The Supreme Court didn't agree, neither did we. You be the judge!
The majority of Canada's top court on Friday rejected an appeal from parents here in Quebec who sought the right to keep their children out of the ethics and religious culture program. The program was introduced in 2008 to elementary and high schools, replacing religion classes with a curriculum covering all major faiths found in Quebec culture.
The judges of the the Supreme Court didn’t all agree, and neither did my FREE FOR ALL panel.
National Post columnist Barbara Kay and Lawyer Anne-France Goldwater, also known as the jurist on L’Arbitre on Tele-V, had a heated discussion on the Ric Peterson Show.
Madam Justice Marie Deschamps, writing for the majority, said, "Exposing children to a comprehensive presentation of various religions without forcing the children to join them does not constitute an indoctrination of students that would infringe the freedom of religion of L and J [the appellants]..." "Furthermore, the early exposure of children to realities that differ from those in their immediate family environment is a fact of life in society. The suggestion that exposing children to a variety of religious facts in itself infringes their religious freedom or that of their parents amounts to a rejection of the multicultural reality of Canadian society and ignores the Quebec government’s obligations with regard to public education."
You be the judge!
Ric Peterson