In Toronto, Accomodation is the Rule in Religion/School Disputes

February 16, 2004

Source: Toronto Star

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1076887505348&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

On February 16, 2004 the Toronto Star reported, "In Toronto, where 17 per cent of the population is Muslim, Jewish, Sikh or Buddhist, and another 17 per cent say they have no religion, educators have chosen an alternative to banning signs of religious affiliation. It's called accommodation. In 1980, when the Toronto public school board made it clear that the Lord's Prayer was not to be read exclusively during opening exercises in its schools, prayer wasn't banned. Despite objections from the province, led then by Progressive Conservative premier Bill Davis, the Lord's Prayer was dropped, but the board replaced it with a booklet of prayers and readings from all faiths, chosen by a 40-member inter-faith panel. The booklet became so popular it was used around the world. 'It's the way we are,' said Ned McKeown, who was the Toronto board's education director through the 1980s. 'This issue of tolerance clearly set us apart. That's been a good thing. If we are not going to accept differences, that's the slippery slope. The right thing is to accommodate differences.' The Toronto District School Board has a set of guidelines, introduced in 2000, to accommodate students' religious beliefs."