Regulation 17

Regulation 17 (French: Règlement 17) was a regulation of the Ontario Conservative government designed to shut down French-language schools at a time when Francophones from Quebec were moving into eastern Ontario. It was a regulation written by the Ministry of Education, issued in July 1912 by the Conservative government of premier Sir James P. Whitney. It restricted the use of French as a language of instruction to the first two years of schooling. It was amended in 1912, and it is that version that was applied throughout Ontario. French Canada reacted vehemently, and lost, dooming its French-language Catholic schools. This was a reason why French Canada distanced itself from the subsequent World War I effort, as its young men refused to enlist.

French Canada 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 controversy. 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. Regulation 17 was repealed in 1927.

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.

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