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Education

28 Nov 2017 LN Feature: TWU in the Supreme Court – Why this may be the most important case of the decade for Religious Freedom

Posted at 06:00h in Education, Gender and Sexuality, Legal Cases 0 Comments
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[vc_row row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" css_animation=""][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="1824" img_size="medium" add_caption="yes" qode_css_animation=""][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]ARPA's Director of Law and Policy, André Schutten, is due to appear before the Supreme Court of Canada this week. ARPA has been granted intervener status in two Trinity Western University appeals regarding the establishment of a Law School in British Columbia. Oral arguments in the case begin on Thursday of this week. On the feature this week, an interview with André on the event of the hearing. ------------------ LN: So, two days from now, the Supreme Court of...

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22 Nov 2017 Protect them All: a Christian case for eliminating lists of special identity groups in school policies

Posted at 15:43h in Education, Family, Gender and Sexuality 0 Comments
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Schools, whether private or public, should adopt a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and harassment. Such policies are aimed at protecting each and every student in the school. Provincial education ministries often recommend – or in some cases require – long lists of identifying characteristics to be included in these policies such as race, citizenship, disability, creed, sex, and even the modern concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity. Christian schools, however, should not include these lists in their policies. While we agree that schools need to protect all students (including those who...

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21 Nov 2017 Can we consider our political action a success or a failure?

Posted at 06:00h in Bills and Motions, Education, Politics 0 Comments
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[vc_row row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" css_animation=""][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="5584" img_size="medium" add_caption="yes" qode_css_animation=""][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]Bill 24 passed by a count of 42 in favour, and 23 opposed. (You can see a tally of the vote count here). The 42 who were in favour included 38 NDP members, along with some independents and others. But 16 NDP members, comprising almost a third of the governing NDP caucus, didn't show up for the vote.  ARPA Executive Director Mark Penninga says it's clear the EasyMails had an impact. "We don't know if (they) had...

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21 Nov 2017 A legal challenge to the passage of Bill 24

Posted at 06:00h in Bills and Motions, Education, Legal Cases 0 Comments
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[vc_row row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" css_animation=""][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="7987" img_size="medium" add_caption="yes" qode_css_animation=""][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]Bill 24, the "Act to Protect Gay Straight Alliances" in Alberta, passed third reading in the legislature last week. This is the Bill that would, among other things, make it illegal for schools to inform parents if their children had joined a so-called "Gay Straight Alliance" - a school club ostensibly set up to support gay students or those struggling with gender identity issues. Just hours before the final vote, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Reforms in Calgary...

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21 Nov 2017 ARPA Grassroots Activates to oppose Bill 24

Posted at 06:00h in Education 0 Comments
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[vc_row row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" css_animation=""][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="1829" img_size="medium" add_caption="yes" qode_css_animation=""][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]ARPA did a lot of citizen engagement on Bill 24. Grassroots Manager Colin Postma says with the quick turn-around on the bill - less than 3 weeks from its first introduction to final passage - a lot of work had to get done very quickly. "We had a conference call the day after the bill was introduced, and put a bit of a plan together. We ran a significant number of Facebook and Social Media ads that...

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15 Nov 2017 Update: Bill 24 threatens parental rights in Alberta

Posted at 15:18h in Education 0 Comments
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Bill 24 threatens parental rights in Alberta **UPDATE** Bill 24 has since passed through the Alberta Legislature. JCCF has announced they will be initiating a legal challenge to Bill 24 soon. *** Bill 24 creates an environment that assumes parents are a detriment to the wellbeing of their own children. Bill 24 also threatens to shut down Christian schools, and other faith-based schools by mandating things that people of faith simply cannot do. How can parents instruct their children according to their faith convictions if others are keeping information about their children...

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14 Nov 2017 LN Feature: Crunch time on Bill 24

Posted at 10:00h in Education 0 Comments
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[vc_row row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" css_animation=""][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="8183" img_size="medium" add_caption="yes" qode_css_animation=""][vc_empty_space height="12px"][vc_single_image image="5228" img_size="medium" add_caption="yes" qode_css_animation=""][vc_empty_space height="12px"][vc_single_image image="5488" img_size="medium" add_caption="yes" qode_css_animation=""][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]Alberta's Bill 24 is the topic for our feature today. The Alberta Legislature is set to resume committee hearings today on Bill 24, called an "Act to Protect Gay Straight Alliances". ARPA has launched a major initiative to oppose this bill, including phone calls and EasyMails. On the feature today, ARPA lawyer John Sikkema and Mike Schouten. They've both been doing a lot of work on this file...

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07 Nov 2017 Your kids’ teachers could legally keep you in the dark

Posted at 10:30h in Bills and Motions, Education, Gender and Sexuality 0 Comments
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[vc_row row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" css_animation=""][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="8105" img_size="medium" add_caption="yes" qode_css_animation=""][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]Alberta Education Minister David Eggen has tabled long-expected amendments to the province's Education Act. Among other things, Bill 24, which is entitled "An Act to Protect Gay-Straight Alliances", will make it a crime for schools to inform parents if children are struggling with issues of sexual identity, or if they have chosen to join a so-called Gay-Straight Alliance Club at their school, unless children give their explicit consent. Donna Trimble from the group "Parents for Choice in...

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24 Oct 2017 LN Feature: Choice in education is worth our attention

Posted at 11:35h in Education 0 Comments
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[vc_row row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" css_animation=""][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="8035" img_size="medium" add_caption="yes" qode_css_animation=""][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]Our guest on the Lighthouse News feature this week is Deani Van Pelt, she's a Senior researcher with Cardus regarding a recent piece in the Hamilton Spectator. --- LN: So, you had a piece published in the Hamilton Spectator earlier this month talking about education funding in Ontario. First,. some background. This was in response to another op-ed on funding for Catholic Schools, correct? DvP: That's right. The piece that came out was...

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24 Oct 2017 Reviewing the school board election results in Alberta

Posted at 11:35h in Education, Politics 0 Comments
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[vc_row row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" css_animation=""][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="5435" img_size="medium" add_caption="yes" qode_css_animation=""][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]Alberta residents went to the polls last week in municipal and school board elections. The group "Parents for Choice in Education" had published an online assessment of a number of public and Catholic school board candidates in advance of the election, particularly with respect to where they stood on things such as parental notification and parental rights. Executive Director Donna Trimble says they were able to list more than 200 trustees in 16 regions across Alberta in...

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