Canadian Supreme Court dismisses parental religious challenge to school curriculum

For Immediate Release from the CHRISTIAN LEGAL FELLOWSHIP

February 17, 2012

CLF DISAPPOINTED SCC DISMISSES PARENTAL APPEAL IN QUÉBEC ETHICS AND RELIGIOUS CULTURE (ERC) CASE

OTTAWA – Today, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision in S.L., et al. v. Commission scolaire des Chênes, et al., a case originating in Québec, dealing with the question of parental rights with respect to religious instruction.  Christian Legal Fellowship (CLF) intervened and submitted oral and written arguments before the Supreme Court of Canada on May 18.

It was expected that the case would shed light upon the extent to which the state may impose a curriculum which infringes upon the religious and conscientious views of parents; however, the Supreme Court in dismissing the appeal rested its decision primarily upon the facts of the case. The court found, based upon the weaknesses of the lower court record, that the appellants, while demonstrating a sincerely held religious belief, did not discharge the burden of objectively proving a Charter infringement.

According to Mr. Justice Deschamps who delivered the majority decision, “To discharge their burden at the stage of proving an infringement, the appellants had to show that, from an objective standpoint, the ERC Program interfered with their ability to pass their faith on to their children. This is not the approach they took. Instead, they argued that it was enough for them to say that the program infringed their right.”

The appeal arose from the case out of Drummondville, Québec where Christian parents sought to have their children exempted from participation in the mandatory ERC Program but were refused by their local school board. The course is mandated from grade 1 to grade 11 for all public and private schools. While the course has as its objective the promotion of tolerance and respect, the curriculum advances certain rights and values at the expense of others including the Appellants.

Christian Legal Fellowship intervened in the case to make submissions protecting the Charter rights of parents to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.  “For Christians, the right to teach and disseminate one’s faith begins with one’s children,” explains Ruth Ross, CLF Executive Director and General Legal Counsel. “Christians must be free to shield and protect their children from competing ideologies and teachings which are at odds with their own religious convictions.”

It is anticipated that a parallel decision involving Loyola High School will be heard before the Québec Court of Appeal in the near future.  CLF remains hopeful the Loyola case, which addresses similar concerns about the ERC Program and which was successful in the Québec Superior Court in June 2010, will be able to deal more decisively with the issue.  On this point, the comments of Mr. Justice Lebel at paragraph 58 are instructive:

“As a result of the state of the record, however, I am also unable to conclude that the program and its implementation could not, in the future, possibly infringe the rights granted to the appellants and persons in the same situation. In this regard, the single textbook filed in the record may cause some confusion in terms of the way it presents the connection between the program’s religious content and its ethical content. For example, does the content of the Christmas‑related exercises for six‑year‑old students encourage the transformation of an experience and tradition into a form of folklore consisting merely of stories about mice or surprising neighbours? These are some potential questions and concerns. The record before this Court does not make it possible to respond to them. However, the legal situation could change during the existence of the ERC Program.”

The Christian Legal Fellowship was represented in the proceedings by Robert E. Reynolds of Montréal.  Mr. Reynolds will be available for comment as part of a press conference hosted by the Coalition for Liberty in Education (CLE) at 2 pm today in Montréal at the Holiday Inn, 420 Sherbrooke St., H3A 1B4.

The case attracted many other intervenors including the Canadian Catholic School Trustees Association, Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Canadian Council of Christian Charities, Christian Group for Parental Rights in Education, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and Association of Québec School Boards.

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