TORONTO - Their most vocal advocate has declared the issue dead, but religious groups said Thursday their fight for the funding of faith-based schools in Ontario is just beginning.
A day after Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory said he won't continue to press for extended funding of religious schools after losing the recent provincial election, a coalition of religious groups said they aren't giving up that easily, and are vowing to take their cause to the legislature once again or through the courts if necessary.
Although most politicians considered the recent election an unofficial referendum on the issue which dominated the campaign, M.D. Khalid of the Islamic Society of North America said the recent emotional debate has just reawakened the issue.
"People have been made aware of it,'' he said. "It's up to us to take the message home. ... This issue is not going to go away. We want to be included in the public system.''
Tory spent much of the election campaign defending his proposal to give $400 million a year to religious schools that opt into the public system. Both Tory and religious groups argued it was unfair for the province to fund Catholic schools while excluding schools of other faiths.
But the fierce debate that ensued eroded Tory's public support -- and the support of some of his caucus members -- causing him to declare he would put the issue to a free vote if elected.
It wasn't enough to save his campaign, and voters rewarded the Liberals -- who opposed extended funding -- with a comfortable majority, leaving Tory without a seat in the legislature.
Tory emerged from his first post-election caucus meeting Wednesday and said the voters had spoken, vowing not to revisit the controversial issue.
That's not going to stop Khalid and others from knocking at the legislature door.
"We're not going to leave them alone,'' he said. "The struggle has just started.''
Khalid said a coalition of religious groups is exploring other ways to get public funding for religious schools, including taking the government to court. The issue can't be challenged under the Human Rights Code but there may be other legal ways to force the province's hand, he said.
Howard English, with the United Jewish Appeal, said voters may have rejected Tory's proposal, but that doesn't change the fact that Ontario is discriminating against religious groups by funding only Catholic schools.
"We can't close our eyes and say that everything has been dealt with,'' English said. "That certainly is not true. We have a status quo that is discriminatory, and we'll have to consider different approaches to dealing with that.''
Rick Johnson, former head of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association who ran for the Liberals in the election, said he doesn't expect the issue to go away overnight. Tory has opened the barn door and the horse is out, he said.
"The conversation will still take place,'' Johnson said. "I don't think it will be at the same intensity level. We saw how divisive it was when you start pitting people against each other. It's not the way to have the conversation.''
Steven Shulman, Ontario regional director with the Canadian Jewish Congress, said no one holds anything against Tory for taking a "courageous stand'' during the election.
But he said the "hothouse'' atmosphere of a heated campaign was no time to discuss such a complex issue. As the smoke clears and emotions die down, Shulman said he hopes the inequity can be discussed in a rational way.
"Issues don't just go away because the campaign is over,'' Shulman said. "There are many issues of rights that don't necessarily receive majority support the first time they're put out there. But over time, people come around.''
