April 23, 2014 (TheInterim.com) – Sun News personality Ezra Levant will headline the Parental Rights in Education Defense Fund fundraising dinner on May 24 at Canada Christian College in Toronto to raise money for the organization as it financially assists Dr. Eusthathios (Steve) Tourloukis in his legal challenge to withdraw his daughter from classroom instruction he considers immoral.
The PRIEDF is a legal defense fund created to protect the parental rights of Canadians. Lou Iacobelli, a former educator who serves as chair of the group’s board of directors, told The Interim that “it was created to protect parental rights in Canada against a hostile trend from Ministries of Education and school board policies,” which he explains “use the classroom to indoctrinate children with values that run counter to those taught in the home.” Iacobelli pointed to examples in Quebec where the provincial government is forcing all students to take an ethics and culture course that “promotes moral relativism,” and the Ontario government’s Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy that “promotes homosexuality and contradicts Christian beliefs about the human person and the family.”
For tickets to the dinner, visit PRIEDF's website here.
Last September, Tourloukis launched a legal challenge against the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board after it denied the father of two elementary school children the right to be notified about lessons that may contradict his family’s Christian beliefs. Tourloukis explained in a press release last year that he is seeking a court order “to acknowledge my inherent parental rights to direct the spiritual and moral education of my own children.” By refusing to notify parents of controversial classroom instruction on moral issues, Tourloukis argues, he is being denied the right to withdraw his children from class lessons or exercises he considers morally objectionable.
PRIEDF is financially assisting Tourloukis in his legal challenge. Iacobelli said, “this beleaguered parent respectfully requested reasonable religious accommodation for his elementary school children so that they could be taught his family¹s sincerely held Christian beliefs.” Tourloukis’ numerous attempts at accommodation with the board were denied by the school and the board. “We believe this is an act of discrimination, a serious violation of his parental rights, of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, of the Ontario Human Rights Code and The Education Act,” Iacobelli said.
Jack Fonseca, a project manager with Campaign Life Coalition, said the issue of parental rights is vital to the pro-life and pro-family movement, noting that it is the responsibility of the parents, not the state, to instill values in children. He said schools should not undermine the values taught in the home, and that when such teaching is offered, that parents have the right to remove their children from the classroom.
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Fonseca specifically tied parental rights to the pro-life issue, saying that once “the state comes in and destroys religious freedom on one moral issue, such as ‘gay rights,’ it will go after other moral teachings.”
The May 24 dinner has the dual purpose of raising funds to assist Tourloukis and raising awareness of the violation of parental rights in Canada.
Iacobelli also said the event will signal the community’s “moral support” for Tourloukis’ cause. Iacobelli said school boards “have deep pockets” and “parents cannot possibly fight this legal battle alone.”
Ezra Levant, described by Fonseca as “Canada’s leading freedom fighter,” will talk about religious freedom and the rights of parents during his keynote address.
Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College will also speak at the event.
Iacobelli said this is an issue that ultimately affects all Canadians, regardless of faith, because “when the state enacts laws that prevent citizens from living out their beliefs, people need to defend themselves.” He said, “the battle for parental rights and to choose the moral education of our children is really a fight for freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, and freedom of choice.”
Fonseca said that parents who think that taking their children out of the taxpayer-funded school systems by enrolling them in independent schools or homeschooling them, are “dead wrong” to think parental rights is an issue that does not impact them. He said that the “anti-Christian agenda of state” is so strong, it will not leave private schools and homeschooling families alone. He also said that “we all have the responsibility to save the public and Catholic schools while they can still be saved.”
Fonseca said CLC is urging supporters to attend the dinner to help raise funds, but to also become active school board elections.
CLC is focusing on trustee elections in Ontario this year to encourage pro-life individuals to come forward as candidates. “We are going to take the school boards back one board at a time, one trustee at a time,” Fonseca said of the Oct. 27 municipal elections.
Reprinted with permission from The Interim.