The decision by the Court of Appeal has been reached. One dissenting judge, of three, saw the risk of schools losing their funding before the case is actually heard later this year. Stay tuned for further updates as decisions will be made by the government, the lawyers and the parties involved. Prayers and politics are a good mix... both will be needed.  

 Last Monday morning was our long awaited day in court for the Bill 24 Injunction Appeal at the highest court in Alberta. I appreciate that you may or may not have read my brief and quickly written report right after being in court. You may have seen some of the news reports, which I will include for your reference below as well. I realized that one of the things that people may be less familiar with is that being in the Court of Appeal has a different focus than an initial hearing. The focus of the case is typically to convince the panel of three justices that they have grounds to overturn the decision of the lower court judge. Thus, it is more of a technical argument than you would have heard at the lower court, although the Appellants had applied to introduce a significant amount of new evidence.

​As many of you are aware, the marginalization of parental rights is an obvious result to Bill 24. The bill, now law, has been implemented by the current government, but they are facing resistance from a small band of brave individuals, schools and groups, which are practicing civil disobedience to this new law based on the fact that it breaks prior protections of parental rights, found in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, the Alberta Bill of Rights and the Alberta Family Law Act. The security of parental rights is important to those who home educate, as it is on this basis (as well as religious freedom) we claim our right to do so. The case slated to be heard sometime in 2019 will impact us all, but this appeal is critical as we need these steadfast schools to remain open to support the home education administrations that are attached to them. They are also a beacon for those in the faith community to stand in the face of wrong doing and of encouragement to act in righteousness, honoring God above man.

judge•ment

(also judgment)

1. the ability to make considered decisions or come to sensible conclusions.
   "an error of judgement"
   "that is not, in my judgement, the end of the matter"
   synonyms: acumen, shrewdness, astuteness, common sense, good sense, sense, perception, perspicacity, percipience, penetration, acuity, discrimination, wisdom, wit, native wit, judiciousness, prudence, sagacity, understanding, intelligence, awareness, canniness, sharpness, sharp-wittedness, cleverness, powers of reasoning, reason, logic

2. a misfortune or calamity viewed as a divine punishment.
   "the events of the last week are a judgement on us for our sinful ways"

 Allow me to set the stage…

There was a great deal of behind-the-scenes manoeuvering for the dates on the injunction hearing and ruling that would determine if schools would be seen as non-compliant with Bill 24. Schools had to file their paperwork by June 30, indicating that they agreed to be compliant on the form in order to successfully submit it online. Without indicating their compliance and being able to submit the form — eerily similar to the Canada Summer Jobs attestation scandal that is plaguing the current federal government — they would have to submit a paper copy instead and could expect to face the consequences. Trying to comply with Alberta Education and still remain true to their faith, the twenty-six faith-based schools listed as plaintiffs in the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) court case and injunction, and many, many more schools behind the scenes, rooted for a sliver of hope and for some time to continue being themselves until the case is heard sometime in 2019.

They were not alone. . .