St. Albert’s Protestant school board is seeking public input into a proposal to drop a policy that supports the wearing of religious and cultural artifacts in the district’s schools.
The board feels the policy is no longer necessary because Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides religious and cultural freedom, bolstered by a 2006 Supreme Court decision upholding the rights of Sikhs to wear the kirpan — a ceremonial dagger — to school.
The policy states that the board “supports the wearing or display of personal, cultural or religious objects that are in keeping with a safe and caring school environment.”
“There’s no reason for us to have a policy because it’s covered by federal law,” said board chair Morag Pansegrau. “It hasn’t at all changed our commitment to acceptance of various perspectives. It’s just a streamlining of our policies and removing ones that are redundant.”
“Our goal is to make policies only in those areas that there’s no overarching federal or provincial law,” she said.
The board does a cyclical review of its policies at least every seven years. The policy first came into force in 1997 and was last reviewed in 2002.
The proposed change is open to stakeholder input until April 15 and will come to the board at its April 18 meeting. Anyone seeking to make comments can contact the school district office or one of the trustees.
“We’re waiting to hear what our public thinks,” Pansegrau said. “If we get feedback that people would like that re-affirmation, we’ll reconsider.”
Deputy superintendent Doug McDavid recommended the change after consultation with the district’s legal counsel.
“Our lawyers have indicated that our policy is not sufficient to cover human rights legislation,” he said.
“I recommended to our board that it be taken from our policy and that we rely on the laws of the land to deal with these circumstances because they’re more inclusive than our policy can be.
“We’re not trying to remove any rights,” McDavid said.
