[ ED NOTE: much as I hate to say it, if this Catholic institution has accepted public dollars, then I think there’s an argument to be made that the State can interfere in their affairs.
But – I think it’s kind of a matter of priorities. Surely the State has other things to do. And as with many other things, it’s not so much an argument about discrimination or anything else, and more a matter of public funding: namely, how careful should we be with it? ]
It was only a matter of time before this began in Ontario.
Thanks to Jim Corcoran’s success in his vendetta against the Roman Catholic Church itself, the momentum is there to go after other Catholic institutions. This time, a teacher is claiming religious discrimination for not being hired at a Catholic school.
This same battle is raging in many other jurisdictions. Australia is considering changes to the Equality of Opportunity act to prohibit religious institutions from hiring on the basis of religion. Many states have laws that only allow discrimination for positions that directly communicate religious messages. England has gone further than just schools: even churches are not allowed to discriminate except for those whose primary role is religious ceremonies.
So why not Ontario? Especially when there’s good money to be made by filing a complaint? Teacher Jesse Lloyd, who openly says he’s not religious, says he couldn’t find a job in the public school system. “I need work. But that’s not entirely it,” he says. “It’s a higher conviction than that. I don’t think it’s right to have a publicly-funded institution where everyone is not welcome to work there.”
Lloyd carried his personal moral vendetta to the OHRT, who has been happy to consider the complaint. Apparently, all it takes is a “higher conviction” to invoke state interference. I guess that makes religious or traditional principles “lower convictions”?
h/t BCF
Cross-posted at SF
Binky
missmarprelate
Scary Fundamentalist
Don Sharpe
theodensdaughter
walker morrow
The Lynch Mob 
The problem is that, no matter how discriminatory or sectarian, the Constitution guarantees the Catholics of Ontario the right to a separate, public-funded school system. I would love to see that changed, but until it is, that’s the law of the land and any other attack on it is pretty futile.
Curious, what qualifies as “Jim Corcoran’s success”? Has there been a ruling in that case? So many people talk about it as though the outcome has already been determined …
Kevin:
The fact is that Corcoran’s complaint is even being considered, and not tossed immediately. The defendants have had to retain lawyers and provide a statement of defence, costing the bishop and the parishioners a lot of money. This is already a degree of “success” (tongue-in-cheek) in Corcoran’s efforts to enforce his opinions on the Catholic Church.
These types of complaints might be used as a backdoor for the HRC to gut the constitutional guarantee by transforming the Catholic system into one unrecognizable from the public system.
[…] to leave it alone, but friend Walker Morrow over at The Lynch Mob cross posted BCF’s article here, and as I have encouraged him when cross posting, he added his own comment to the article, thereby […]
I wholeheartedly agree with this complaint. As a teacher with an Ont. schoolboard, it is VERY difficult to get a position. Terrific teachers, who are unable to get full time positions due to their religious beliefs, should not be passed over for a mediocre teacher who just happens to be Catholic. Parents of Catholic students should be outraged on behalf of their children… they deserve the most qualified, best teachers they can get regardless of their religious beliefs. Just because a teacher may not praticse a particular belief, does not make them immoral and bad, and vice versa, just because a teacher is Catholic does not necessarily make them a moral person!
Wilson:
Your arguments are flawed on a couple levels. First, you convey an assumption that a teacher has a “right” to a job, and that should trump an employer’s right to choose the applicant. You also don’t understand that part of what makes a teacher qualified for some positions is their religion. Part of a Catholic teacher’s job is to teach the Catholic religion, not just in religious classes but as a theme in every class. Therefore, a Catholic teacher who is very familiar with these concepts and holds to them as a matter of faith is considerably more qualified than one who is not Catholic.
Many parents choose a school particularly because it is religious. Teachers are role models to their children, and it is very important for many parents that they have role models who live out the same religion. Do parents not have the freedom of assembly – the freedom to organize an accredited school in which they can have such role models as they choose?
For years, teachers’ unions in my province (BC) have been removing any ability for employers to evaluate the fitness of their teachers, apart from misconduct. I don’t imagine Ontario is any different. Your insistence that the best teachers should be hired first flies in the face of your union orthodoxy, whereby seniority or tenure is considered but quality is not.
Finally, this has nothing to do with morality or immorality. I don’t recall anything in what I’ve read in which the Catholic school board accuses Lloyd of immorality.
Scary,
A teacher is someone who has knowledge and passes that knowledge to their students. If the Catholic school Board wants to include religion in their everyday lessons, then the teacher is required to do so. A non-catholic teacher is just as capable of teaching religion as a catholic teacher is, it is just a matter of learning the subject matter. I know that it may not be the same as attending church every Sunday, but the fact of the matter is, catholic teachers don’t have to go to church, all they need is a pastoral letter of reference to qualify for a job. I know some teachers that I went to teachers college with that NEVER went to church, were basically baptized Catholic and got jobs immedialtey following graduation. Meanwhile it is taking the average English speaking teacher 7-10 years to find full time work with my board. Luckily for me I speak French and was able to get a full time position, but others are not so lucky.
I do agree that the Unions have a habit of holding on to seniority-based teachers, while not letting the good ones get ahead… but that same Union protects my job.
Lastly, Employers most definately have the right to chose their employees, should their standards be non-biased. The Catholic school boards are PUBLICALLY funded… tax dollars are delivered to this board. No other religious based schools are publically funded. Not only that but 3/4’s of ON’s students go to public schools, yet 1/3 of the money goes to the Catholic School Board. Why is that? In my area there are two Catholic High Schools within 2 kms of each other, yet the Public high School students in the same area are bused 20km to the nearest high school… how is that right? I feel the boards should be merged, and all students and teachers be treated fairly!
Any other publicly funded program that was hiring solely on religious status would be scrutinized so why not the education system?