Alberta: School with anti-gay policy sparks outrage

Education minister grilled over Prairie Christian Academy’s public funding


A Christian school in Alberta that receives public funding had posted, but has reportedly removed, a policy that calls on its teachers to “abstain from homosexual relations and sexual relations outside the bonds of marriage.”

According to the CBC, Education Minister Jeff Johnson faced numerous questions from the opposition, with legislators wanting to know why the province is funding Prairie Christian Academy when it has anti-gay policies. MLAs, including Wildrose Party Leader Danielle Smith, say the school’s policy flouts the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the province’s bill of rights.

Johnson indicated that a ministerial review of the agreements between school boards and other programs, and an examination of the employment terms between school board and employees, will be conducted.

Recently, another publicly funded Alberta school, Heritage Christian Academy, faced scrutiny for threatening to dismiss students and teachers if they follow a “lifestyle of sexual immorality.”

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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