The Manitoba Schools Question sounds like something a vindictive history teacher would put as a long-form essay question on a midterm. It just sounds daunting - and apparently it was, as it became a national crisis in the 1890s, and ultimately caused Mackenzie Bowell's - Canada's fifth PM - resignation. So let's get into the tapestry of this vindictive essay question.

Background

Manitoba became an official province of Canada in 1870 and at the time had a roughly equal population of English-speaking Protestant and French-speaking Catholic residents. So while they were separated into Catholic and Protestant schools, they received the same amount of funding for public education. THIS CHANGED, however, when Thomas Greenway was elected as the first Liberal premier of Manitoba in 1888. In 1890, he nuked (figuratively speaking, of course) the previous system, opting in favour of an English-only government and school system. French Catholic schools stopped receiving funding from the provincial government. The Franco citizens of the province justly thought their language and culture were being suppressed by Greenway's discriminatory policies.

Enter Mr. Bowell

As the Franco-Manitobans' complaints grew louder, it became a federal issue, landing at the Supreme Court of Canada not once but twice. Ultimately, it was ruled that the federal government had the authority to force the Manitoba government to re-instate funding to the French Catholic schools it was neglecting. As prime minister, Bowell struggled to lead on this issue which apparently was a national controversy, with opposing opinions dividing friends, families, and even Bowell's own Tory cabinet. Bowell did introduce a bill into the House of Commons to force funding to the Catholic schools, but it was an unpopular bill, especially among his own party, as it basically was a direct order to a provincial government, which was seen as an infringement of provincial rights.

As the issue divided his party and his cabinet and smelling his own unpopularity, Bowell agreed to resign as Leader of the Conservative Party and thusly, prime minister. He was replaced with long time party faithful Charles Tupper, who was prime minister for all of two months, one of the shortest terms in office ever. The Liberals, under the leadership of wonder child Wilfred Laurier, capitalized on the division, being elected into power in 1896 - Laurier became the first officially elected PM in a long time and holding office for 15 years, so there will be a lot to write on him in a few weeks. The Manitoba Schools Question wasn't eased until Laurier took office and crafted the Laurier-Greenway Compromise of 1896. The compromise re-established a Catholic School Board, sans government funding, allowed for a catholic curriculum in public schools, and for French to be officially taught in schools with more than 10 French-speaking students.

Aftermath

Bowell was essentially just another caretaker prime minister at time where it seemed no one could hold office for longer than two years. He stayed in politics though, serving in the Senate until his death by pneumonia in 1917.

This Manitoba Schools Question enraged many people across the country, as it was a pristine example of blatant discrimination. But it begs the question - where was this outrage for the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, who were having families ripped apart and children segregated into schools that were designed to kill their culture, language and way of living? Completely non-existent. Sometimes studying history is really depressing. Send a photo of a cute cat please.