School District officials say they’re glad a parental complaint about Indigenous culture is now behind them.
Candace Servatius filed a legal complaint against School District 70, saying a classroom smudging in September 2015 interfered with her children’s religious freedoms.
BC Supreme Court Justice Douglas Thompson dismissed the complaint.
School District Superintendent Greg Smyth says one third of local students self-identfy as having Indigenous ancestry, and teachers will continue to educate students on a variety of cultural practices.
“We just think it’s very important for us to do, given where we live, where are schools are, and the students that we have,” he said. “Learning about Indigenous cultures, traditions, histories, and perspectives is really important for non-Indigenous and Indigenous students alike.”
Smyth said students were never smudged or cleansed, they simply observed and listened as an elder cleansed the classroom, and said school district officials are in no position to impose a definition of religion on Indigenous cultural practices.
