Article content continued

Parents want a diversity of educational options. For many of those parents, particularly those in Ontario and in the Atlantic provinces, the choice to get their kids into schools that reflect their religious beliefs and values involves great financial sacrifice. In the vast majority of cases, religious schools aren’t elite schools reserved for the wealthy. They are small schools, often in rural or semi-rural settings. So, it stands to reason that 61 percent of Ontarians and 52 percent of Atlantic Canadians also say they’d like to see at least partial government funding for religious schools.

If the mainstream view in Canada is support for some level of government funding of religious and faith-based schools, what about the minority view? The poll doesn’t get at why opposition to funding exists. But if the opposition is based on concerns about the type of Canadians such schools turn out, that’s worth a closer look.

Religious independent schools in Canada, a recent study shows, continue to produce excellent contributing citizens. The 2016 Cardus Education Survey found that religious school graduates such as those from evangelical Protestant schools exhibit a wide variety of civic contributions. Compared to public school graduates, for example, they donate more money, are more likely to volunteer for arts and cultural organization, are more willing to give blood, and are as likely to be politically active as their public school peers.

Canadians see the benefits of having a diversity of educational options available for their children. The majority sees the need for at least some government support for it. That kind of funding is the norm in half of Canada’s provinces. If Ontarians and Atlantic Canadians are a touch jealous of that funding, they’ll need to make themselves heard.

Dr. Beth Green is program director of Cardus Education