The Ukrainians and the Manitoba School Question: 1916

Subject: Ukrainian Canadians Education Ukrainian Bilingual Education History

Description: At the third Institute seminar of the 1977-78 academic year, held on November 3, Andrij Makuch, fourth-year honors student in history, spoke on "The Ukrainians and the Manitoba School Question: 1916." / In an attempt to mollify the French, the Laurier-Greenway Compromise of 1897 amended the Manitoba School Act to allow for bilingual education where "ten or more pupils" spoke a non-English tongue. It was not foreseen that combinations of English with Polish, German, or Ukrainian would become common. As many of the non-English, non-French immigrants were of the Catholic faith, the French Archbishop of St. Boniface, Abelard Langevin, came to their defence, seeing their native tongue as the "rampart" of their faith, as in the case of the French. His greatest ally in assuring bilingual and predominantly Catholic school districts was the Conservative premier, Sir Rodmond Roblin, who subscribed to a liberal theory of education. However, his powerful but corrupt political machine had neglected to institute much-needed educational reforms. The reform-minded Liberals who succeeded him abolished bilingual education as much to assimilate the children of the foreign-born as to institute certain educational reforms; it was a decision made well in advance of the official study of the bilingual schools' effectiveness in teaching English -- on the basis of which the Liberals claimed it was necessary to abolish the bilingual classes.

Found in CIUS Newsletter Vol 2 Issue 2 (Winter 1977)

Author: CIUS

Publisher: CIUS

Date: November 3, 1977

Contributor: Andrij Makuch

Language: English, Ukrainian

Original Format: Magnetic tape, audio cassette

Duration: 1:02:34