A Tale of Canada's Two Constitutions: On the tension between Roman Catholic Education funding privileges enshrined in the Canadian Constitution Act, 1867, and equality rights of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms , 1982.

"Let's Talk about Something Else": Religion and Governmentality in New Zealand's State Primary Schools

youth in French-speaking Canada to consider how these institutions influence the formation of students’ cultural, national, ethnic, and religious identities, and their sense of belonging to Quebec and Canada. Through close qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with firstand second-generation students, as well as parents, teachers, and leaders involved in Islamic high schools, this text explores how far institutions succeed in preparing young Muslims to participate in the broader secular society in Quebec and in English-speaking Canada. As well as investigating the historical and contemporary development of Islamic schooling in Canada, and addressing public perceptions of this educational sector, the volume foregrounds the voices of those directly involved in these schools to illustrate first-hand experiences, and the motivations and objectives of those choosing to support or engage in these schools. Overarching themes include citizenship, integration, and the complex interplay of Muslim, Quebecois, and Canadian values. This book will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, researcher scholars and academics in the fields of religion, education, Islamic studies, multicultural education curriculum studies, and faith-based teacher education.

Islamic Schooling and the Identities of Muslim Youth in Quebec: Navigating National Identity, Religion, and Belonging

Recent media accounts suggest certain faith-based interest groups are increasingly pressuring provincial governments across Canada to ensure their views on education policy are acted upon. This paper offers a qualitative assessment of the policy influence possessed by faith-based groups active on the education file in Alberta and the factors responsible for this level of influence. Overall, such influence is not directly attributable to the group's size or resources nor can it be explained by the assumption that Alberta is overrun with religious citizens demanding socially conservative policies. Rather, the explanation is found in a more nuanced appreciation of the self-interested electoral calculations made by the long-governing Progressive Conservative party, on the one hand, as well as well as the party's long-running commitment to “school choice” on the other. This sentiment is intimately related to both the province's populist political culture as well as a broader ideological convergence around the principle of “free choice” in general, and the benefits of marketization in particular.

Understanding the Influence of Faith-Based Organizations on Education Policy in Alberta

Catholic schools in Canada operate in a diversity of historical contexts and utilize different funding models. Within this diversity a number of features of religious education within Canadian Catholic schools will be discussed in this chapter. Firstly, many official Canadian Church educational documents reflect an understanding that closely associated catechesis with religious education or fail to sufficiently distinguish between the two. Secondly, in the absence of strong, ongoing bureaucratic support, religious education can often lack a strategic sense that monitors current practice and also plans for the future. Finally, emerging cultural and social circumstances offer a series of challenges such as meeting the needs of changing school communities and training of religious education teachers.

Religious Education in Canadian Catholic Schools

. Until very recently, the “orthodox” liberal view had assumed that the right to the profession and practice of one's own religious values encompassed the right to instil particular religious values in one's children. This view has been challenged by sustained analysis of the role of children within liberal theory, given the basic tenet of the equal moral worth of persons. This strand of liberal thought questions the extent to which parental rights to direct children's upbringing can include a right to form children's basic value sets. With this challenge comes a stronger basis from which to also challenge the idea that parents may legitimately oppose certain aspects of the state-mandated curriculum on the basis that such education may impinge on the values they wish to instil in their children. This paper will examine the controversy surrounding Quebec's “Ethics and Religious Culture” course within a framework that seeks to put the interest of children first, as well as how the religious rights of parents and children might be understood in this context.Resume. Naguere, l'opinion liberale voulait que le droit a la pratique et a la profession de sa propre religion et de ses valeurs comprit le droit d'inculquer ces valeurs religieuses a ses enfants. Depuis un certain temps, cette position est remise en question a la lumiere d'une analyse soutenue des droits de l'enfant, vu la primaute du tenant de l'egalite morale de tous les individus dans la pensee liberale contemporaine. Selon cette analyse, il n'est pas acquis que le droit du parent de voir a la formation de l'enfant comprenne le droit de lui imposer des valeurs de base particulieres. Cette remise en question donne lieu a une reevaluation plus concrete du droit des parents de s'opposer a certains aspects du programme d'etudes etabli par le gouvernement sous pretexte que ceux-ci nuiraient a leur droit d'inculquer des valeurs particulieres a leurs enfants. La controverse au sujet du cours d'ethique et de culture religieuse au Quebec est revue dans un contexte qui place en priorite le droit de l'enfant. Il est question du rapport entre les droits des parents et ceux des enfants concernant la religion et l'education religieuse.

Alison Braley

Papers

Religious Rights and Québec's Ethics and Religious Culture Course