In 1896 the Regulations had been amended and French privileges restricted. Into the issue in 1911 came, also, the religious feeling and Orangemen took up the cudgels warmly for non-sectarian English schools throughout the Province with such utterances as the following Resolution of the Ontario West Grand Lodge at Barrie on Mch. 8th: "That we have observed with deep and earnest concern the public and authoritative statements made concerning the Bi-lingual schools of this Province. We note the inefficiency of these schools from an educational point of view, and the unpatriotic character and tendency of schools which avowedly and manifestly are seeking to drive the English language and population out of Ontario." A demand for entire and immediate abolition followed. According to the Census of 1901 the French population of Ontario was 158,671 and an estimated increase along normal lines would make the figures 182,000 in 1911. But the Ecclesiastical Census of the Province in 1909 showed figures of 247,000 or one French-Canadian in every ten of the population as compared with one in fourteen eight years before. The Counties chiefly concerned were Prescott and Russell where a large majority was French, Essex where a considerable proportion were of that race, and the Northern frontier of the Province up to the Manitoba boundary-especially the Nipissing District. The Toronto Star (Lib.) put the situation as follows on Nov. 6th: "In 1901 one French person over five years of age to every four of the total French population could speak no English. On this basis there would now be, out of the 250,000 present French population, over 60,000 French who can speak no English. If fifteen per cent. of these have learned English there will still remain well over 50,000 who know none. So that instead. of 38,000 as in 1901 there are now over 50,000 French to whom all English is unknown. That is, there are 12,000 more people in Ontario who cannot speak English to-day than was the case ten years ago, or an increase of over 1,000 a year; and those 1,000 people a year are not immigrants from foreign shores but youths educated under Ontario's school system. The probabilities are that the numbers are greater than the foregoing figures indicate." Meanwhile, the matter had been discussed in the Legislature and Dr. F. W. Merchant appointed by the Government to investigate the subject while echoes of the controversy found a place in Quebec where Le Devoir (Nat.) denounced the above statement of The Star and declared that "there is only one way to prohibit French in Ontario and now it is too late to try it; that would be to deny entrance into the Province of every French-Canadian." At this time, also, the French-Canadians of New Ontario got into controversy with Bishop Scollard of Sault Ste. Marie-a diocese said to contain 25,000 French in a population of 30,000 Catholics -and L'Action of Montreal wrote some fiery articles upon the issue. Politically the issue was obvious. If the Orange vote was stirred up against the Whitney Government for alleged looseness of administration in this connection it would mean Liberal gains in some ridings; if the French-Canadians found that the Government was about to take strong measures for the restriction of French in the schools it would mean certain Liberal gains in several other constituencies. The long-extended inquiry of the Toronto Star into the question would, therefore, have been politically embarrassing had it not been for the appointment of the Government's Commission which left the matter for settlement after the Electoral excitement was disposed of. The various correspondents of this paper sent most sensational reports from time to time. Cobalt teachers were said (Dec. 8) to "keep French on a par with English" and the language itself to be rapidly becoming dominant in Northern Ontario; French was said (Nov. 22) to be" the real language of schools in 90 per cent. of rural New Ontario"; it was asserted (Nov. 20) that "with the start the French have now, in another quarter of a century when the population of New Ontario will be about 2,000,000, three-quarters of them will be French." On this latter date The Globe stated that Quebec Church Societies were making tremendous efforts to colonize New Ontario in particular and other regions in general. "Canada's colonization and the enhancing of the power of the Church is the slogan of these societies, and little strings of settlements along the lines of the National Transcontinental and T. & N. O. in New Quebec, in Nova Scotia and in the far Westwhere a tract of over 1,800 square miles has been purchased by a Catholic colonization Society-all testify to the thoroughness with which the work is being carried on." The conclusions of The Star correspondents may be summarized here as to its inquiries in 40 schools: "In practically all the schools French is used to a predominating extent in teaching the junior classes of French children; in a great many of the schools French is the language of the school, right through to the highest classes, English being taught merely as an academic study; in some schools no word of English is ever spoken; in practically all of them, even where English is taught to a greater or lesser extent, a portion of the day, not generally less than an hour, or an hour and a half, is devoted, in even the highest classes, to the teaching of French." Meantime there had been some natural controversy within the political parties. The 6th Ward Conservatives of Toronto (Oct. 27) adopted a Resolution in favour of "entirely abolishing the French language in Public and Separate Schools" while the Orange Sentinel and Orange speakers were, as a rule, inclined to await the Merchant report while taking strong ground against any succeeding allowance of Bi-lingualism. The journal in question on Nov. 9th said, in large letters on its front page, that "the supreme question in Ontario politics is the abolition of Bi-lingual schools." The Liberal attitude was one of teaching English thoroughly and solely-except when French was the only tongue known to the pupil. This was practically the law and regulation as it stood (59 Vict., Cap. 70, s. 76): "It shall be the duty of every teacher of a Public School to use the English language in the instruction of the school, and in all communications with the pupils in regard to discipline and management of the school, except where impracticable by reason of the pupil not understanding English. Recitations requiring the use of a text book may be conducted in the language of the text-book." In a letter to W. K. McNaught, made public on Nomination day, Sir James Whitney said: "Dr. Merchant was instructed to make a careful and exhaustive examination of the conditions in the schools. When his Report is received, if it shows that any schools are not conducted in accordance with the terms of the Resolution (passed by the Legislature in exactly the same terms as the Regulation above quoted) the Department will at once take steps to compel compliance with such terms." In Essex, on Nov. 23rd, the Premier explained the Parliamentary Resolution and the law as follows: "That means that an English education is expected to be secured in the Public Schools of this Province. This regulation never caused any trouble before. If children can't understand English the only thing to do is to get them to understand the subjects taught in the Public Schools by means of their own language. French, however, would be taught only until they understood English." Dr. Forbes Godfrey, W. K. McNaught, Thomas Crawford, W. D. McPherson, G. Howard Ferguson, Colonel J. J. Craig, and some other Conservative candidates wanted no French of any kind taught in Public Schools-an attitude also adopted by the Toronto Telegram which on Dec. 1st based its arguments on the fact that 140 million people now used the English language in business, social and home life. Dr. Pyne, Minister of Education, stated on Oct. 29 that there were 300 schools being investigated and expressed the opinion that English should be the language of instruction in all schools. The Toronto News (Nov. 24) took the ground that Bi-lingualism meant "confusion and inefficiency" and that it was a national duty (Nov. 20) "to make English the language in the schools" of Ontario. The Hon. J. J. Foy, Attorney-General and, personally a Roman Catholic, explained his position as follows on Nov. 20th: I desire to give my views on the question of the schools and to put them briefly and clearly. To avoid imperfect reporting I have written them down and will hand them to the press. My views are that the English language should be thoroughly taught in our schools to every pupil by teachers competent to teach English; that no other language should be taught in these schools; that such is the law which should govern us; that there cannot lawfully be any Bi-lingual schools in the Province of Ontario, and if any are found they must cease to exist and care should be taken to make all schools conform to the law. I wish to add that this policy is not one that is in the slightest way unfriendly to any portion of the community but, on the contrary, is in the interest and for the benefit of each one of the rising generation. It will remove what would otherwise be a drag on many a youth in the race of life, and enable him to fairly compete with his fellows on an equal footing. To this statement L'Association Canedienne Francaise d'Education d'Ontario responded at once through a letter in The Globe signed by its Secretary: "The Association is as anxious as any body or individual that the English language shall be taught to all French-Canadian children of Ontario as thoroughly as possible; but it will, with all the constitutional means at its disposal, and with all the energy and activity it can command, insist upon the exercise of at least those rights that are recognized to the French-Canadians and which they have enjoyed for many years with the sanction and co-operation of the Department of Education in Ontario." The Hon. J. O. Reaume, Minister of Public Works, whose faith and race and constituency inclined him to look indulgently on the subject, defined the position as follows on Nov. 29th: "Sir James Whitney's attitude is that while English should be made the language of the schools, as far as practicable, and while it is maintained that every child should receive an English education, we are not against the French-Canadians and Germans having their children started in their mother tongue, as a means to an end, and having their mother tongue taught in the schools as a subject when so desired by trustees representing the people of the school section." At North Bay (Nov. 29) Mr. N. W. Rowell addressed a large French-Canadian gathering and while declaring that English instruction was for the good of the French-Canadian children* went further than he had yet done in the direction of tolerance: "I also say that the State has no right to say that these same children should grow up without further knowledge of the language which they first lisped at their mothers' knees." The Elections were now drawing to a close and the few further incidents can only be briefly summarized. The Ottawa Citizen (Cons.) of Dec. 8th made a vigorous attack on the Provincial Police system-especially in its New Ontario personnel-and the Toronto Globe (Lib.) kept up a keen campaign for reform in this respect; the Toronto Star of Oct. 21st, while claiming that Mr. Beck got his inspiration as to the Power policy from the municipalities, paid this tribute to the undertaking as a whole: "We believe that the public Power service is one of the best things ever undertaken in Ontario or in any other State or country. It is a breaking away from the old and narrow plan of having private NOTE.-Report in Toronto Star of Nov. 30, 1911. owners in control of a monopoly which could have become a very oppressive one." On Oct. 28 T. C. Robinette, K.C., suggested items for a Liberal platform which included (1) absolute control by the Province of the retail liquor business; (2) woman suffrage; (3) public ownership of Telephones and Telegraphs and extension of the Government Railway and Power systems. The result of the Elections on Dec. 11th was a triumph for the Whitney Government with exact returns as follows: Conservative William D. Black. ..... Liberal 661 176 384 449 104 391 305 454 276 921 Constituency. Essex South... Dr. C. N. Anderson. Richard R. Brett. Dr. C. N. Anderson. Glengarry ....Col. D. M. Robert son .G. H. Ferguson.. Innes Hugh Munro. Grenville Grey Centre... Hon. I. B. Lucas. P. McCullough.. son 216 267 279 446 212 867 .Geo. W. Sulman... Arthur E. Ross.. Accl. McCormick. R. J. McCormick.. 89 Henderson. Hon. W. J. Hanna. 1,061 R. F. Preston..... Accl. Robt. R. Gamey.. Robert_Tilson. E..George Neely..... Robt. Sutherland. Robt. Sutherland.. Middlesex N..D. MacArthur. John Grieve. D. MacArthur. Middlesex W.. Neil Galbraith. John C. Elliott... John C. Elliott. 35 582 |