Regular readers know my thoughts on the existence of a supreme being. In short, I do not believe it. However, in Franco-Acadian New Brunswick, religion and education have been virtually inseparable more than a century, even after Canada gave itself the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which calls for religious neutrality, at least according to case law.
That said, I do understand the historical basis for the entanglement. As in Quebec, French language instruction in New Brunswick had been left to priests and nuns in the earliest times. There were probably efforts to recruit new clergy members, but there were also, especially for priests and nuns who were born and raised in the province, a desire to see Acadian society develop. And social and economic development requires education.
Before 1872, education throughout the province was problematic at best, especially among the Acadians. For several years, a provincial minister, George Edwin King, led a movement to change things, promoting the idea of a system of public schools to replace separate (religious) schools. Education would be free, that is, paid through public funds, and would be available to all regardless of language, religion, sex and economic status of a student's family.
However, the separate school system allowed some Acadians to be schooled in institutions that were both Catholic and French. English-speaking Catholics, although generally reluctant to support the French cause, also wanted to keep their separate schools. Given the general lack of support for non-denominational schools, King withdrew his first bill.
Later, when he became head of the provincial executive committee (today, we would call him Premier), King introduced a similar bill and faced the same opposition from both the public and many members of the Legislative Assembly. In the end, two opponents were offered attractive government positions in return for siding with the provincial administrative body, and the Common Schools Act was finally passed in 1871, and came into effect in 1872.
The new law prohibited any religious symbols from being displayed in school building, and teachers were prohibited from wearing religious uniforms. In addition, people who still wanted their children to attend a religious school had to pay twice, both the tax imposed by government for public education, even if their child did not attend public school, and the tuition fees of the non-public institution where their child was enrolled. This may seem normal today, but it wasn't the case during the 1870s.
Over the years that followed, Catholics, encouraged by their spiritual leaders, demonstrated against this law in various ways. This would eventually lead to a tragic event in 1875. Following a protest outside the house of a member of the provincial executive committee, the militia was dispatched to Caraquet. Some Acadians, who had gathered in a house to discuss the events, hid in the attic when they saw the militia coming. In the minutes that followed, two people were killed, a militiaman, John Gilford, and an Acadian, Louis Mailloux. Few people remember Gilford today, but Mailloux's name has been given to a school in Caraquet.
Wishing to avoid any further tragedies, and perhaps fearing the reaction of the rest of the country, the provincial government offered a compromise. The wearing of religious uniform was allowed and Catechism would be taught in schools outside the official hours of instruction. Catholic clergy accepted this compromise and then encouraged the people to pay the school tax and send their children to school.
What about French education? This would lead to a different struggle that Acadians, by and large, had to fight on their own, without the help of clergy.
In 1867, the year of Canadian Confederation, the Acadian population lived mainly outside of mainstream society. Some Acadians became merchants and there were a few Acadian priests in the two existing dioceses, Saint John and Chatham. Lawyers and doctors were still years away. The English controlled trade and government.
As for clergy, the higher posts of the Catholic Church in New Brunswick were held by English-speaking Irish. In his book, Un siècle de revendications scolaires au Nouveau-Brunswick, 1871-1971, author Alexander-J. Savoie presents an excerpt from a letter from the founder of the Moniteur Acadien, Israël J. D. Landry, to historian Rameau de Saint-Père. Here's my translation:
It would be impossible to describe to you all the harassment I was subject to since I started publishing an Acadian newspaper. The Irish clergy (in the counties of Westmorland and Kent) said publicly in their churches that "Mr. Landry came to separate the French Catholics from the Irish, Scottish, etc. ..." You see, there is concern that the poor Acadians may learn and work to retain their language. The Irish clergy (which has already lost its own language) said there should be only one language in this country, and that language is English.
Faced with such opposition, Landry might have been tempted thumb his nose at the clergy. But the Church played such a prominent role in society at the time that this would have been unthinkable. So with the help of some sympathetic clergy, the Acadians worked for years to "Acadianise" the clergy and have a small part of the Church they so willingly followed. In this respect, they succeeded.
Acadian society is not what it used to be. These people with no land to call their own defined themselves through two seemingly immutable characteristics: the French language and the Roman Catholic faith. But the Church has lost ground in recent decades, perhaps less in Acadia than in Quebec, but it has still lost ground. Many Acadians are no longer ruled by the Church, but continue to show a great affection for the French language.
Some continue to attend church out of respect for tradition. But we can respect the past without living in it. We are past the days of horse carriages and inkwells. Acadians themselves now live in an era of automobiles and computers. Acadia as a nation could do the same.
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