OTTAWA – The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) will present oral arguments before the Supreme Court of Canada this morning in the Loyola High School v. Attorney General of Quebeccase. The EFC has status as an intervener in this case which involves a government requirement for a private religious school to teach a course on religion, culture and ethics from a strictly non-religious perspective.
“The EFC will argue that the Charter guarantee of freedom of religion can’t be easily brushed aside and can only be properly considered in the context of the constitutional language that states Canada is a free and democratic society,” explains Don Hutchinson, EFC Vice-President and General Legal Counsel.
“The EFC acknowledges provincial government interest in setting curricula and promoting learning outcomes for students,” says Hutchinson. “However, unless it is demonstrated that a particular school fails to achieve the goals of provincially mandated curricula, the government has no interest in requiring that school to teach certain subjects in a specific way.”
The Quebec Ministry of Education’s demand on religious schools such as Loyola is particularly problematic because the ministry knows the demand violates the religious freedom of the school community – students, parents and teachers.
“Canada is constitutionally described as a free and democratic society. In our society, Canadians have long had the choice to meet the education requirements of the province through private religious education, whether in a religiously based school or through home schooling,” explains Hutchinson.
The Loyola case resulted from a Quebec Ministry of Education requirement, beginning in the school year 2008-2009, that all school instruction in the Province of Quebec include the Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) program. The course is not a graduation requirement. The Ministry of Education requires that the course – about ethical decision making and the role of religion in culture – be taught from a non-religious perspective.
Loyola High School is a private English-language Jesuit high school for boys located in Montreal, Quebec. Loyola is legally established under the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. In accordance with Ministry of Education guidelines, Loyola sought exemption from teaching the ERC program because it already taught a similar course in world religions and ethics, with the ethics component taught from a Roman Catholic perspective, although also including the perspectives of non-Catholic major thinkers and viewpoints. The Quebec Ministry of Education declined to grant an exemption.
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Interested members of the public may attend the hearing, which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 am on March 24, 2014 at the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. Translation devices are normally available upon request.
Don Hutchinson will be available for comment immediately after the hearing at the Supreme Court of Canada and throughout the course of the day as the court’s schedule permits.
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For more information or an interview contact:
Anita Levesque, Media Relations
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
(613) 233-9868 x325
MediaRelations@theEFC.ca