Canada: Court Orders Exemption for Course on Ethics and Religious Culture

MONTREAL – Loyola high, a private Catholic school, on June 18 won a Superior Court ordered exemption from a provincial-government order that it teach a controversial ethics and morality course within the boundaries established by Quebec’s Ministry of Education, the Montreal Gazette reported on June 19.  Judge Gerard Dugre ruled that by trying to compel Loyola high school to adhere to rigidly secular teaching guidelines, the provincial government violated the school’s freedom of religion as guaranteed by the Quebec Charter of Rights.