Faith, Rights, and Choice: The Politics of Religious Schools in Canada

by James Farney, Clark Banack

Overview

The Canadian provinces have evolved quite different ways of responding to the policy problems posed by religious schools. Seeking to understand this peculiar reality, Faith, Rights, and Choice articulates the ways in which the provincial governance regimes developed for religious schools have changed over time.

Covering nearly three centuries, the book begins with the founding of schooling systems in New France and continues into a variety of present-day conflicts that emerged over the question of religion in schools. James Farney and Clark Banack employ a method of process-tracing, drawing on 88 semi-structured interviews with key policy insiders. They also reference archival material documenting meetings, political speeches, and legislative debates related to government decisions around issues of religious education. Relying on the theoretical foundations of both historical institutionalism and Canadian political development, Faith, Rights, and Choice presents a new analytic framework to help make sense of the policy divergence witnessed across Canada.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487551988
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	02/27/2023
Series:	Political Development: Comparative Perspectives
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	250
File size:	539 KB

About the Author

James Farney is the Regina academic director and an associate professor in the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina.

Clark Banack is the director of the Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities and an adjunct professor of political studies at the Augustana campus of the University of Alberta.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Faith, Rights, Choice, and Institutional Change
1. Ontario’s Puzzling Continuity
2. The Incremental Secularization of Quebec’s Education System
3. Faith’s Resilience Creates Four Secular Systems in Atlantic Canada
4. Contention over Faith, the Shock of Rights, and Layered Choice in Manitoba
5. British Columbia’s Sudden Embrace of a Regime of Rights and Choice
6. Incremental Change and Policy Layering in Saskatchewan
7. Layering Faith and Choice in Alberta
Conclusion: Faith, Rights, Choice, and Change
Table of Interviews
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Beth Green

"I wish this book had been available when I first arrived in Canada as a scholar of education. It is a fantastic primer for the political, social, legal, and economic landscape of Canada's unique provincial education systems. This book is written with an almost forensic attention to detail but is engaging and wise in the conclusions it draws."

David Rayside

"This is a deeply informative analysis of a little-understood policy area. The varying approaches to funding religion-based schools across the country reveal much about the role of faith in Canadian politics and of neoliberal notions of parental choice. Farney and Banack present textured historical surveys revealing surprising detail about policy evolution and intriguing explanations of contrasts across provinces."

Editorial Reviews

"This is a deeply informative analysis of a little-understood policy area. The varying approaches to funding religion-based schools across the country reveal much about the role of faith in Canadian politics and of neoliberal notions of parental choice. Farney and Banack present textured historical surveys revealing surprising detail about policy evolution and intriguing explanations of contrasts across provinces."—David Rayside, FRSC, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Toronto
"I wish this book had been available when I first arrived in Canada as a scholar of education. It is a fantastic primer for the political, social, legal, and economic landscape of Canada's unique provincial education systems. This book is written with an almost forensic attention to detail but is engaging and wise in the conclusions it draws."—Beth Green, Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Tyndale University

From the Publisher