Here they have a separate school system and  the institutions are called separate schools. But we are talking about the same duck. They receive proportionate tax dollars funding relative to enrollment numbers. The majority of students are Catholic,  although it is not a hard and fast rule of enrollment. Some parents cite a need for learning of "morales" and trust that school system's judgement in the process of indoctrinating someone else's "morales" to their children. The main reason families other than Catholic send students to the separate schools is because they generally offer superior French immersion schooling and the hope is that would lead to better jobs, especially civil service, when the young adults pursue their careers. Our kids did very well in the public system, including an impressive command of the other official language. They had friends in the separate school system but yes, it is divisive. The truth is clearly offensive to some, especially in this case. As always, this truth is most offensive to the group that promotes the dividing process.