Northwest Territories the same system which prevailed in Ontario and Quebec." The provisions for the form of government were intended to be temporary; that guaranteeing to minorities their right to separate schools was meant to be permanent. This feature of the Northwest constitution remained substantially the same until the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta were formed in 1905.

In 1884 the first local ordinance regarding education was passed by the Assembly of the Northwest Territories. It provided for a Council of Public Instruction of twelve members, half Catholic and half Protestant, each having complete control and management of the schools of its section, including the engaging and licensing of teachers, the selection of text-books and the appointment of inspectors. Direct religious instruction was allowed after 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when such instruction might be given as the trustees permitted or desired. No child. was required to take part in religious instruction against the wishes of its parent or guardian. A separate school could be established by the religious minority in any public school district. In addressing the House of Commons in 1905 Sir Wilfrid Laurier said:

"This school ordinance remained without any substantial alter ation until the year 1887, when an important amendment was made, and in the following year, 1888, another was made in the same line, by which the provision of the act of 1884 which required that all schools when first organized should be either Protestant public schools or Roman Catholic public schools was repealed, and a provision made to the contrary, namely that all public schools should be at once organized as public schools, quite independent of the religious faith of the majority. No important amendment took place afterwards until 1892, when a very important amendment was made. By that amendment the Board of Education was re-organized on absolutely different lines. The members of the Executive Council and four other persons, two Protestants and two Catholics, appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor, were to constitute a Council of Public Instruction. There was to be no subdivision of the Council into Protestant and Roman Catholic subsections as was previously the case. There was to be only one school board, which was to have control and management of all schools established under the Act, that is to say, public schools, separate schools, kindergartens,

normal schools and teachers' institutes. That remained in force until 1901, when it was consolidated, with practically no change, except that there is to-day a Department of Education, which is a department of the Government, with the assistance of the Council of Education."

The Premier of Canada thus described the provisions of the local law of the territories under which their school system was carried on when the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were constituted.

Under the ordinance of 1892, religious instruction was restricted to the last half-hour previous to the closing of the school. The whole subject of secular education in public and separate schools alike, "including the certification of teachers, the inspection of schools, and the selection of books, was placed under the control of the board of education." Ratepayers establishing and supporting separate schools remained exempt from public school rates. The Educational Council, reduced to five members, of whom two must be Catholics and two Protestants, became a purely advisory body.

The changes made by the legislation of 1887 appear to have passed unnoticed. Giving this as his reason, Sir John Thompson, as Minister of Justice, declined to recommend disallowance of the ordinance of 1888, and when the Catholic minority petitioned for disallowance of the ordinance of 1892, the Federal Government of the day contented itself with advising that the petitioners seek a review of the entire subject by the Northwest Assembly. That body took no action, and the law was unchanged when the project of establishing the new provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta came before the Dominion Parliament in 1905. I should think it not improbable, having regard to the federal legislation of 1875 which remained in force, that the courts, if appealed to, would have declared the ordinances of 1887, 1888 and 1892, ultra vires of the Northwest Assembly. But no legal action was taken.

As first introduced, the Alberta and Saskatchewan Autonomy Bills contained a provision (Sec. 16) which was substantially a re-enactment of the educational section of the federal statute of 1875, with the addition of a clause securing to public and separate schools an equitable apportionment of public moneys. Follow

ing the introduction of this measure, the Hon. Mr. Sifton, who represented Manitoba and the Northwest in the Dominion Government, resigned his portfolio, alleging as his reason the inclusion in the Autonomy Bills of this educational provision. Another prominent member of the administration, rumor said, was also gravely dissatisfied. A formidable agitation at once sprang up throughout Canada. Public meetings were held at many places, and the shibboleth of provincial rights was again invoked. The demand was pressed that the new provinces should be left to deal with the subject of education as they might please. It was well known that if this course were taken, it would mean the destruction of the last vestiges of the denominational rights of the Catholic minority in educational matters. The Government found itself confronted by a situation of much danger. The support of a large section of its own political party in Parliament became very doubtful. Finally, it decided to adopt the compromise course of treating the new provinces as if they were entering the Union as existing provinces with an established educational system, and of placing them in the same position as if, thus coming in, section 93 of the B. N. A. Act were made applicable to them. To accomplish this, section 16 of each bill, which had become famous throughout the Dominion, was withdrawn, and for it there was substituted a clause which had the effect of perpetuating the existing educational conditions created by the Northwest ordinance of 1892, re-enacted in 1901. In support of this amended provision the ministerial party was, with one or two exceptions, unanimous. The leader of the opposition, supported by a majority of his party, moved in amendment that the legislatures of the new provinces, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of the B. N. A. Act, should enjoy full powers of self-government, including power to exclusively make laws in relation to education. The obvious objection to this amendment was that the restrictive clauses of section 93 applied in terms only to the case of a province already in existence joining the Union, and not to the case of a new province formed from unorganized territory. Its effect probably would have been to leave the legislatures of the new provinces entirely untrammelled in regard to education. At all events, it would have meant lengthy

and uncertain litigation to settle the question of minority rights. Another section of the opposition insisted on the restoration of section 16 as originally framed. After a prolonged debate, which created great excitement in all parts of the country, the Government's compromise provision passed both Houses of Parliament, and the educational question in Alberta and Saskatchewan was thus settled.

Provision has since been made in Saskatchewan for non-denominational high schools and for university education, without regard to any rights of religious minorities. There is no provision in the University Act for the affiliation of denominational colleges, but collegiate institutes formed under the Secondary Education Act may be affiliated. This latter provision may prove serviceable to Catholics wherever, as a majority, they can control the high schools.

In Alberta there is no distinct high school system, students being carried on in the public and separate schools to university matriculation. The University of Alberta is a non-sectarian state institution, scarcely organized as yet on a permanent basis. It is contemplated that there shall be a Catholic college or hall erected on a part of the university grounds, leased for that purpose, which shall be a residence for Catholic students under the direction of a priest with necessary assistants. Catholic students will have their own lectures and examinations in philosophy at this college. They will attend the other lectures and take the other examinations of the university course. The plan approved by Rome for Catholic students attending the English universities of Oxford and Cambridge will be followed as closely as possible. In Alberta there is said to be general satisfaction with the prevailing system amongst Catholics interested in education. All the Catholic schools stand well. They are inspected by government officers, who inspect both Catholic and Protestant schools in their districts. This system ensures equality of grading, and is preferred to a system of separate inspection. Although the authorized text-books are not considered as entirely satisfactory in history and literature, it is well understood that teachers may make any fair commentary on the text. In the lower grades, the use of Catholic readers is optional. The Catholic atmosphere of

the schools attended by Catholic children is of incalculable advantage to them. Of course, whether such a system will prove satisfactory or the reverse must largely depend upon the spirit in which it is administered.

In Saskatchewan there are 2,021 school districts, and in probably one-fourth of them the public schools are under Catholic control. There are, in addition, forty-five schools which are virtually Catholic separate schools. I have not the corresponding figures for Alberta. The use of the Ontario Catholic readers is permitted. In Saskatchewan there are several convents for girls, in some of which Sisters qualified as public school teachers conduct Catholic separate school classes.

On the whole, the outlook for the cause of Catholic education in these new provinces is bright. What is urgently needed there is an increase in the number of churches, priests and teachers, especially in the more newly settled districts and amongst the Catholic immigrants from Southern Europe. This need the Church Extension Society is making stupendous efforts to meet.

I have now given you, as comprehensively as time will permit, an outline of the history and of the existing conditions of Catholic education in the several provinces of the Dominion of Canada. I fear that the details which I have necessarily discussed must have been wearisome. You see that with us the conditions differ in each province. From the comparatively perfect separate school system of Ontario we pass through the less satisfactory systems of Alberta and Saskatchewan to the unsatisfactory conditions in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. In Manitoba the state of affairs is still more unsatisfactory, and in British Columbia not only have religious minorities no legal rights in regard to denominational education, but no concessions appear to have been made to them in the administration of the public schools. In Nova Scotia, without any legal guarantees, the public school system seems to be administered to the entire satisfaction of Catholics.

I have said little of the province of Quebec. There Catholics have not to seek protection as a minority. As a majority, overwhelming in its numbers, they control public education. Yet the Protestant minority in that province enjoys rights more ex