The Manitoba school question was one of several issues with serious implications for national unity in the 1880s and 1890s. The flashpoints of religion and language rights were ignited by the passage of two bills in March 1890: one eliminated the Board of Education, replacing it with a ministerial department, and the other established a publicly funded, non-denominational school system in Manitoba. The right of access to separate schools for the local Catholic minority, which had been flouted, became the most important stake in the 1896 election. This situation alarmed, among others, many members of the francophone electorate in Quebec, whose votes were vital to Wilfrid Laurier’s ascent to power. Favourable to a negotiated settlement around which the Anglo-Protestant majority could rally, the Liberal leader was strongly criticized. His government negotiated an agreement with his provincial counterpart, Thomas Greenway: the separate schools were not reinstated and religious teaching was authorized only under strict conditions. In making this arrangement, Laurier hoped to satisfy the Roman Catholic minority while bowing to the will of Manitoba’s Protestant majority.
