May 28, 2018: Funding for faith-based schools in Ontario

By Michael Regenstreif

The campaign for the June 7 Ontario election is now in full swing and there are some important issues you won’t hear party leaders Doug Ford, Andrea Horwath or Kathleen Wynne – or, for that matter, any of their candidates – talking about.

Among those issues is funding for non-Catholic faith-based schools in Ontario. Ontario provides 100 per cent of the funding to run the Catholic school system in the province and no funding at all for the schools of all other faith groups. This province is the only jurisdiction in North America which still funds the religious school system of one religion to the exclusion of all others. A number of other Canadian provinces, including Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia, have put formulas in place to provide some level of public funding to faith-based schools that meet their provincial curriculum standards.

In 1999, when the Progressive Conservatives were in power under premier Mike Harris, the United Nations Human Rights Commission said the province’s funding of Catholic schools but not those of other religions was discriminatory and a violation of Canada’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The UN commission reiterated that ruling again in 2005 when the Liberals were in power under premier Dalton McGuinty.

The Progressive Conservatives, under leader John Tory (now the mayor of Toronto), seized on the issue in the 2007 provincial election campaign and promised to find a formula for non-Catholic faith-based school funding in the province. But Tory and the Tories (pun intended) did not manage the issue well. Instead of reaching out to the Liberals and New Democrats and finding consensus on an issue affecting only a relatively small minority of the population they let it become a partisan election issue. McGuinty and the Liberals played cynical, populist politics and made what could have – and should have – been a consensus-building issue into a deeply divisive wedge issue.

McGuinty, whose own children attended Catholic schools, said that children attending other faith-based schools “become sequestered and segregated,” implying that these children do not integrate well in society. This was surely insulting to all of the Jewish day school graduates in Ontario who have proven time and again how well they have integrated and who have made immeasurable contributions to society. And this is surely true, as well, for students who have attended the schools of Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities, and various non-Catholic Christian communities including Armenian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Evangelical Christian, Seventh Day Adventist and Mennonite.

Playing wedge politics on faith-based school funding worked for McGuinty and the Liberals in the 2007 election. Tory and the Progressive Conservatives were shellacked on election night and dropped the issue. None of the parties have brought it up since and this is now the third Ontario election campaign since 2007.

During the 1993 federal election campaign, Progressive Conservative leader Kim Campbell – then briefly the prime minister – said, “An election is no time to discuss serious issues.” Campbell was ridiculed for the comment and went down to perhaps the biggest election defeat of an incumbent in Canadian history. But maybe there was some truth to her comment. Some issues should not be partisan election campaign issues where party positions become hardened and polarized – as they did in 2007 on the issue of funding for non-Catholic faith-based schools. When talking about rights – or at least about what is right – an issue should be approached through nonpartisan consensus building.

The status quo in Ontario education funding has been in place since Confederation in 1867. But society has changed immeasurably over the course of 151 years. Other provinces have recognized this and adapted and so should ours.

I’ve heard MPPs from all three parties at Queen’s Park say off the record that if it were up to them, they’d support funding for faith-based schools. A common front of faith-based communities in Ontario needs to help the political parties find the consensus needed to correct the situation. The work should begin as soon as possible after the election.

May 14, 2018: It’s so good to be back at work

By Michael Regenstreif

I ’m thrilled to be back to work at the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin. My first day back was April 23 – just in time to work on this edition – after being away on a medical leave since February 5.

My medical adventure began last September when my family doctor sent me for an echocardiogram after she heard a heart murmur that had never been detected before during a routine exam. The echocardiogram – ultrasound imaging of the heart – showed severe stenosis (narrowing) of my aortic valve. When she phoned to tell me the results of the test, the doctor told me she was referring me to a cardiologist but that surgery to correct the problem appeared likely.

The cardiologist confirmed that I would need surgery.

“Are we talking about sooner or later; months or years from now?” I asked him. The last time I’d had surgery was to have my tonsils out in 1961.

“Probably months,” he said. He strongly suggested cancelling the Florida vacation that Sylvie and I had scheduled for December.

He said he wanted to watch me for a while and scheduled another echocardiogram for March – but said to call him right away if I started noticing such symptoms as fatigue, shortness of breath or angina. A few weeks later, I realized I was having symptoms and called him.

My cardiologist immediately repeated the echocardiogram and then referred me to a surgeon at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. In December I had an angiogram at the Heart Institute which showed I had no blockages in any of my arteries – so replacing my aortic valve would be the only focus of the surgery.

I also had a consultation with my surgeon. He explained the surgery and discussed the option of whether to replace my aortic valve with a mechanical valve or one made from animal tissue – each has advantages and disadvantages and it was up to me to choose. I opted for the tissue valve tissue but I wouldn’t know until after the surgery if my new valve would be from porcine or bovine tissue.

More than one person asked me asked me if it’s “kosher” to use porcine tissue. I knew the answer to that question was yes even before Rabbi Reuven Bulka assured me of that during a conversation in January at the SJCC. Ultimately, my surgeon used a valve made from bovine tissue.

My surgery was originally scheduled for February 6. That day I got a call from the Heart Institute postponing the procedure until February 21.

I did have the surgery on the 21st and everything went well. I spent two nights in the ICU and four more nights in a regular room before going home.

I can’t say enough good things about the Ottawa Heart Institute. It’s an amazing place and everyone I encountered there – doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, orderlies, technicians, clerks, cleaners, volunteers, you name it – is highly skilled, kind and compassionate. We are incredibly lucky to have this world-class facility in our city. I’m currently back at the Heart Institute on Tuesday and Thursday mornings doing the eight-week cardiac rehab program.

Most of my recovery time was spent at home and I also can’t say enough about the loving care I received from Sylvie. Recovery was hard work and I couldn’t have done it without her. I think I made measurable progress every day and I felt my strength and stamina increase with my prescribed daily walks which started at six minutes twice per day and increased by one minute each day until I reached 30 minutes twice per day.

Although complete recovery from the surgery takes up to six months, I was able to resume most of my regular activities – including work – after two months. And although both my cardiologist and surgeon explained that the stenosis in my aortic valve had nothing to do with lifestyle choices over the years, I have committed myself to maintaining the heart-healthy lifestyle I’ve followed over the past several months.

I feel very grateful that I live near the Ottawa Heart Institute. The care I received there – and the continuing follow-up – has been outstanding. And I’m very grateful to be living under the Canadian healthcare system where I received this world-class care simply because I needed it.

I’m also grateful for all the support I’ve received from family, friends and colleagues from near and far. And special thanks to interim editor Laura Robin and Jewish Federation of Ottawa colleagues Pauline Colwin and Andrea Freedman for taking care of my Bulletin duties while I was away. As I said, I’m thrilled to be back at work.

February 5, 2018: New Democrats to debate pro-BDS resolution at Ottawa convention

By Michael Regenstreif

The New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) will be holding its national convention here in Ottawa from February 16 to 18 and one of the items on the agenda is a resolution encouraging support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

There have long been anti-Israel sentiments among some members of the NDP – voiced particularly by such former MPs as Libby Davies and Svend Robinson – but recent NDP leaders like the late Jack Layton and Thomas Mulcair ensured that Canada’s social democratic party maintained a balanced approach to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians that supports a negotiated two-state solution.

“New Democrats believe in… Working with partners for peace in Israel and Palestine, respecting UN resolutions and international law, supporting peaceful coexistence in viable, independent states with agreed-upon borders, an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and an end to violence targeting civilians,” states the current NDP policy book.

The resolution to be debated at the NDP convention would replace that policy with one that calls for “banning settlement products from Canadian markets, and using other forms of diplomatic and economic pressure to end the occupation” and “opposing parliamentary efforts to undermine non-violent movements seeking a just resolution.”

That last clause is undoubtedly a reference to the resolution passed in the House of Commons on February 22, 2016 condemning the BDS movement against Israel – as well as similar resolutions that have been passed by several provincial legislatures.

That 2016 anti-BDS resolution was supported by the Liberal and Conservative parties and opposed by the NDP as an attack on freedom of speech and dissent. At the same time, though, the NDP stressed its opposition to BDS and its support for a two-state solution.

So this new motion, should it pass, would be a marked change in NDP policy.

It remains to be seen whether or not the resolution will pass at the convention and whether or not it will be supported by Jagmeet Singh, the new NDP leader.

Singh has spoken in favour of Israel lifting the naval blockade of Gaza and he was an NDP member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario when it passed an anti-BDS resolution on December 1, 2016. Singh opposed the resolution on the same basis that the federal NDP had opposed the anti-BDS resolution in the House of Commons, noting in a tweet that “dissent, protest and freedom of speech are a fundamental part of democracy.”

After opposing Ontario’s anti-BDS resolution – which passed overwhelmingly with support from the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives – Singh participated in a delegation of Ontario MPPs that visited Israel on a trip organized by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).

Like previous NDP leaders, Singh has not, to date, endorsed the anti-Israel BDS movement. It remains to be seen whether he will follow in the steps of Layton and Mulcair and maintain a balanced approach or whether he will align himself with those in the party who would take a stridently anti-Israel approach.

Singh won a first-ballot victory in the NDP leadership race last fall as a mainstream candidate – seemingly in the tradition of Layton and Mulcair. The party’s anti-Israel faction largely supported Manitoba MP Nikki Ashton who finished in third place with less than one-third of Singh’s support. Ashton has endorsed the resolution that will be debated this month at the NDP convention.

In a Canadian Jewish News article about the NDP resolution, CIJA CEO Shimon Koffler Fogel “praised both Layton and Mulcair for their leadership, when it came to ‘pushing back against marginal elements within the party that sought to advance an extreme agenda to the detriment of the NDP’s broader policy priorities,’ and said he hopes that Singh will do the same.”

I continue to believe the BDS movement, at best, is counterproductive to the cause of peace between Israel and the Palestinians and to a two-state solution to the conflict; that its true goal is simply to delegitimize the State of Israel. Hopefully the NDP will also continue to recognize that.