THE ANGLO-PROTESTANT CHURCHES OF MANITOBA AND THE }IANITOBA scHool QUESTTON BY CHRISTOPHER HACKETT Subnitted to the Facultv of Graduate Studies Universitv of Manitoba In ParËial Fulfillnent of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS I,Iinnipeg, lfanítoba (c) Christopher Hackett, 1988 Permission traE been granted L'autorisation a êtê accordêe to the National Library of à la Bibliothèque nationate Canada to rnlcrofiln thie du Canada de microfilner thesis and to lend or sell cette thèse et de prêter ou copies of the fil¡r. de vendre des exemplaires du filn. The author (copyright owner) L'auteur (titutaire du droit hae reaerved other dr auteur) ae rêEerve Ìes publication rights, and autres droits de publication; neither the theeis nor ni Ia thèse ni de longe extensLve extracts from it extraits de celle-ci ne nay be printed or otherwiee doivent être inprímêg ou reproduced without his/her autrenrent reproduits sana aon written permiseion. autorisation êcrÍte. rsBN 0-31-5-48090-4 ANGLO-PROTESTANT CHURCHES OF MANITOBA AND THE MANTTOBA SCHOOL QUESTTON BY CHRISTOPHER HACKETT A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the University of Manitoba in partial fulfìllment of the requirements of the degree of I',ÍASTER OF ARTS o 1988 Permissiorr has beerr granted to the LIBRARY OF THE UNIVER- SITY OF MANITOBA to lend or sell copies of this thesis. to the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA to microfilnr this thesis and to lend or sell copies of the film, and UNIVERSITY IvIICROFILMS to publish an abstract of this thesis. The author reseryes other publicatio¡r rights, and neither the thesis nor extensive extracts from it may be prirrted or other- wise reproduced without the author's written pernrission. CONTENTS ACKNOÌ^TLEDGEMENTS i i ABSTRÀCT . iv Chapter page I. INTRODUCTION .1 TI. HÏSTORICAL BACKGROUND .6 III. THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH .21 IV. THE METHODIST CHURCH tro V. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND .97 VI. CONCLUSIONS 150 157 v1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank Dr. J. E. Rea for serving as my advisor. His considerable patience and skills as an editor were espe- ciaIIy appreciated. I would also like to thank the members of my committee, Dr. J. Kendle, Dr. G. Friesen and Dr. K. Osborne. I would also like to express my appreciation to several of my instructors and others in the history department who offered suggestions and support for my work, in particular Dr. D. N. Sprague, Dr. G. Friesen and Dr. B. Ferguson. I would like to thank the J. S. Ewart Memorial Fund for the opportunity to conduct research at the PubIic Àrchives of Canada. In addition, I would like to tt¡ank St. John's College and the administrators of the Colin Inkster Fellow- ship for financial and other support while writing my the- sis. I owe a considerable debt of gratitude to two professors at the University of Manitoba for encouraging me in my career: Dr. Love11 Clark (with whom any disagreement between his work and my thesis vras done with utmost respect) who encouraged me to pursue graduate studies; and, Dr. Fran- cis Carroll with whom I share a love of historical research in all its many forms. ii Above all I would like to render my heartiest thanks to my wife, Robin Adkins, who toiled weII above and beyond the call of duty in assisting me in the completion of this the- sis. She offered unlimited emotional and moral support, read innumerable drafts (without being as fascinated in the subject as I was) and made insightful and often valuable criticisms and suggestions. In the process she became with- out a doubt the foremost expert on the Manitoba School eues- tion in the Psychology Ðepartment of the University of Mani- toba. FinaIly, to my daughter Laura Jessie Chesnaye Adkins- Hackett, who may not have significantly altered the contents of this thesis, but who certainly had an impact on how long it took to reach completion. tll ABSTRACT The Manitoba School Question was one of the most conten- tious issues in the history of both Manitoba and Canada and it has received considerable attention from historians. However, there has been insufficient research into the cIi- mate of popular opinion in which decisions concerning the introduction of a national school systen in Manitoba were made. This gap has had important consequences particularly in the long running controversy over the origins of the school guestion. This thesis attempted to remedy this neglect by examining the actions and attitudes of the three major Anglo-Protes- tant churches in Manitoba towards education and minority rights between 1870 and 1890. The clergy and laity of these churches wielded coRsiderable influence in Manitoba society in general and over education in specific. The thesis focused on the three largest of these churches, the Pres- byterian Church, the Methodist Church and the Church of Eng- Iand. In the past, these Protestant churches have been treated as homogeneous but the present work found that this assumption vlas inaccurate and potentially misleading. Each church emerged with its own distinct view on the role of religion in education and minority rights and on the poli- cies of the Greenvray Government. iv Despite the differences, common themes among the churches were identified which highlighted the changing attitudes towards religion and education in the Province between 1870 and 1890. The influx of Ontario clergy and taity had major repercussions for the churches as well as the society around them. For the churches, it meant that new policies were developed often at the expense of traditional perspectives, with secular concerns taking priority over theological issues. In general, attitudes toward education altered such that the importance of religious instruction in the public schools became secondary to the cultural assimilation of non-English minorities, particularly French Roman cathorics. The thesis supports the contention of recent Iiterature that the school guestion yras part of a long term pattern of co-option of the social and public institutions of the prov- ince by the post-Confederation Ontario born Protestant elite rather than a brief period of demagogic anti-Catholicism. The success of Èhe Protestant majority in passing legisla- tion to adapt the schools to meet their own cultural agenda demonstrates the danger of a parliamentary majority when it is not bound by a strong constitution which recognizes indi- vidual and group rights. v Chapter I TNTRODUCTTON The introduction of a nationar schoor systeml in Manitoba in 1890 and the accompanying controversyr popurarry known as the Manitoba schoor Question, is one of the most contentious issues in the history of both Manitoba and canada. The Man- itoba school Question cal1ed into question the fundamental rights of minorities within the province and the country. Although it is far from an isolated case, the Manitoba school 9uestion is perhaps the crearest example of the prob- lems inherent in managing the canadian confederation. rt has attracted considerable attention from historians and has been approached from a variety of angles. one historian, p. E. crunican, has suggested that ttre reason the school ques- tion has been of such interest to historians is largery I rn order to appreciate any study on the school question a few cìefinitions must be estabrished. "National schoors" refer to a non-sectarian public schoor system imported from ontario, which stressed the minimizing-of differences among students in order to instilr a commoñ sense of iden- tity in all canadians. rn practice, the object of these schoors was the assimilation of non-English- minorities. Manitoba adopted nationar schoors in 1890. "Denomination- al schoors" refer to schoors operated by a particular religious denomination and can be appried to ihe parish schools of the Red River colony and- lo both sectións of the dual- pubric schoor system after 1971. The term "sepa- rate schoolsr" commonry employed by proponents of natioñal schools during the debate in uañilobá to refer to the Roman catholic section of the duar schoor board, was an import from ontario which had no varidity in the Manitoba context since it implied that one half ót the board was denominaÈional while the other half was public. -1 2 because the struggle to restore the educational rights of Manitoba Roman Catholics "involved nearly every main theme of Canada's internal history - Conservative-Liberal, feder- al-provincial, east-west, French-English, Catholic-Protes- tant, church- state."2 Existing works on the Manitoba School Question have concentrated mainly on the political aspects of the issue and on the role of the Roman Catholic Church.3 While this literature has presented a clear picture of the events associated with the issue as well as of the principal decision makers for the Government and opposition, insuffi- cient research has been undertaken on the climate of opinion in which decisions were made. Although there is a good deal of conjecture on the public's rationale for accepting the change in the schools, there has been little research spe- P. E. Crunican, Priests an4 Politicians: Manitoba Schools and the Election of 1896, (Toronto: University of Toronto press, 1W Main works on the political aspects are: J. W. Dafoe, Clifford Sifton in Relation to His Times, (Toronto: The MacMillan Company of Canada Limited, 1939); R. E. Clague, "The PoIitica1 Aspects of the Manitoba School Question," (Unpublished M. À. Thesis, University of Manitoba, 1939); E. G. Cooke, "The Federal Election of 1896 in Manitoba," (Unpublished M. A. Thesis, University of Manitoba, 1943); D. J. HaIl, Clifford Sifton: VoI. I The Younq NaÞo1eon, 1861-1900, (vancouver: University of British Cofumbia Press, 1981 ); J. Hi1ts, "The Political Career of Thomas Greenway," (Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Mani- toba, 1974); J. R.