By CHAT News Today

Judge reserves decision on petition regarding SD76 LGBTQ policies

Mar 10, 2017 | 2:43 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — A judge reserved his decision on the issue of whether a petition presented to a local school board will be accepted.

A group of parents packed the Court of Queen’s Bench Friday morning for an appeal about a petition rejected by SD76.

Last year, parents in the public school board circulated a petition after the province required all school boards to develop LGBTQ policies. The petition asked the board to call a public meeting and allow the parents to form committees to implement the policies. The parents claim the policies from the school board and the province take away their parental rights.

Val Olson, one of the organizers of the petition, said the parents who signed the petition want a seat at the table to help draft the policy.

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“We want a school board to work with parents and hear our voices,” she said. “I mean, these are elected officials that shouldn’t have a problem working with parents and hearing what their concerns are.

“I guess the question is why don’t they want to do this? Why would they make parents go through court hearings… Why do they want to make parents go through these hoops just to have a meeting?”

SD76 held a special meeting last March to pass their LGBTQ policy, which was attended by parents.

Last October, the petition was presented to SD76 at a board meeting with more than 2,000 signatures. After SD76 vetted the petition with legal counsel, it was rejected, with SD76 secretary treasurer Jerry Labossierre saying the rejection was due to several signatures not meeting the requirements set out in the School Act.

“One of the criteria is the signators have to have to be electors of the School Board, that means they reside in the jurisdictional map of the School Board and that they are public school supporters,” Labossierre told CHAT Television in October.

“When we went through that list we found numerous occasions where people either resided outside of the boundaries or identified themselves as Catholic School Board supporters.”

According to the School Act, petitions for a public meeting need to be signed by 25 per cent of parents, who are also electors, of the students in a school, or by 2,000 electors in the division, in order to be considered valid. The School Act also allows people presenting petitions to appeal the decision to the Court of Queen’s Bench.

According to Jeremy Williamson, who argued the case in court, the decision will be made by Justice W.A. Tilleman on April 13, and said the petition can be returned to the group and resubmitted to SD76 or amended to correct any deficiencies.