Bill 24: Education (Alberta) Tag

08 Jul 2019 Bill Hate? Bill Straight? Or Bill Dictate?

  This video brings back memories. Just the mention of those 28 private schools reminds us all of the court challenge against Bill 24. The emails. The phone calls. The Gideon Project. The appeal hearing and ARPA’s intervention therein. The requirements of the Alberta School Act added by Bill 24 caused confusion, tension, and a healthy fear about the future of Reformed education. The communication from the Alberta Education Ministry under the NDP government gave an even stronger indication that the Ministry was unwilling to back down on their demands that every...

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11 Jan 2019 ARPA Canada gets intervenor standing in Alberta’s Bill 24 challenge!

The new year has just begun and already we have some encouraging news to share with you from Alberta! On Tuesday, January 8th, ARPA Canada applied for and was granted intervenor status in the court challenge to Bill 24, a bill which mandates unacceptable changes to school policies. You can read more about our concerns on Bill 24 here.We praise the Lord for the court’s decision to grant us intervenor status, and the added privilege of presenting evidence in this case. We pray that God will bless these efforts. Typically, a...

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29 Aug 2018 FAQs on Alberta’s Bill 24 saga

The recent passing of Bill 24 could have a serious impact on the operation, governance, accreditation, and funding of Christian schools. Consequently, the state of Christian education continues to be of serious concern in our circles. Parents want to be engaged and informed about what goes on at their schools. However, it appears the Alberta government wants to limit parental involvement especially in the area of sexuality and gender issues. Understandably this has caused some stress, if not confusion, about what this legislation really means for the future sustainability of...

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28 Jun 2018 Civil Disobedience and Courageous Leadership by Alberta Schools

by Mark Penninga Many of us are ready to disengage for the summer, leaving behind the stress of our regular lives. But before doing so, please take a moment to reflect on yesterday’s Alberta court ruling against the application for an injunction on Bill 24. This may sound like Greek, and largely irrelevant to you. But it isn’t. For starters, have a look just at page 1 of the decision. Look at the names of the schools listed in the court challenge. Do any of them look familiar to you? This may be the...

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27 Jun 2018 Important: Alberta Court Rules against Injunction for Bill 24

TWU ruling cited as precedent Update: We have published a new article with analysis of this decision here. Less than two weeks after the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision against Trinity Western University, a coalition of parents and independent schools in Alberta, including all of the Reformed schools in the province, has lost an application for an injunction to delay implementation of Bill 24, “An Act to Support Gay-Straight Alliances”.  Among other things, the law makes it illegal for anyone in the education system - be that in public, private, or parochial...

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26 Jun 2018 Important Update: Bill 24 Injunction Ruling Expected This Week

(Lighthouse News - June 26, 2018): A ruling is expected by the end of this week in the first round of a court battle over Alberta's Bill 24. That is the bill that mandates every school to institute gay-straight alliance (GSA) clubs on request from any student, and to hide information about students from their parents, along with a threat of denying funding or accreditation if they don’t comply. A coalition of parents, Christian schools (including the Reformed schools in the province), and others are taking the Alberta government to court...

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11 Apr 2018 Alberta bill blocking info on student activities from parents will be challenged in court

by Lighthouse News The Alberta government is facing a lawsuit over Bill 24. That’s the law - passed late last year - which expressly forbids school teachers, principals, or other school employees from telling parents about whether their own children join so-called "gay-straight alliance clubs". The government claimed at the time that the prohibition is about “protecting children from abusive parents”. But now, a group of 24 religious schools, eight parents and a pair of non-profit groups have launched a constitutional challenge of the law. The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announced...

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

ARPA's Executive Director, Mark Penninga 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 a direct impact on whether NDP MLA's actually showed...

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

Lawyer John Carpay for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms 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 announced that if the...

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21 Nov 2017 ARPA Grassroots Activates to oppose Bill 24

ARPA Canada Grassroots Manager, Colin Postma 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 went out and reached a couple of hundred...

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