Controversy ongoing in Alberta
EDMONTON — Each morning, at a public school outside of Edmonton, some students troupe to special rooms and recite the Lord’s Prayer, before rejoining their comrades for a day of learning how to read, write and do math.
For decades, Sturgeon Heights School in St. Albert has set aside separate space for Christian students to say the New Testament prayer. The chair of the Sturgeon District School Board says a similar accommodation would be provided to students of other faiths, should they request it. The practice is voluntary, yet controversial, with even some legal scholars in disagreement over its constitutionality.
For nine years, since his daughter first entered Sturgeon Heights, Luke Fevin has advocated against prayer in public schools.
His daughter no longer attends Sturgeon Heights because, he says, his family was basically “driven out” of the school.
However, he still has a vested interest as the founder of Alberta Parents for Unbiased Public Inclusive Learning, which he founded to campaign for secular public education.
“I am embarrassed and absolutely appalled that a school in my community is still doing this,” Fevin said after he got a copy of a letter sent home last week to parents. In it, the school’s principal explains that parents can opt to have their children take part in the daily recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, which is led either by staff or students. Otherwise, students will not be asked to take part.
The school, a preschool to Grade 9 facility, referred inquiries to Terry Jewell, chair of the Sturgeon District School Board, who said his understanding is that the school has offered such an option since it opened in the early 1970s. Jewell said he’s not sure how many students participate in the prayer each day, but it’s currently only offered as an option for students in Grades 1 to 6.
“This is the least hidden activity, I would suggest, in that school,” Jewell said. “I think it’s fair to say that one person is trying to keep it as a perennial discussion point, our friend Luke Fevin. And he’s totally entitled to his point of view.”
Fevin isn’t the only parent fighting against prayer in Alberta classrooms. In recent years, it has existed in various schools and districts; in some, non-praying students could leave the room, in others, the praying students were the ones to leave.
Alberta and Saskatchewan public schools have the right to include prayer in opening ceremonies and during the last half hour of the day thanks to the 1901 School Ordinance of the North-west Territories, which was included in the Constitution when Alberta was formed in 1905. The explicit nature of religious education being allowed in these provinces makes them somewhat unique compared to other provinces, which have seen legal battles put an end to school prayer.
But in 2016, a school in Wetaskawin, a city of some 13,000 people 70 kilometres south of Edmonton, dropped daily prayer recitation after two moms lobbied against it. Several other school divisions have dealt with the issue over the past decade.
The Pembina School Division, which encompasses parts of the province north of Edmonton, decided in 2015 that it would continue to have the Lord’s Prayer recited each morning, however it reversed that decision in 2017 after a human rights complaint was filed. In those schools, the Edmonton Journal reported, students who did not wish to recite the prayer had to leave the room.
Marty Moore, a staff lawyer with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, said a compromise over prayer in public schools can be compared to the compromise that allows for separate Catholic school boards.
“Individual students and teachers, of course, have freedom of conscience and religion and expression even in a public school, so their private choice to engage in prayer would be protected by the Charter. And then, if they’re associating in a group, voluntarily associating in a group, that would fall under freedom of association and also be protected by the Charter,” Moore said. “What’s very important, from even a more Charter perspective is that any such expression be voluntary.”
The Sturgeon District School Board offers other Christian programming, including the non-denominational LOGOS program at some schools, “where children are taught to love God and others” and an optional ecumenical (though Catholic-based) religion class in other schools.
A spokesperson for Alberta’s education minister wrote in an email that “we respect the autonomy of local school divisions in their day-to-day operations” and declined to comment further. An Alberta NDP spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.