Early School Acts and Education in the District of Brock

By Liz Dommasch, Archivist

In 1840, the two Canadas (Upper and Lower) were combined into the United Province of Canada. The Common School Act for the United Province of Canada of 1841 was passed shortly thereafter, which created for the first time, a central administrative authority, with the position of chief superintendent of education. This position was appointed by the governor to oversee the operation of elementary education in both sections of the colony. However, “this position was abolished two years later when it became apparent that the historical development of school systems in the Canadas made a single bureaucracy inoperable”. The Act also created non-denominational public schools for Upper Canada that were not oriented toward any particular religion, as well as a compulsory taxation system that introduced the levy of school taxes.

The 1841 legislation also stipulated that local property assessments should match the contributions of the colonial government, while the responsibility for raising these funds was removed from locally elected trustees and given to the elected township Board of Commissioners. In the District of Brock, the new school act was met with overall support, with many inhabitants presenting petitions to the District Council recommending that measures deemed necessary be adopted to carry out the new law, although many were quick to point out that the Law was somewhat obscure in some of its details. In the Township of Zorra, a number of the inhabitants felt that the new School Act would bring oppression and discontent and requested an amendment to protect the education of orphans and the poor, as outlined in the old school system of Upper Canada. Likewise, in the Township of East Oxford, a number of petitioners stated that they professed a religious faith differing from the majority of the Township and therefore wished to establish and maintain a common school at Eastwood while dissenting from the proceedings of the School Commissioners.

The absence of a well-developed government at the municipal level led to the repeal of the 1841 School Act in 1843 which reinstated locally elected trustees who were responsible for maintaining the schoolhouse in their section, calculating and collecting the school rate, hiring teachers, selecting textbooks and overseeing the courses of study. In addition, the position of county and district superintendents was created with the responsibility of examining and certifying all prospective teachers falling within their jurisdiction. Moreover, they were required to make annual visits to each school and submit annual reports to the colonial superintendent.

Petition of the undersigned teachers of the District of Brock re. adopting measures for carrying out the new school law as a "way to remove the evils heretofore existing and to advance the interests of education throughout the country." – 11 May 1842. [RG1 Series 6D #1.2]

In 1846 the Common School Act was passed which designated schools for teacher training and designated a superintendent for each school district who would be responsible for examining schools on an annual basis and ensuring that they met the standards for the federal grants they would be receiving. The way in which school trustees were to be elected was also detailed. It also levied a rate bill or a school tax on the parents of all children of school age. In addition, the Act recommended a series of approved textbooks and included a clause that assured “protection of children” from being required to participate in any lesson or exercise of a religious orientation that the parents found objectionable.

Petition of the undersigned in School Section No. 3 of Burford re. not being able to collect the amount necessary for the erection of a schoolhouse and requesting a levy on the inhabitants for such purposes. – 4 January 1848. [RG1 Series 6D #7.1]

Throughout this time period, in the District of Brock, new School Sections and Union School Sections were formed throughout the Townships based on population and demand in each area. Ideally, it was desired to have schoolhouses built in the centre of each school section, though oftentimes this led to discontent from inhabitants that lived too far (sometimes being a distance of 3 to 5 miles) from the schoolhouse to make it advantageous for their children to attend. In these instances, many petitioned to either to be annexed to another closer school section or asked that their school section either be divided or combined with another section to form a Union School. Within these school sections, the inhabitants sometimes provided voluntary contributions for the purposes of erecting and furnishing a school house, though often times District Council was petitioned to levy a tax on the inhabitants to raise the necessary funds. Similarly, money was required to be raised in order to pay a portion of the teacher’s salary and this too was done through the levying of taxes. In some instances, a teacher was not paid, as required by the Trustees, and they too would petition the District Council for payment of their wages. For example, in 1846, the Superintendent refused to pay the order of the Trustees of Blandford School District No. 2 for payment of teacher, Joshua Hardy’s wages, which led to him petitioning Council to look into the matter. In 1849, a strange case occurred where the Trustees of Union School Section No. 3 on the Governors’ Road offered the teacher money for his salary, which he refused. He subsequently ended up having them prosecuted in the Court of Queen’s Bench for payment of his wages, amounting to seven pounds, seventeen shillings, and sixpence. The trustees, in turn, petitioned Council to levy a tax on the inhabitants of the said section, within the Township of Nissouri, in order to raise half the funds for payment.

Petition of Joshua L. Hardy re. Superintendent refusing to pay his salary as a teacher. – 7 October 1846. Note: taught in School Districts No. 2 and 3 in East Oxford and School District No. 2 in Blandford. [RG1 Series 6D #5.12]

By the 1850s, a series of acts were passed which created the foundation of the public provincial education system we see today in Ontario. In 1850, the second Common School Act was passed which allowed school tax to be levied on all property, whereas previously the tax was only collected from families with children. The Act also provided for the free admission of all children to schools. In 1871, an Act was passed that made school attendance compulsory for children between the ages of 8 and 14 and changed the name of “common schools” to “public schools”.

Notes: The precursor of the County of Oxford, The District of Brock was established in 1839 and consisted of the Townships of Blandford, Blenheim, Burford, Dereham, Nissouri, Norwich, Oakland, East Oxford, North Oxford, West Oxford, and Zorra. Following the passing of the Baldwin Act, the District of Brock was incorporated into the County of Oxford on January 1, 1850. The Municipality of Nissouri was split, with West Nissouri becoming part of Middlesex County, and in the east, Burford and Oakland Townships were removed to Brant County.

For more information on the history education in Canada please refer to: Young, L., Levin, B., & Wallin, D. (2014). Understanding Canadian schools: An Introduction to Educational Administration (5th ed.). Available at https://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~wallind/understandingcanadianschools5.html