Faith, Rights, and Choice: The Politics of Religious Schools in Canada

Faith, Rights, and Choice explores how Canadian provinces have responded to the policy problems posed by religious schools, using process-tracing and archival material to provide a new analytic framework.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 250 pages
Publication date: 08 February 2023
Publisher: University of Toronto Press

The Canadian provinces have developed diverse approaches to addressing the policy challenges posed by religious schools. In order to comprehend this unique phenomenon,Faith,Rights,and Choice explores the evolution of provincial governance regimes for religious schools over time. Spanning nearly three centuries, the book begins with the establishment of schooling systems in New France and proceeds to examine various contemporary conflicts that have arisen concerning religion in schools. James Farney and Clark Banack employ a process-tracing methodology, drawing on 88 semi-structured interviews with key policy insiders. They also reference archival material documenting meetings, political speeches, and legislative debates related to government decisions around issues of religious education. Drawing upon the theoretical foundations of both historical institutionalism and Canadian political development,Faith,Rights,and Choice offers a novel analytic framework to facilitate a better understanding of the policy divergence observed across Canada.

Weight: 386g
Dimension: 152 x 229 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781487548285