[BouRINOT] A STUDY IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS 33 
y. Such a case has arisen in 
the province of Manitoba, where there existed under provincial statutes 
passed since 1870, “denominational schools, of which the control and 
management were in the hands of Roman Catholics, who could select the 
books to be used and determine the character of the religious teaching.” 
These schools received “their proportionate share of the money contri- 
buted for school purposes out of the general taxation of the province, and 
the money raised for these purposes by local assessment was, so far 
as it fell upon Catholics, applied only towards the support of Catholic 
schools.” But by statutes passed in 1890, the legislature of the province 
did away with all denominational schools, although they provide for cer- 
tain religious exercises, which are to be “non-sectarian,” and are not obli- 
gatory on the children when their parents object. Schools conducted 
according to the Roman Catholic views will receive no aid from the state, 
they must depend “entirely for their support upon the contributions of 
the Roman Catholic community, while the taxes out of which state aid is 
granted to the schools provided for by the statute fall alike on Catholics 
and Protestants.” While the Catholic inhabitants remain liable to local 
assessment for school purposes, “the proceeds of that assessment are no 
longer destined to any extent for the support of Catholic schools, but afford 
the means of maintaining schools which they regard as no more suitable: 
for the education of Catholic children than if they were distinctly Protes- 
tant in their character.” This statement of the grievances of the Roman 
Catholic minority of Manitoba is given in the language of the lords of the 
judicial committee of the privy council of England, to whom the question 
of the right of that minority to appeal to the governor-general-in-council 
of Canada under the constitutional law, governing such matters, was 
expressly referred. The governor-general-in-council has passed the order 
contemplated by law, calling upon the legislature of Manitoba to remedy 
the grievance of the minority and this matter is consequently now rela- 
gated to the proper provincial authority.’ Only in case of its refusal 
to provide a constitutional remedy, can the supreme power of the parlia- 
ment of the Dominion be called into operation. The subject is necessarily 
one of great embarrassment, since it involves an interference of dominion 
power in what is primarily, under ordinary conditions, within the exclu- 
sive jurisdiction of a province. The fact that the judicial committee, or the 
highest court of the empire, has practically decided that aright or privilege 
of the Roman Catholic minority has been affected, and that a remedy should 
has been framed to meet such an emergency 


1 Since this paper was written the provincial government have sent an answer, 
practically refusing to obey the order, but the dominion government have not yet 
introduced any remedial law on the subject. They have deemed it advisable to 
enter into further correspondence with the Manitoba executive, in the hope of some 
settlement, and on the understanding that a session of parliament will be held early 
in January, 1896, to consider the whole question in accordance with the law of the 
constitution. See Can. Com. Hansard, July, 1895. 
pecs Le, 1895.2 3. 
