science

Regulation 17

Regulation 17 is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Regulation 17 rather than just read about it. In short: Regulation 17 (French: Règlement 17) was a regulation of the Government of Ontario, Canada, designed to limit instruction in French-language Catholic separate schools. The regulation was written by the Ministry of Education and was issued in July 1912 by the Progressive Conservative government of premier Sir James P.

Key takeaways

Regulation 17 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Regulation 17 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Regulation 17 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Regulation 17 (French: Règlement 17) was a regulation of the Government of Ontario, Canada, designed to limit instruction in French-language Catholic separate schools. The regulation was written by the Ministry of Education and was issued in July 1912 by the Progressive Conservative government of premier Sir James P. Whitney. It forbade teaching French beyond grade two in all separate schools. In 1913, the Jesuits opened Collège Sacré-Coeur in Sudbury. It was bilingual up until 1914, at which time the Government of Ontario granted it a Charter and made no mention of language or religion. The College did not come under authority of the Department of Education for its programs or any subsidies. In 1916, the College became a free institution that was exclusively French. Regulation 17 was amended in 1913, and it is that version that was applied throughout Ontario. As a result, French Canadians distanced themselves from the subsequent World War I effort, as its young men refused to enlist. The regulation was later repealed in 1927.

Reaction

French Canadians reacted with outrage. Quebec journalist Henri Bourassa in November 1914 denounced the "Prussians of Ontario." With the World War raging, this was a stinging insult. The policy was strongly opposed by Franco-Ontarians, particularly in the national capital of Ottawa where the École Guigues was at the centre of the Battle of the Hatpins. The newspaper Le Droit, which is still published today as the province's only francophone daily newspaper, was established by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1913 to oppose the ban. Faced with separate school boards' resistance and defiance of the new regulation, the Ministry of Education issued Regulation 18 in August 1913 to coerce the school boards' employees into compliance. Ontario's Catholics were led by the Irish Bishop Fallon, who united with the Protestants in opposing French schools. In 1915, the provincial government of Sir William Hearst replaced Ottawa's elected separate school board with a government-appointed commission. After years of litigation from ACFÉO, however, the directive was never fully implemented.

Repeal and legacy The regulation was eventually repealed in 1927 by the government of Howard Ferguson following the recommendations of the Merchant-Scott-Côté report. Ferguson was an opponent of bilingualism, but repealed the law because he needed to form a political alliance with Quebec premier Louis-Alexandre Taschereau against the federal government. The Conservative government reluctantly recognized bilingual schools, but the directive worsened relations between Ontario and Quebec for many years and is still keenly remembered by the French-speaking minority of Ontario. Despite the repeal of Regulation 17, however, French-language schools in Ontario were not officially recognized under the provincial Education Act until 1969, with the first French-language high schools in the province officially opening in late 1969 and 1970. Students were allowed to be taught in French, while still under the English school board system. Francophones were finally allowed to have their own school boards by the province under Act 121 and Act 122, which allowed them to elect trustees to these public (non-denominational) school boards; Catholic French-language school boards would follow a few years after. The Ontario Heritage Trust erected a plaque for L’École Guigues and Regulation 17 in front of the former school building, 159 Murray Street, Ottawa. "L’École Guigues became the centre of minority-rights agitation in Ontario when in 1912 the provincial government issued a directive, commonly called Regulation 17, restricting French-language education. Mounting protests forced the government to moderate its policy and in 1927 bilingual schools were officially recognized."

Further reading Barber, Marilyn. "The Ontario Bilingual Schools Issue: Sources of Conflict," Canadian Historical Review, (1966) 47$3 pp 227–248 Cecillon, Jack D. Prayers, Petitions, and Protests: The Catholic Church and the Ontario Schools Crisis in the Windsor Border Region, 1910-1928 (MQUP, 2013) Croteau, Jean-Philippe. "History of Education in French-Speaking Ontario: A Historiographic Review." Canadian Issues (2014): 23-30 online Gaffield, Chad. Language, Schooling, and Cultural Conflict: The Origins of the French Language Controversy in Ontario (1987)

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Regulation 17

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Regulation 17 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Regulation 17 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Regulation 17 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Regulation 17

In research: Regulation 17 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Regulation 17 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Regulation 17 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1912 in Canadian law, 1912 in Ontario, 1912 in education, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Regulation 17 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Regulation 17 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Regulation 17 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Regulation 17 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Regulation 17 in simple terms?

Why does Regulation 17 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Regulation 17?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Regulation 17.