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 SCHOOLS

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SCHOOLS

came St. Boniface's College. At Pembina Father Dumoulin was occupied in preparing young men for the priesthood, and in 1821 he had six students in Latin. The primary schools increased rapidly. Even.' place where a spire indicated a house of wor- ship a school sprang up. Soon, unfortunately, a crisis came, and the Catholics were severely tried.

At the present time (1912), in virtue of the British North American Act, each province has the right to adopt the system of education that best suits its particular needs. It must, however, respect the privileges or rights ah-eady guaranteed to the divers groups or sections having separate schools. Ac- cordingly, when Manitoba asked, in 1870, to become a unit of the confederation, the Catholic deputies, under the clear-sighted direction of Bishop Tache, demanded a formal law covering the rights already acquired. In 1890, the Cathohcs were, unfor- tunately, the victims of a legal persecution which embittered the last years of Bishop Tache. The Protestant majority of that province should have treated the CathoUc minority with as much generosity as the Catholic majority, in the Province of Que- bec, treated the Protestant minority. Such, however, was not the case. The schools were secularized, and the teaching of French was discontinued. Protesta- tions were made, and the grievances were laid before the British Throne, which recognized the rights of the Catholics. Archbishop Langevin, of St. Boniface, vigorously defended the rights of the Cathohcs, but no justice was done him. The compromise of 1896 was voted: this pact embodied the principle of the "neutral schools" system, and, although diminish- ing the bad effects of the law, it deserved to be styled, by Leo XIII, a law "defective, imperfect, in- sufficient" (manca est, non idonea, non apta). It is thus that the Catholics of Winnipeg and of Brandon are obUged to pay double school tax. The pubhc school is a school to which Cathohc parents cannot send their children. They are obliged to open Catho- lic schools at their own expense, while paying their share of taxes to the Protestant schools. Neverthe- less, in those places where Cathohcs are grouped in parishes, in the country or at St. Boniface, in the municipaUties having a CathoUc majority, they can elect Catholic trustees who protect their co-religion- ists. In this way they can secure the government grant for the schools attended by Catholic children. Thanks to the vigilance of the valiant Archbishop Langevin of St. Boniface, two Catholic inspectors have been appointed for the Cathohc schools. These .schofAs are 190 in number, with an attendance of over 7000 pupils. It is to be remarked, however, that it is with much difficulty that rehgious teaching is tolerated during cla.ss hours. Besides, the school- books are not CathoUc, and CathoUc interests are not sufficiently safeguarded. There is one CathoUc normal (French and EngU.sh) school at St. Boniface, and another (English and PoU.sh) at Winnipeg.

The teaching congregations are numerous. The Institute of Mary, from Paris, has schools at Winni- pg and St. Boniface. The Clerics of St. Viateur have an orphanage for boys at Makinac. The Brothers of the Cross of Jesus, from France, have two schools in the French parishes at St. John Baptist and at St. Pierre Jolys. The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, of Montreal, have six convents or schools in the French parishes, St. John Baptist, St. Agathe, St. Pierre, St. Boniface. St. Mary's Acad- emy, Winnipeg, is for English-speaking girls. The Sisters of the Five Wounds have four convents in the French parishes of Notre Dame de I^)urde8, St. Claude, St. Leo, and St. Alphonse. The Benedictine Sisters, from Duluth, Minnesota, have two schools at Winnipeg, one EngUsh and German, the other EngUsh and PoUsh. The Franciscan Missionary Sis- ters of Mary from Rome have two schools among

French and EngUsh-speaking whites at St. Lawrence and a school for the Indians at Pine Creek. We must not forget to mention the Little Servants of Mary Immaculate of the Ruthenian Rite, the Daugh- ters of the Cross, and the Oblate Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Mary Immaculate who are entirely consecrated to the education of youth. The Cla.ssical College of St. Boniface, founded b}' Bishop Provencher, was at first directed by secular priests, then by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, afterwards by the Oblate Fathers. In 1885 it was confided to the Jes- uit Fathers, who have organized a course of studies to the satisfaction of the two principal nationalities whose children, to the number of 300, attend the col- lege. There are a French section and an English section, with a regular Cla.ssical course having Latin and Greek for its basis. Each j'ear its students succeed admir- ably in competition with those of other colleges in the university examinations. The non-Catholic colleges are St. John's (AngUcan), Manitoba College (Presby- terian), and the Wesley College (Methodist). There are 300 pupils attending St. Boniface College.

In 1909 Archbishop Langevin founded a -petit se- minaire which he confided to secular priests. The Rev. Father Joubert was the first director. There are at present 54 candidates preparing for the priest- hood. A glance at the numerous nationaUties rep- resented at the preparatory seminary suggests some idea of the cosmopolitan character of the vast regions of the great West. At the same time it gives a faint idea of the episcopal solicitude in providing for each nationaUty missionaries of their own blood and lan- guage. In this seminary there are 30 French-speak- ing, 10 Ruthenians, 6 Irish, and 8 Germans. In 1905 the Holy Family Juniorate was founded by the Oblate Fathers at St. Boniface.

G. Saskatchewan and Alberta. — The work begun by Bishop Provencher has kept pace with the increase of the population. The Gray Nuns became missiona- ries among the Indians. They founded a convent at Alberta and a school at Cro.sse Island. Their first attempt in establishing a school was at St. Ann, but in this they were unsuccessful.

In 1870 the Federal Parliament voted a law of administration for the Territories. However, it was only in 1875 that they received a rudimentary form of government under the North-west Territories Act. According to that Act the people could establish "such schools as they think fit". The principle of separate schools was therein recognized. It would be too long to give the history of the school legislation of these territories up to the constitution of the two new provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905. At all events the new constitution should have safe- guarded one essential, giving to Catholics the right to organize everywhere .separate schools truly Catho- lic and the right to their share of the government grant. Unfortunately such was not the case. Not- withstanding the agreement of 1870, and not- withstanding even the British North America Act, which the Parliament of Canada cannot modify, the system of neutral schools was imposed on the Catho- lics. It is not the half-hour of religious teaching that makes a school really CathoUc: it is essential that there should be Catholic books, explained by Catholic teachers, in a Catholic atmosphere. But nothing of all this was granted. However, the govern- ment is equitably administered in those districts where the Catholics are in a majority. Thirty-one such districts aj)i)car in the la.st Report of the Minis- ter of Education for the Province of Sa.skatcliewan (page 14). These schools are public scliools in which religion may be t.aught at .stated hours. The right, therefore, to organize sei)arate schools for Catholics is limited to the districts where they are in the minor- ity (there are twelve CathoUc separate-school dis- tricts in the same Province of Saskatchewan).