Representatives of the Canadian Jewish Congress are discussing with the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal a modification of the school program that would eliminate the present need for Jewish pupils either to participate in daily Christian religious exercises or be officially excused from participation. Most Jewish children in Montreal attend the public schools operated by the Protestant School Board. All public schools in Quebec are under either Protestant or Catholic auspices and are supported by taxes which Jewish parents must also pay, even when they choose to send their children to Jewish day schools.
The required religious exercises in the Protestant schools, normally held during the first 20 minutes of each school day, but often less in practice, consist of the Lord’s Prayer and a Protestant hymn. At some grade levels, selected passages from the Bible are read in class. The Jewish pupils seldom use the option of being excused.
The plan is to offer the choice of three courses–Protestant, Jewish and non-theological–to parents at a few selected Protestant schools next fall. A Canadian Jewish Congress official said the proposed courses were not considered “a substitute for the afternoon Jewish religious schooling which many Jewish children receive after public school hours” but would provide “some religious instruction for the Jewish children who do not attend the afternoon classes.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
