Northern Lights School Divison (NLSD) will be developing a draft policy regarding the use of the Lord's Prayer in schools within the division, after a Glendon mother asked for it to not to be recited at Glendon School, where her son attends.
Coralee Fergus, who is also an art teacher at the school, brought the concern to the NLSD board, which resulted in the suspension of the Lord's Prayer at the school. At the request of her employer, Fergus declined to comment on the issue.
A delegation from Glendon spoke to NLSD trustees at the Dec. 11 board meeting, with people speaking to both sides of the issue.
“Based on the information presented to us from both parties, and I have to say it was presented in such a passionate, respectful and courteous manner, that the board felt very well equipped to make a decision on the issue,” said Board Chair Arlene Hrynyk.
After talking with residents of Glendon, the board made the decision to have administration develop a draft policy. A policy, which once developed Hrynyk hopes, can please people on all sides of the issue.
“As a public school system we respect the diversity of the students in the communities we serve,” said Hrynyk. “So that policy will certainly be focused on striving to ensure that we respect individual rights, the law and of course the local school and community values.”
According to the National Household Survey done by Statistics Canada, 71 per cent of Glendon residents identified themselves as Christian in 2011, three per cent identified themselves as Muslim and the other 26 per cent reported no religious affiliation.
A survey sent home with students from Glendon School showed that 91 per cent of parents were in support of keeping the Lord's Prayer.
Citizens of the community will have an opportunity to provide feedback to NLSD trustees, as board policy allows 30 days for input from all stakeholders on newly developed policies.
Hrynyk hopes to see more people come out and voice their opinions.
“We really look forward to the feedback that we are going to get from the community to ensure that they are comfortable with the policy and the opt out provisions,” said Hrynyk. “I really encourage everyone to provide that feedback to the board so that we can ensure we get that policy so that everybody is comfortable from both sides.”
Glendon is not the only community in the province to debate the use of the Lord's Prayer in a public school.
In November, a school in Taber eliminated the recitation of the Lord's Prayer. The school board backed the decision, which resulted in backlash from the community.
In October of 2011, the principal of Sturgeon Heights School in St. Albert suspended the morning recitations of the Lords' Prayer. The school board allowed the suspension until it drafted a new policy on the issue.
Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only provinces in Canada that allow the Lord's Prayer to be recited at public schools. The two provinces negotiated their own constitutional provisions when they entered into Confederation in 1905, and protected the right for prayer in schools.
The rest of the provinces and territories had the Lord's Prayer nixed from public schools by a court decision. In 1988, an Ontario court ruling stated: “Religious exercises in the opening or closing of each school day in the public schools of the province, infringes the guarantee of freedom of conscience and religion in s. 2 (a) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
Students in Alberta have the right to opt out of the recitation of the Lord's Prayer if they chose to do so.