WAGNER: How Christian activism changed Alberta’s education system

Albertans who value choice in education today, should understand just how much they owe to concerted political effort by Christians fifty years ago, who favoured private education. It was as a result of persistent activism by supporters of school choice as far back as 1967 that Alberta was the first province in Canada to provide private schools with public funding. The campaign to convince the government to provide public funding for private schools was led by Dutch Reformed immigrants, most of whom came to Alberta in the two decades following the Second World War.Back in their country of origin, the government funded various kinds of religious schools. This is what they were used to. However, when they came to Alberta, they found that the government funded only public and separate schools. As well, there were very few private schools in the province.Therefore, these immigrants decided to found their own private Christian schools in a number of Alberta communities. With the creation of these new schools, efforts began to convince the government to provide some public funding for them.The most complete account of these efforts is provided by Stanislaus Digout who wrote a master’s thesis in 1969 for the University of Alberta, entitled “Public Aid for Private Schools in Alberta: The Making of a Decision.” Digout was able to interview many of the key players involved, including MLAs and cabinet ministers.The first attempt to obtain government funding for private schools in Alberta was made by the board of the Calvin Central Christian School in Edmonton in the early 1950s. The Minister of Education, Anders Aalborg, was not favourable to the idea and so no policy change was made.Little more was done until the early 1960s when a concerted effort to lobby the government began. Three particular groups were active on this issue: the Christian Action Foundation, the Association of Private Schools and Colleges in Alberta (APSCA — later known as AISCA, the Association of Independent Schools and Colleges in Alberta), and the Societies for Christian Education that operated schools in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, Lacombe, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.One of the key people involved in the initiative was Rev. Louis Tamminga of the Christian Reformed Church who came to Edmonton in 1960. Digout writes that “Tamminga was instrumental in the establishment of the Christian Action Foundation, and was to lead several representations to various members of the Government of Alberta.”Another significant player was Dr. William Vanden Born of the University of Alberta who helped to lead the efforts of the APSCA and the Edmonton Society for Christian Education.In 1962 an opposition MLA presented a resolution to the Alberta Legislature calling upon the government to provide financial aid for private schools. The resolution was soundly defeated. Most of the MLAs and cabinet ministers of Alberta’s Social Credit government were opposed to such funding.However, private school supporters increased their efforts and became even more active in their campaign.In December 1963, Tamminga and John Olthuis of the Christian Action Foundation met with Premier Ernest Manning to present a brief on compulsory unionism. However, after their presentation Premier Manning asked them about the situation of private Christian schools in Alberta. They took the opportunity to explain the case for public funding.Tamminga and John Olthuis were then given the opportunity to submit a brief on Christian education to Premier Manning early in 1964. In that brief, Digout writes, “They stressed that education always has a basic philosophy and questioned the fairness of the government in subsidizing the humanistic one (the public system) and not the Christian.”Later in 1964, the president of the APSCA, Dr. Gulbrand Loken, was able to present a brief to the provincial Cabinet in favour of government funding for private schools. As well, supporters of private schools continued to meet with their MLAs.Early in 1965, the Societies for Christian Education, together with the Christian Action Foundation, produced a brief that was presented to the Cabinet by John Olthuis and Dr. Vanden Born. According to Digout, “Freedom for Alberta parents to educate their children in accordance with their world and life view was emphasized, as well as the right of every citizen to exercise freedom of choice in the matter of education.”They argued that allowing private schools to share in the funds available for education would be more consistent with the pluralistic character of Alberta society and protect against the dangers of a uniform state system of education.In March 1966, a supportive Social Credit MLA, Donald Fleming, introduced a resolution into the Legislature calling upon the government to provide financial aid for private schools. Since 1962, when the previous motion had been easily defeated, several Social Credit MLAs and cabinet ministers had changed their minds on this issue due to the lobbying efforts of private school supporters.This new resolution passed easily, despite opposition from the Minister of Education, Randolph McKinnon.Early in the following year (1967), the government passed an amendment to the School Grants Act that provided for financial assistance to private schools. Private schools that met the government’s criteria were eligible to receive $100 per pupil each year. In later years this amount was increased considerably.The key point is that private school funding began as a result of Christian political activism. A relatively small group of people, dedicated to their cause and highly motivated, lobbied the government and eventually accomplished their goal.Albertans today who value choice in education are the beneficiaries of this activism.

WAGNER: How Christian activism changed Alberta’s education system

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