Chapter 4: Categorizing the Data -- Post-war documents -- 1945 Manitoba

4.2a Post-war documents

1945 Manitoba  

   This section does not review the Saskatchewan 1918 document, a 1932 New Brunswick document, or the Quebec 1938 document transcribed to the website canadianeducationalpolicystudies.ca. However, it has covered some very important commission reports defining the first half of the 20^th century in Canada. Manitoba’s 1945 document opens with comment placing the document in relation to international affairs. Its historical summary is Anglo-centric with no mention of the historical Metis and French-Canadian struggle within the province. Cultural conflicts between Anglo Saxons and Ukrainians are mentioned in a 1947 report. Manitoba is central to Canada and receptive to both western and eastern influences. The 1945 document is humanistic in orientation and aware of international relationships.

   The Special Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba on Education held its sessions in years of war – it envisaged its task as an integral part of the work of reconstruction for peace.

   The Committee recognized at the outset the magnitude of its task. In retrospect it discerned the difficulties that had confronted those who in the past had been charged with the work of establishing and developing the public school system of the province. It noted the intensification of those difficulties by the heterogeneous nature of the population of Manitoba, and by the conflict of issues capable of disrupting the whole common school plan, issues that had stirred men’s hearts and provoked men’s passions, for they concerned those most inviolate of heritages, language and religion. It saw in long vista, the patient administration that had led finally to the triumphant expression of the democratic principle in the free common schools of today.

   Of particular interest to the Committee was the tremendous upsurge of interest in education throughout the world. It recognized the truth of the statement in the London “times” in September, 1942:

   “It is safe to say that there are today more people genuinely concerned to examine afresh the purpose of education, to define its aims, scope and content, and to ensure that these shall be in tune with the nature of the pupil and the needs of the community, than ever before.”

   Not in Manitoba alone are people examining afresh the purpose of education. The impact of the war has aroused the social conscience of the embattled nations, and now that the dire threat to our civilization has been met, all who have striven in its defence are preparing actively to ensure that the qualities upon which it is based shall be so fortified that the threat shall not recur.

   In this our land, we are dedicated to the principle that it is possible to found an enduring civilization upon certain elemental qualities common to all mankind. The development of those qualities is the supreme function of education. 
[CanEdPolDoc1945Manitoba, Foreword]

This document refers to influences from other jurisdictions – see Chapter 2 of the document, the “letter of transmittal” at canadianeducationpolicystudies.ca. Its Canadian listing is particularly interesting, summarizing the 1930s reports across Canada having an influence on current considerations. The report could be said to consolidate and provide a thorough reflection on Canadian circumstances at the time and it should be noted that larger areas of administration were recommended not only in Manitoba as indicated in this documents, but also in British Columbia. By comparison British Columbia’s 1945 report was mainly interested in equalization in school finance. Larger ‘unit’ administration is a predominant theme. Reasons for larger unit administration from 1945 in Manitoba are as follows. 

   From a study of these reports, the Committee found that the arguments adduced in favour of the larger unit of administration fall into four main categories:

1. those relating to equalization in school finance;
2. those relating to increased administrative efficiency;
3. those relating to better teaching conditions;
4. those relating to improved educational services. [CanEdPolDoc1945Manitoba, Chapter 4]

With the above 1945 documents we begin to see the post-war shift. Emotional, cultural and material resources were directed to fighting the war.  With its cessation re-examining education is a post-war concern and framing it in terms of improving humanity and international peace is emphasized. Part of the 1945 Manitoba document focus has to do with applying education toward preventing future war.  Ontario’s Hope Commission is indicative of the post-war shift and the document is grouped with the post-war documents as a bottom-end outlier as well as an identified ‘transition document’ for the purposes of analysis. Suffice it to say that perhaps all 1950s documents could be grouped as post-war documents or even command their own category. However, for the purposes of conceptualizing Canadian public education policy formation, the grouping as it stands provides a cross-section of Canadian public education policy that covers central, western and maritime systems. Further, the 1960s category or post-war category I have identified focuses on the particular intense production of Canadian public education documents at a period in Canadian history marked not only by increased royal commission production in public education policy, but also other significant national advances. Such advances would be marked by the introduction of universal health care, student loans, the Canada Pension Plan and the Canadian flag.