By Lloyd Mackey

WHETHER the classroom topic is religion or sexual relations, teachers and parents in two Canadian provinces are struggling with wide-reaching changes in the way such subjects are handled in their public school systems.

And so far, there is an emerging trend on the part of some leaders, in both the religious and educational fields, to encourage teachers and parents to work together on the issue, rather than choosing opt-out or confrontation as preferred actions.

Last week in Quebec Superior Court, Justice Jean-Guy Dubois dismissed a bid by a group of Drummondville parents to have their children opt out of a newly-formed Ethics and Religious Culture course. The course, long in the development stages, has replaced religion-specific Protestant and Catholic programs that were holdovers from the province's previous denomination-based school system.

Meanwhile, in Alberta, the provincial government has delayed by one year, until September 2010, the requiring of school boards to notify parents when teaching about sensitive subjects such as religion or human sexuality. The notification provision had left teachers in fear of being hauled before human rights tribunals for saying something to which a parent might object.

In both provinces, the effective "breathing space" provided by the courts is being seen by some Christian leaders as a means to ease the potential tensions between religious parents and public educators over the way in which sensitive topics are handled in a changing educational ethos.

In Quebec, the Drummondville parents' case had been encouraged by the Catholic Civil Rights League and the Coalition for Freedom in Education (CFE), the latter led by Richard Decarie. Noting his disappointment in the Superior Court decision, Decarie suggested that, while he felt there were grounds for an appeal, the cost might be prohibitive.

The Protestant Partnership in Education (PPE), however, takes a slightly different approach. While reflecting the CFE concerns that parents be able to inculcate their family religious values without school interference -- intended or otherwise -- the PPE maintains it is important to create a situation where parents and teachers can interact in the best interests of their children and students.

Danielle Dejuenesse, general secretary of the PPE, suggested it is "better that parents take responsibility (to ensure that) their children meet other children in the school. Our support is for the Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) course. It is not the best, not wonderful, but . . . it is a good program that encourages dialogue (among students and between parents and teachers).

"It encourages them to think about questions and to find out about other religions."

Without ERC, Dejuenesse added, religion would be seen as a bad thing. "But religion is a good thing in a civil society."

She said the PPE has pressed, with success, to have the viewpoint of Protestant parents heard in the development of the course.

"And we ask parents and church leaders to be vigilant," she said, maintaining that government educational leaders have admitted that ERC teachers will need to receive intensive training to handle the material -- and the students -- with sensitivity.

One of the bright spots in the ERC course, she said, is that it encourages students to talk about their own religious experience -- what they did in church on Sunday, for example -- while recognizing that they are meant to be dialoguing, not proselytizing. Some religious groups have suggested that encouraging children to talk about their own religions in a classroom setting is an invasion of privacy, but PPE does not take that stance.

PPE was developed as a ministry of Christian Direction, a Montreal-based group with evangelical roots dating to Christian outreach that took place at the 1967 Montreal Expo that marked Canada's centennial.

As PPE has developed its program of representing a Protestant perspective in a changing educational setting, it has built a board and leadership structure representing a wide range of mainstream Protestant, evangelical, charismatic and Reformed congregations and denominations.

Its stated objective is "to promote, encourage and develop the Family-Church-School partnership in the Spirit of Jesus, in order to be salt and light in this context; to represent Protestant parents to the Ministry of Education, Leisure and Sport within the academic milieu."

Meanwhile, Gordon Dirks, former chair of the Calgary School Board and still a trustee on that board, told CC.com that school boards and teachers' associations throughout Alberta had "unprecedentedly" agreed to oppose the controversial provisions in Bill 44, a newly-enacted human rights act.

Dirks, a former Saskatchewan cabinet minister, is currently external affairs vice-president of Ambrose University College, a multi-denominational evangelical institution in Calgary.

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As a Christian in a sensitive politician and institutional setting, Dirks was careful not to enunciate his own view on Bill 44 and the controversy surrounding it.

But he said there is a strong concern among Alberta educational leaders -- no matter their view on public education's role in the teaching of religion and sexuality -- that even one parent might drag a teacher before a human rights commission.

The province's school board leadership "spoke against the legislation, maintaining there already was sufficient wording in other legislation," he said. Putting similar wording into human rights legislation "would complexify things."

Bill 44 was a long-delayed attempt to address sexual orientation discrimination edicts from late '90s court decisions relating to what became known as the 'Vriend case.' A former lab instructor at King's University College, Delwin Vriend, had been let go from his position after he came out as a gay man. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1998 that Vriend's charter rights had been denied by his dismissal. The high court ruled that Alberta human rights legislation needed amending to remove the possibility of such discrimination.

When Bill 44 was finally passed, over a decade later, it was criticized not for removing discrimination but for mandating school boards to notify parents when sensitive issues would be taught.

One Calgary teacher, Dan Nelles, told the Calgary Herald that the mandating provision meant he had to be thinking: "Can I say this? Is it okay to say that? And from an educational standpoint, can I get away with not saying this or teaching that? I might get sued for that."

Related stories:

Bill 44 policies remain unresolved
With a three-month-old in her arms and her two-year-old gleefully ringing the doorbell to make the family dog bark, preparing for the time when her kids are in school seems miles away to Jasmine Akre. But this Calgary mother of two signed a petition supporting the government's new human rights legislation requiring school boards to notify parents when teaching about sensitive subjects such as religion or human sexuality.
Calgary Herald, August 28

New ethics-religion class draws more flak
A Drummondville couple have launched a court challenge against the provincial Education Department's new ethics and religious-culture course. The couple are asking a Quebec Superior Court justice to rule that making the course mandatory is unconstitutional. The couple argue the compulsory course, which is being taught in all grades, except Grade 9, takes away parents' free choice, said the couple's lawyer, Jean-Yves Cote. Loyola High School in Montreal has also initiated legal action after the Education Department refused a request to exempt the private boys school from teaching the course.
Montreal Gazette, September 30, 2008

Religious Ed. Rebellion
A new religion course taught in schools across Quebec was intended to improve inter-cultural understanding, but so far it is generating deep division as hundreds of parents pull their children out of class. A high school in Granby, Que., has in the past week handed one-day suspensions to seven students boycotting the Ethics and Religious Culture course on the grounds that it violates their freedom of conscience. In nearby Drummondville, a couple will be going to court next spring with a constitutional challenge to the mandatory course.
National Post, December 19, 2008

Alberta will delay new sex education opting out rule until fall 2010
Alberta will wait a year to implement Canada's first legislation giving parents the power under its human rights code to pull their children from lessons on religion, sex or sexual orientation. The legislation has been widely condemned by school boards, teachers and human rights groups who say the new law is extreme because parents already have similar rights under the School Act.
Canadian Press, August 28, 2009

Students must learn about other religions: judge
Christian parents who objected to their children being taught about other religions in a mandatory new Quebec school course have suffered a serious setback with a ruling this week that the teachings do not infringe their religious freedoms.
National Post, September 2, 2009

Judge refuses to let pupils drop religion
Christian parents who objected to their children being taught about other religions in a mandatory new Quebec school course have suffered a serious setback with a ruling this week that the teachings do not infringe their religious freedoms. Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean-Guy Dubois dismissed a bid by parents in Drummondville, Que., who said the course on ethics and religious culture introduced across the province last year was undermining their efforts to instill Christian faith in their children.
National Post, September 3, 2009

September 10/2009