Port Alberni mom’s challenge of Indigenous smudging ceremony denied by B.C. Supreme Court
Credit to Author: The Canadian Press| Date: Thu, 09 Jan 2020 01:15:03 +0000
VICTORIA — British Columbia’s Supreme Court says a mother has failed to establish that Indigenous ceremonies performed in her children’s classrooms interfered with their religious freedoms.
Candace Servatius of Port Alberni argued the religious freedoms of her daughter and son were infringed upon by having to participate in smudging and hoop dance ceremonies, but the court says she did not prove an infringement.
Servatius says her children had to participate in a classroom smudging ceremony, which involves burning sage, and an assembly where a hoop dance and prayer were performed.
Servatius, who is an evangelical Christian, argued the Alberni School District should be prohibited from holding future similar school events, but Justice Douglas Thompson ruled she did not establish infringement of religious freedoms.
The court heard the Indigenous events took place in the 2015-16 school year at John Howitt Elementary School in Port Alberni where the children, who were nine and seven years old, were students.
The Nuu-chah-Nulth Tribal Council, which represents the Port Alberni area’s 14 Indigenous nations, says the court decision is a victory for children and their education.
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