The Catholic Legacy of Nova Scotia’s Public Schools
Written by John Borst on August 9, 2007 – 3:39 am
By John Borst, with files from Judith Miller
Editor’s note: Last month, Tomorrow’s Trust registered its first reader from the Province of Nova Scotia. As a result of my experience with the Canadian Catholic School Trustees’ Association and the total lack of representation from that province, I wrote to Judith Miller and asked her about Catholic education in that province. The following is a report written from her notes.
According to Tomorrow’s Trust correspondent, Judith Miller, although Catholic schools no longer exist in the Province of Nova Scotia, they have left a legacy on the province which remains to this day.
All schools in Nova Scotia are operated by the Provincial government as public schools. As public schools, no religious education is taught. Religious education is the responsibility of each faith tradition in a setting of their own choosing, usually a church hall.
There is also one independent school, Kings-Edgehill in Halifax
Yet, you will find, within Nova Scotia, public schools with names such as St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s. In fact a very interesting arrangement is Holy Angels High School in Sydney, NS. It is a public school but most of the public assume it is a Catholic school. It has an all girls enrollment. Catholic students do predominate but students attend from all faith traditions. The “public” school teachers include vowed religious women as well as the usual mix of males and females. And finally the building is owned by Congregation of Notre Dame.
Historically, Holy Angles H. S. dates back to about 1880 when it was a “boarding” school run by the Catholic Church. Even then enrolment was multi-denominational.
Years ago, many school buildings were built by Catholic parishes and rented to the local school boards. In exchange for a low rental fee, Catholic catechism was taught by the teachers from 9:00 – 9:30 AM. The upkeep of the buildings was the responsibility of the parish. Yet the teachers were hired by the public system and according to their faith tradition – Catholic or Protestant – were placed in what became known as the Catholic school or the public school. According to Miller this arrangement ended during the late 1970’s.
At that time, all schools were made public, even though the churches continued to own and rent out the buildings. Many of the Catholic parish schools no longer exist because the buildings were or are now too old. Many of those that do continue in use, continue to be named by the parish, hence the retention of the “Catholic” name.
