UNJUST DISCRIMINATION
CFAC
NEWS RELEASE
Calgary, AB
For Immediate Release - December 20th, 2002
Supreme Court
Decision Offensive and Discriminatory
Canada Family Action Coalition
(CFAC) Executive Director Brian Rushfeldt reacted strongly to yesterday's
Supreme Court decision on the Surrey School Board case. "This is possibly the
most offensive and discriminatory ruling that has ever come from Canada's
Supreme Court. It is bad enough to impose upon five and six-year-old
children the idea that homosexuality is appropriate sexual behavior. But to
impose the denial of all opinions that are based on religion or morality is even
more bizarre."
In this 7-2 decision, the
Supreme Court has interpreted wording in the Canadian Charter that refers
to Protestant and Catholic to mean secular and Catholic.
It goes much further
than this by relegating all religious people to second-class citizenship.
Says Rushfeldt, "The
Supreme Court has ruled that any opinion based on religious beliefs is
invalid in the so-called 'public' system. Thus if a parent,
teacher or even school board trustee has an opinion on an issue, it will
only be respected if it is a secular one. Any opinions based on religion
will be discarded. Is Supreme Court discrimination against religion now
the rule of law in Canada?"
The fact that the Supreme
Court has now expanded its jurisdiction into interpreting
provincial law and running school boards is also alarming for Canadians.
This antagonism against
religion should cause every religious person to question whether they can
and will continue to support the secular "public" system any longer,
Rushfeldt says. "This decision renders the opinion and the will of
all religious people as invalid. It also excludes religious people from being
able to fulfill their role and duties as teachers, trustees and certainly as parents. As
a religious parent, you are required to send your taxes and your children,
but you will not be allowed to participate in the educational process."
The Provinces will now
have to decide whether to cave in to this high Court decision or to change
their education acts to allow greater provincial autonomy in the
development of education policies. And parents will have to make a decision
whether to remove their children from this anti-religious secular
public system.
CFAC's President Roy Beyer
points out, "It was 100% within the jurisdiction of both the
parents and the school board to exclude materials that they considered
offensive. The only reason the Supreme Court
ruled against parents and trustees was because they were religious. If an
atheist found some school materials offensive, their opinion would be valid. Religious
Canadians no longer have equal rights as citizens in Canada. "
Beyer adds, "It is
very distressing at this time of year when we celebrate faith as Christians and
Jews that we have just been officially relegated by the Supreme Court
of Canada to second class citizenship.
All religious people should be awakened to the antagonism of the court
against people of faith."
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For more information, contact Brian Rushfeldt: (403) 519-1497