Ontario Court rules against parental rights - help with legal defense fund needed!

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Ontario Court of Appeal rules against parental rights.

http://everydayforlifecanada.blogspot.ca/2017/11/ontario-court-of-appeal-rules-against.html

Ontario Court of Appeal rules against parental rights. First a little background. Dr. Steve Tourloukis has been in a legal battle for over five years trying to defend parental rights in Ontario and Canada. Back in 2010, as the McGinty Liberal government tried to pass the radical sex-education curriculum, Tourloukis simply asked his children's school board to be notified of classes that contradicted his Greek-Orthodox faith. He could then choose to keep them at home when instruction was inappropriate. The lessons of concern included topics such as same-sex marriage, homosexuality, abortion and transgenderism. The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, HWDSB, refused his request for accommodation. So in 2012, given no other choice he took the school board to court.

The case was first heard last year in Hamilton, Ontario where Justice Robert Reid of the Ontario Superior Court made a terrible ruling against Tourloukis. The judge basically concluded that parents don't have the final authority over what their children learn. The idea that state has the "right" to overrule parental rights because of competing Charter rights is unjust and completely wrong. An appeal was launched.

Today the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled against Steve Tourloukis. This is another unjust decision that serves to further undermine parental rights. Tourloukis claims that his parental rights and religious freedom were violated under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The judges disagreed. This is a bad decision for Canadian parents, regardless of whether they're believers or agnostics.

Three judges Peter Lauwers, Robert Sharpe and Bradley Miller in rejecting Tourloukis's appeal argue that he failed to prove that there was "any interference with or violation of his religious freedom." Judge Lauwers did admit that: "Dismissing this appeal does not, however, give s.169.1 the program a clean constitutional bill of health. Were the evidence that the s.169.1 program undermined a parent's ability to transmit religious faith, together with a refusal to provide accommodation, the result might be well different." But "Equity Education" is precisely about changing (indoctrinating) students thinking about human sexuality, the person and marriage. Surely the judges have enough proof in the government and school board documents that the policy undermines a parent's ability to pass on the faith or other views.

A reasonable person (not Canadian judges in these days of political correctness) would say that forcing "diversity education" on all public students is a direct infringement on a parent's ability to teach the Christian faith and family values. The judges, with the red herring lack of evidence position, sided with the government, the school board and the teachers' union. "Equity Education" trumps every other view, especially the Christian one.

Lauwers refers to section s.169.1 of Ontario's Education Act which under duties and powers allows schools boards to "(a) promote student achievement and well-being; (a.1) promote a positive school climate that is inclusive and accepting of all pupils, including pupils of any race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status or disability; (a.2) promote the prevention of bullying." The court acknowledges the importance of "inclusivity" in creating a positive school climate devoid of bullying. However, the idea that faith is also a central aspect to student's success, health and emotional well being can be excluded.

Court of Appeal for Ontario

Lauwers, while asserting that the Education Act protects religious freedom and parental rights, then goes on to quote ministerial guidelines from the Ministry of Education regarding the importance of Equity Education:

The directive and policies are all designed to combat racism, religious intolerance and homophobia, and to ensure that all students feel welcomed and accepted in public schools.

Students are to be provided with learning materials that are bias-fee and that reflect the diversity of the school population, including diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity. A central feature of the Policy is that diversity, anti-discrimination and anti-homophobia are not taught in stand alone lessons but rather are fully integrated into the curriculum so that acceptance of difference becomes routine. For example, teaching materials for a lesson on mathematics might feature children with two mothers and two fathers. In this way, all courses are infused with equity principles and teachers are directed to ensure that all students-including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual and two-spirited, intersex, queer and questioning people - will, in the words of EIES (Equity and Inclusive Strategy), be 'engaged, included, and respected and ... see themselves reflected in their learning environment.

So Tourloukis, as do all parents in the province, has parental rights according to the court decision. However, given current government policies and without clear proof of harm, school boards are permitted to violate both parental rights and religious freedom because they have a mandate to not just promote "Equity Education," but to inculcate it as a "neutral" civic virtue. In short, transgendersim, secret school sex clubs and about a dozen sexual orientations are just fine for the court, but not the Christian faith and the right of parents and the freedom to say no to legislated "diversity education." Teaching about two mothers and two fathers in a mathematics class should not take precedence over parental rights.

The three justices know about the radical sexual indoctrination that children are being exposed today in schools. As specified in ministerial guidelines produced in court, students are being brainwashed across the curriculum, that is in every subject. This is clearly a contravention of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Education Act. Nevertheless, this is now legal because it's all part of "Equity Education."

This ruling was definitely a loss for the Hamilton father, and we won’t try to sugar coat that. The court refused to grant him any relief in the absence of “proof” that his children had been exposed to lessons which contradicted his religious beliefs, and that’s really bad for his family. Nonetheless, the ruling affirmed that parents do have primary authority over their children’s education and that the state’s authority is subordinate. Importantly, the ruling also laid out a path for a future legal challenge against the section 169 of the Education Act which is a sort of linchpin being used by the educrats to justify imposing their radical sexual agenda on other peoples’ children. Our thoughts and good wishes go out to Steve Tourloukis and his family. This must be another very difficult day. Our prayers and support are with them. And parents take note.

Readers, if you wish to help pay the legal cost and learn more about Steve Tourloukis' case, please go to the Parental Rights in Education Defense Fund.

https://voxcantor.blogspot.ca/2017/11/ontario-court-rules-against-parental.html