WHEREAS Canadian courts have consistently given weight to parents’ rights to rear their children in accordance with their beliefs and values; and
WHEREAS, in 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada in Loyola High School v. Quebec Attorney General, held that a parent has a fundamental right to direct and control his or her child’s education and transmit it to the best of one’s ability … without being undermined in this effort by undue interference from the state or its agents; and
WHEREAS the Charter of Rights, in Section 2, protects freedom of religion, belief and conscience; and
WHEREAS Canada ratified the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides, in Article 18(4), that religious and moral education of children be in conformity with the convictions of the parents; and
WHEREAS Canada ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides, in Article 26(3), that parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education given to a child; and
WHEREAS some provincial governments, such as those of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario require that students be taught in the schools the values of the government on sexual, religious and ethical issues, regardless of the religious or ethical beliefs and values of that child’s parents.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT parents’ rights be recognized as having priority over that of the State in determining the moral and ethical values taught children, based on the legal right of parents to be the primary educators of their children.