers. An extended curriculum would keep youth in school longer, and since transportation could be provided, it would eliminate truancy and attract pupils formerly out of reach of a school. Most important, compulsory attendance would now be feasible and justifiable. It took, however, until 1943 for this last aim to be furfilled. There were considerable problems to be overcome. There was often strong local opposition, because consolidation costs turned out to be high, and there were problems withtransportation, especially in winter. As a result, consolidation happened only slowly. Nevertheless, between 1905 and 1946, more than 200 rural elementary schools were closed and replaced by 57 consolidated schools. Transportationby school buses and enclosed snowmobiles (of which 17 were in use by 1946) proved to be quite satisfactory.
In 1943 the Compulsory Education Act, the remission of school fees and the provision of free text books made possible a more regular attendance of pupils and greater enrolment in grades 8 and 9. Provincial government grants were raised both for teachers' salaries and for the building of new schools.
During 1960-61 a series of laws were passed which are collectively called la grande charte de l'éducation. It recognized the absolute right of each child to receive the education of its choice, independent of any material consideration. In practice this meant free instruction up to grade 11. Moreover, the right to vote for school commissioners was extended to any adult parent of children under 18 years of age. The government also undertook to expend substantial sums of money on education in general as well as in aid to parents and students directly. Simultaneously, responsibility for education was transferred from the Superintendent of Public Education to the Minister of Youth, thereby giving the government more direct control over educational budgets. In 1964 the Department of Public Instruction and the Ministry of Youth were fused into the Ministry of Education.
Under the new ministry, consolidation continued, spurred on by recommendations contained in the Parent Report published in 1 966. School boards were encouraged to form Regional Boards which controlled secondary education.
BEGINNINGS
The history of the Laurentian region gives a good illustration of the development of education in Quebec.
Protestant schools were in operation in the Laurentian region in the second half of the 19th century, and probably much earlier. Rawdon, Joliette, Terrebonne, Ste-Therese, and Grande Fresniere all had dissentient school boards by the end of the century.
Lack of transportation made the need for many small schools necessary. The law prescribed that schools should serve an area with a maximum radius of three miles. The schools were not only small in size but were also short of equipment and were staffed by underpaid teachers. There usually was an annual turnover of personnel.
JOLIETTE
On July 1st, 1873, at the home of Mr. George Gilmour, a meeting was held at which it was resolved that a dissentient school board would be formed to be called the Corporation scolaire dissidente de la ville deJoliette. The majority of those attending the meeting were French Huguenots, and for some years the school was taught by French teachers and the board's records were kept in French. In 1881 the French Secretary-Treasurer was succeeded by an English one and from then on he records were kept in English and only English teachers were hired.
In the first six years of the Joliette l school's existence, six different teachers taught there. They were paid $150 to $200 for a ten-month contract.
In 1896 Joliette was ready for a model school (grades 5-6-7). Parents of children in those grades paid an additional fee to cover the higher salary of a betterqualified teacher.
In 1901 the building of a new school was proposed. The cost would be $1000 and the Department of Public Instruction was asked for help. This was denied on account that a "municipality with a taxation role of $95,000 and only one operating school could not be called a poor one". Somehow funds were found and the school was built. The rate-payers were satisfied with the new building, a "magnificent apparatus". Well they might be, as the school was heated by a hot air furnace and had water closets. It was even connected to the street sewer.
It was difficult to get teachers for a rural school and the annual turnover of staff continued. By 1903, the salary was still only $20 per month. "If successful, a bonus of $2 per month may be added, either by subscription or otherwise,"the Trustee declared. A 1904 school census showed that the school at any one time would house between 15 and 22 children. The model school of 1896 had apparently fizzled out. However, in 1906, a new effort was made and a teacher was hired who, in addition to teaching elementary grades was "to take up thefifth grade".
By 1907 things were going well. Not only was the school free of debt, but it received a $35 government grant "as a bonus for Excellence of Equipment to be expended for further school equipment". It was suggested by the inspector "that a maproll be purchased, that a school globe be procured, and inside blinds on the windows, and some repairs to windows and blinds and painting blinds so far as the money goes." This sound advice was accepted by the Trustees.
In 1912 a second teacher was hired especially for the model school which was to be held upstairs f rom the elementary grades. This teacher held a model diploma from MacDonald College and was paid $40 per month. Taxes that year were 40 cents on the $100 evaluation. Students paid $2 per month in the model school and 50 cents per month in the elementary school.
The conditions at the Joliette school were typical of any rural school_the struggle to find teachers, the fluctuation in size of school population which made it difficult to plan for a permanent extension of grades, the minimal government financing, and the rudimentary equipment.
Various rural boards had the additional problem of free-loaders. Catholic parents would send their children to a conveniently located Protestant school without paying any additional fees or taxes. From time to time, the Trustees reminded the teachers not to allow these children unless they paid a special higher non-resident fee. The parents were reminded that they should sign a declaration of dissent in order to become eligible for Protestant education.
Sometimes schools would not be attended regularly, or teachers could not be found for them. In either instance a school might only open for four or five months of the year. Poor attendance was a problem in the whole region until consolidation of schools, better roads and better transportation began to change this. It stopped being a factor with compulsory school attendance in 1943.
In the 1950's and 60's the population and particularly business leaders became disturbed by the inadequate English educational facilities. A report in 1959 stated that eight different grades were taught in three classrooms by three teachers, one of whom was not fully qualified. The committee of parents, interested industrialists, the Joliette Home and School Association and the Joliette Protestant School Trustees noted that "When good teachers are approached to teach | so many classes for less money than they can get in most urban centres for teaching a single grade, they naturally are not interested."
To attract prospective industrialists to fast-developing Joliette, the committee recommended that a six room school be erected, that English High School educational facilities be provided in I Joliette with an effort towards consoli| cation of the district. The Joliette English School became a reality shortly after.
It is interesting to note that, whereas in 1873 the concern was with religion, the concern in the 1960's was with language. Businesses cannot attract personnel when education in their own language cannot be provided.
STE THERESE, ROSEMERE AND STE ROSE REGION
The greater Ste-Therese area was another centre where a sufficient number of protestants had settled to require a school. A Scottish Presbyterian congregation probably existed already prior to 1833. The names of Hettrick, Buchanan, Kimpton, Gilmour, Morris, Millar, Oswald, Hamilton, and Dobie are still found in the RosemereSte-Therese area, both on the school registers and as street names.
During the second half of this century, the population in this region grew rapidly and the road network was extended across and beyond Ile Jesus to accommodate it. Rosemere was the fastest growing municipality in the area and needed a school. Ste-Therese-de Blainville and Ste-Rose both had problems in accommodating their growing number of pupils. In Ste-Therese one teacher had to "educate" 38 pupils in seven grades in one room! The chairman of the Ste-Rose Board expressed his board's agreement that "the requirements of better education can best be pursued by the introduction of larger school units which is in line with the policy of the educational authorities of this province and elswhere." The new school was to have three classrooms providing educational facilities for more than one hundred pupils. This was considered to "take care of any normal increase in pupils for some time to come". No teacher would have to teach more than three grades in one classroom. As Rosemere was located halfway between the two other areas, the Rosemere Consolidated School (now part of Elmwood Elementary School) was built there in 1945-46. Reality dictated that an extension had to be built within a decade, while a second elementary school was opened in Rosemere in 1954. A large comprehensive high school followed in 1964.
ST-EUSTACHE
The same problems existed in the Grande-Fresniere-St-Eustache area which got its consolidated school in 1943. Many new schools were built or extended during the 50's and 60's. The Board's name was changed to Lake of Two Mountains Protestant School Board in 1951. At about that time the status of the Lake of Two Mountains School was first changed to that of intermediate school (including grades 8 and 9), and in 1952 to that of high school (grades 10 and 11).
In the early 70's the Lake of Two Mountains, Rawdon, Joliette, Repentigny and Laurenvale School Boards amalgamated into an expanded Laurenvale Protestant School Board.
LAVAL
The municipalities at the southern end of Ile Jesus had their own small boards: Laval-des- Rapides, l'Abord-a-Plouffe, St-Martin, and no doubt others of which there are no longer any records. In 1958 the Protestant School Trustees of the Village of St-Martin operated an intermediate school. That year discussions by the trustees frequently included religious instruction and the rental of school space forJewish pupils. Here too, the problem of Catholic children taking advantage of Protestant schools for reasons of convenience arose. St. Martin had, by that time, grown already so much that building a 10 room school could be considered. Cooperation with the board of adjoining l'Abord-a-Plouffe was sought.
During the 60's, the Protestant School Board of Laval-des-Rapides and several other Laval boards amalgamated into the Protestant School Board of Les Ecores.
During the early 70's the Greater St. Martin Board (itself an amalgamation of earlier boards) and Les Ecores Board formed the Laval Protestant School Board.
LATEST CONSOLIDATION
In 1979 the Laval and the Laurenvale Protestant School Boards amalgamated into the Laurenval School Board. This had been preceded by the formation of the North Island Regional School Board in 1966 which took on the responsibilities for second ary education involving five high schools.
The rapid amalgamation of school boards during the 60's and 70's fulfilled the same purpose as the earlier consolidation of rural schools. It was the result of continuing efforts by the government to create larger educational and administrative units which would have more resources at their disposal and could, therefore, be more flexible and efficient.
Final amalgamation of the Protestant boards in the Laurentian region is not yet complete, as there are still two major and one very tiny Protestant board in the region. Furthermore, there are still fragmented English sectors in the various Catholic boards.
CONCLUSION
The thread running through the development of the Laurenval School Board is the same as for most other Protestant school boards in the province: centralization! Beginning with the lament of the 1850's school inspectors about inefficiency, the constant demand has been for greater flexibility and better use of resources.
The rapid urbanization of the region and the development of a society increasingly dependent on technology made the improvement of education imperative. The government responded by making education compulsory and providing more grants. However, with centralization and greater governmentinvolvement came an erosion of local autonomy and an ever-expanding bureaucracy.
As greater and greater centralization takes place, the school population becomes more and more heterogeneous. The early school boards would serve populations that professed mostly one faith, would often have similar occupations and would live in proximity of each other. Today, the Laurenval School Board no longer just serves a population that is white Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. Instead, students come from a great variety of racial and religious backgrounds and religion is no longer the cohesive force it used to be. Furthermore, the population is spread out over a very large area, which makes regular contact between the various groups exceedingly difficult. Recently, racial and cultural tensions have risen.
As the board tries to maintain its "numbers" by attracting francophone students, the dwindling anglophone population feels that its interests are being threatened, and even language no longer offers cohesion.
In the future looms Bill 107. Will it ever be put into force? Will it guarantee a continued, independent anglophone system? No doubt, the same questions are being asked in the other protestant systems.
Afterword
by Peter Lowensteyn
When the schools opened for the 1998-1999 school year, the Laurenval, the Laurentian, and the Laurentienne School Boards were amalgamated into the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board. This board governs all the public English schools in a huge area north of Montreal. It includes all English schools already under the jurisdiction of the aforementioned boards plus all the English schools that were under the jurisdiction of the various Catholic Boards in the region. The SWLSB is no longer responsible for any French schools but will continue to offer French Immersion programmes.
Present day map of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board territory. (PDF)
A Short History of the
Recent School Board Reforms
in the Province of Quebec
It's been an age-old debate in Quebec. To create linguistic school boards or stay with the old confessional ones that was the question. The province opted to take the plunge. Here are some of the highlights in the path along the way.
- 1966: The Tremblay commission report, which revolutionised the Quebec education system recommended the replacement of Catholic and Protestant school board with non-denominational boards operating in both French and English. It was the one key recommendation of the report that wasn't implemented.
- December, 1984: Parti Quebecois education minister François Gendron introduced Bill 3, which would replace denominational boards with French and English linguistic boards. To satisfy Section 93 of Canada's 1867 constitution, the Catholic and Protestant boards in Quebec City and Montreal would remain - but only within the tiny boundaries these cities had in 1867.
- June 22, 1985: A Quebec Superior Court judge ruled that Bill 3 didn't adequately satisfy Section 93, and threw it out.
- December 15, 1986: With Parti Quebecois support, Liberal education minister Claude Ryan tabled Bill 107, which would leave denominational boards in Quebec City and Montreal alone but replace them with linguistic boards in the rest of the province. He sought rulings from the courts as to whether the bill is constitutional.
- June 1993: The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Bill 107 is constitutional. Liberal education ministers prepared for implementation of linguistic boards by July 1996.
- September 1994: The Parti Quebecois won the provincial election and Bill 107 was put on ice.
- March 12 1996: Premier Lucien Bouchard told a handpicked group of anglophones at the Centaur Theatre that linguistic boards were "an idea whose time has come"
- June 12 1996: Education minister Pauline Marois produced a linguistic board proposal that closely mirrors Bill 107 and required no constitutional amendment.
- August 16 1996: Marois withdrew her proposal, after several groups complained about the confusion that would arise from having both linguistic and denominational boards in Montreal.
- October 10 1996: The landmark report of the estates-general on education recommended constitutional amendment to allow linguistic boards in Quebec.
- January 22 1997: Marois announced she would seek an amendment to Section 93
- March 24 1997: Quebec intergovernmental affairs minister Jacques Brassard unveiled the text of the proposed amendment.
- April 15 1997: The National Assembly voted unanimously in favour of an amendment.
- August 1997: Quebec government defined the territory of each of the new linguistic school boards.
- September-October 1997: Provisional councils set up to pave the way for the new linguistic boards.
- November 18 1997: Parliament approved the constitutional amendment in a 204-59 vote.
- June 14 1998: The first linguistic school board elections held, with a record turnout for the anglophone boards.
- July 1 1998: Linguistic school boards officially in business.
