CBC Calgary - School board chair could lose job over religion

CBC Calgary - School board chair could lose job over religion:

A public school trustee from Didsbury says his job is in danger because he is Catholic.

Roy Brassard has been the chair of the Chinook's Edge School Division for the past eight years but under the Alberta School Act, a member of the Catholic faith who lives in an area where a Catholic school division is established cannot serve as a public trustee.

Catholic school supporters voted to extend the boundaries of the Red Deer Catholic School District into Didsbury in February 2005 and the change was approved by the province in June.

"I ran for our school board in good faith," Brassard said. "Then, all of sudden, this has been put in after the fact and has put my position in jeopardy, for no other reason that I happen to be Catholic. I don't think that's right."

We take a great deal for granted with regard to the freedoms we enjoy here in the United States. In the past 45 years we have gone from wondering if a Catholic president would take his orders from the Vatican to a Supreme Court that has a Catholic majority for the first time on our country's history.

I really didn't expect this of Canada, but this is a provincial law, and may not reflect Canada's actual stance on freedom of religion.

Technorati tags: religion, discrimination