Ontario is unique among Canadian provinces in fully funding the schools of one religion
only – Roman Catholic schools. The province refuses to fund those of any other faith,
including Jewish day schools. Quebec and all the provinces west of Ontario extend at
least some funding to their independent schools, including the schools of all major
religions.
For many decades attempts at suasion have failed to convince the Government of
Ontario to end its blatant unfairness in educational funding.
GAJE therefore launched an application in the Ontario Superior Court in February 2022
to compel Queen’s Park to end its discriminatory educational funding.
GAJE’s court case calls for equal funding of Jewish day schools, based on the Charter
of Rights and Freedoms and Canada’s constitution.
Our legal team – David Matas, Jillian Siskind and Sarah Teich – has superb skills and
deep experience in constitutional law.
The Ontario Federation of Independent Schools will intervene in support of GAJE’s case
to try to bring an end to Ontario’s unfair educational funding policies.
On April 20, 2023, the governments of Ontario and Canada brought a motion to strike
out the GAJE case. The governments did not want GAJE to have an opportunity to
argue the merits of their case in court.
On August 21, 2023, in 46 pages of reasons, Justice Eugenia Papageorgiou of the
Ontario Superior Court rejected Ontario’s effort to shut down GAJE’s attempt to have a
court decide the case. She ruled that GAJE’s application against the Government of
Ontario should go forward but allowed the federal government to be excused from the
lawsuit.
She wrote: “There is a reasonable chance that an application judge may find that the
Grassroots Applicants have raised: i) new circumstances or evidence which have
fundamentally shifted the parameters of the debate; and/or ii) new legal issues as a
result of significant developments in the law which support the revisitation of binding
precedent,”
In an emphatic statement, she added: “My finding in this regard is not based upon one
single argument raised by the Grassroots Applicants; it is based upon the combined effect and totality of the new circumstances (social, political and legislative) and developments in the law they have raised.”
To those inside and out of government who say that fair educational funding would ruin
the public school system, one need only look to the western provinces and to Quebec.
These provinces do partially fund independent schools and yet their respective public
school systems are thriving. Indeed, extending at least some funding to independent
schools is the norm throughout most of the western world. Ontario is an outlier.
The Jewish community has a lot at stake in GAJE’s court case. If GAJE is successful
and the courts order Ontario to fund the Jewish day schools, a huge financial burden
will be lifted off the backs of parents and the Jewish community.
Now Queen’s Park is seeking leave to appeal the 46-page decision by Judge
Papageorgiou. Ontario is still determined to deprive GAJE of the opportunity to argue its
case.
It is beyond time now for members of the community who worry for our future, who
understand that affordable Jewish education is the key steppingstone to preserving that
future, to convey their disappointment to the Government of Ontario. Let our voices be
heard. Let GAJE at least have its day in court. Let the courts decide if Ontario’s unfair
funding is appropriate in the year 2023.
It is not only for the sake of our children and grandchildren that we must raise our
voices. It is also for the sake of the entirety of our people, those no longer alive and
those not yet born that we must say to the Government of Ontario: “Enough. Be fair. Be
true to our own values as a society. Do the right thing. At least allow the merits of the
case to be argued in court.”
Please contribute to the court case fund.
To donate, please click here.
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 