Saturday, December 21, 2002

A story released today by the Canadian Press reports that the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a British Columbia school board was wrong to ban books depicting same-sex parents from kindergarten and Grade 1 classrooms.

In a 7-2 ruling, the court said the action by the board in Surrey, B.C., violated a requirement in provincial legislation that the public school system be strictly secular and non-sectarian.

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, writing for the court majority, made it clear the key issue was the duty of public schools to ensure respect for tolerance and diversity.

She said the board had bowed to the views of parents who opposed homosexuality on religious grounds and was thus "letting the religious views of a certain part of the community trump the need to show equal respect for the values of other members of the community."

McLachlin also noted that the central message of the books is one of tolerance and said it is never too early to start teaching that concept. "Tolerance is always age-appropriate."

McLachlin also found the board failed in its obligation to take a non-sectarian approach.

"It cannot prefer the religious views of some people in its district to the views of other segments of the community. Nor can it appeal to views that deny the equal validity of the lawful lifestyles of some in the school community."

The court sent the matter back to the school board to reconsider its decision. But it warned that any further effort to keep the books out of the classroom would have to be based on different arguments than those used in the past.