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Evangelical schools fight Quebec curriculum rules
Oct. 30, 2006
Dave Rogers, CanWest News Service, Ottawa Citizen
www.canada.com
More articles on this topic: Science and ReligionOTTAWA — The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada is fighting back against the Quebec Ministry of Education, which requires that unlicensed evangelical schools follow the provincial curriculum, including sex education and Darwin’s theory of evolution.
That rule “squeezes religious freedom,” says Janet Epp Buckingham, lawyer for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.
Epp Buckingham argues there must be a balance between provincial standards for private schools and the religious rights of parents and students. She said the rights of evangelical schools to teach according to parents’ religious beliefs has been an issue since 1997 when Quebec divided schools along language instead of religious lines. Twenty evangelical Christian schools will have to negotiate with the Quebec ministry about what they are required to teach.
“There has been a growth in the private school system in Quebec so parents can continue to have a religious component in their children’s education,” Epp Buckingham said. “But the question remains:who should have control over education and what is being taught?”
Roderick Cornell, vice-principal of the licensed Emmanuel Christian School in Montreal, said unlicensed “church basement” schools use the U.S.-based Accelerated Christian Education program that does not follow the Quebec curriculum.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day used the curriculum from 1979 to 1985 when he ran the Bentley Christian Training Centre, an independent school of 100 students near Red Deer, Alta.
An Alberta government report on the curriculum in 1985 found it contained “a degree of insensitivity towards blacks, Jews and natives” and wouldn’t allow it in public schools. The ACE program was rooted in a literal interpretation of the Bible and taught creationism over evolution.
Cornell said licensed private schools in Quebec must have qualified staff and follow the provincial curriculum. “You can add to the program but you have to tell students what evolution is all about because that is on the curriculum,” said. “I have my doubts about evolution, but we still have to teach it.”
Pierre Daoust, director general of the Coeur-des-Vallees school board inThurso, Que., located across the Ottawa River from the nation’s capital, lodged the complaint that sparked a provincewide investigation.
Daoust said the school board is concerned about the education of 15 students at a school operated by l’Eglise evangelique near Saint-Andre-Avellin, Que., because the board could be held legally responsible if graduates’ diplomas were not recognized.
In addition to those 15 students, another 40 attend an unlicensed evangelical school in Gatineau, Que., and there is a third in Hull, Que. The other school boards haven’t complained, said Daoust.
Education Ministry spokeswoman Marie-France Boulay said this week the province will negotiate for several weeks with an unspecified number of evangelical schools to determine whether they can meet provincial standards that include the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution.
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