The role of John S. Ewart in the Manitoba school question

Abstract

The perennial problem of the relations of church and state in Canada, complicated as they are by the peculiar conditions of language and race, has troubled the peace of the country since long before Confederation-- and it would be a sanguine individual indeed who would maintain that the problem has reached any final solution today... Probably at no time, however, did the controversy reach such heights of furore and such depths of chicanery as during and immediately following the fateful years between the Manitoba School Acts of 1890 and the Laurier-Greenway Compromise of 1896... Special attention will be paid to the fateful years 1890-96 and to Mr. Ewart's participation in the controversy, particularly in his role as legal counsel.. The remainder of the thesis will commence with a brief biographical sketch of Mr. Ewart in which it will be endeavoured to link his attitude and character to his role in the school question... The bulk of the dissertation will involve an examination of the litigation involved in the two cases: Barrett vs. City of Winnipeg and Brophy et al. vs. Attorney-General of Manitoba. The author will attempt to reveal the key importance of Mr. Ewart in these legal proceedings, both in urging the process of law and in influencing the final decision. An examination of his surprisingly active participation during the period in the more extraneous aspects of the controversy will also be undertaken...