Abstract

In a federal system with marked cultural differences like Canada's, of particular importance are the principles that uniformly regulate public and private education in respect of the cultural values, especially linguistic and religious, and the identities that make up the Federation. The essay analyses how the Canadian order has addressed the problem of education, with a relatively flexible division of competences between the Provinces and the federal government, a number of clarificatory rulings by the Supreme Court mainly with regard to the protection of minorities, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which explicitly recognizes fundamental individual rights and the principle of non-discrimination, in education as well.