CCPR/C/67/D/694/1996 Page 10 5.5 Counsel agrees with the State party that the fact alone that it does not provide the same level of funding for private as for public schools cannot be deemed to be discriminatory. He acknowledges that the public school system in Ontario would have greater resources if the Government would cease funding any religious schools. In the absence of discrimination, the withdrawal of such funding is a policy decision which is for the Government to take. Counsel notes that the amendment of the provision of the Canadian Constitution Act 1867 requires only the agreement of the Government of the province affected and the federal Government. Such amendments have been recently passed in Quebec and Newfoundland to reduce historical commitments to publicly-funded education for selective religious denominations. 5.6 Counsel maintains that when a right to publicly financed religious education is recognized by States parties, no differentiation shall be made among individuals on the basis of the nature of their particular beliefs. The practice of exclusively funding Roman Catholic religious education in Ontario therefore violates the Covenant. Counsel therefore seeks funding for all religious schools which meet provincial standards in Ontario at a level equivalent to the funding, if any, received by Roman Catholic schools in Ontario. State party’s further observations 6.1 In a further reply, the State party emphasizes that the recent constitutional amendments affecting education in Quebec and Newfoundland do not bring about the remedy sought by the author of equivalent funding for all religious schools. The changes in Quebec preserve the denominational status of Catholic and Protestant schools in that province, and protect that status through an alternate constitutional means, by way of the notwithstanding clause in the Charter. The changes in Newfoundland demonstrate a clear rejection of the very remedy sought by the author, since it has replaced its religious based school system, where 8 different religions representing 90% of the population each had the right to set up their own publicly funded schools, with a singular public system where religious observance will be permitted at the request of parents. 6.2 In respect of counsel’s argument concerning article 2 of the Covenant, the State party rejects his suggestion that article 2 can convert laws or Government actions otherwise consistent with the rights and freedoms of the Covenant, into contraventions. In the State party’s opinion, the author seeks to raise equality arguments by combining article 2 with articles 18 and 27 respectively. It is the equality guarantee in article 26 of the Covenant that is the proper context for raising such issues. The State party notes that article 26 has no equivalent in the European Convention for the Protection of Fundamental Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The State party argues that a complainant who is unsuccessful under article 26 should not be entitled to an identical reexamination of the issue simply by combining article 2 with various substantive Covenant provisions. 6.3 The State party further observes that article 2 of the Covenant requires the State to respect and ensure to all individuals within its territory the rights recognized in the present Covenant. The funding of denominational separate schools in Ontario is not required to ensure the rights contained in articles 18 and 27 of the Covenant, neither is it related to, or in addition to, the obligations created by those articles. The funding arises solely out of the constitutional obligation under section 93(1) of the Constitution Act 1867, not out of any obligation under, in conformity with, nor the augmenting of any right in any of the articles of the Covenant.