Catholic Schools Can Be Catholic

Loyola High School is a private Jesuit high school for boys, which was founded in 1848 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Until the 1990s, schools in Quebec were confessional schools, either Protestant or Roman Catholic. When the schools were deconfessionalized through a constitutional amendment in 1997, the religious education component of the curriculum was replaced by a neutral Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) curriculum.1 Loyola High School applied for an exemption from the ERC, which, under legislation, the Minister of Education, Recreation, and Sports could grant if there was an alternative, equivalent course. The Minister refused the exemption on the basis that the proposed alternative was to be taught from a Catholic, rather than a secular, perspective. Loyola applied for judicial review of that decision. The judge at first instance ruled that the Minister infringed section 2(a) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) that guarantees freedom of religion. He overturned the Minister’s decision. The Quebec Court of Appeal overturned this decision on two bases. First, the standard of review. The court’s interpretation of the administrative standard of review of a discretionary decision maker was ‘reasonableness’. Second, the court ruled that the ECR program did not interfere with religious freedom in a substantial manner. The court therefore ruled that the Minister’s decision was reasonable.

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