Quebeckers Challenge Day Care Rules Eliminating Religion From Curriculum

In Canada yesterday, a coalition of Catholic and Jewish day care providers and parents filed a lawsuit seeking to enjoin new regulations in the province of Quebec that came into force on June 1. The new rules bar some 1,400 government-subsidized day cares from offering children activities that teach "a belief, a dogma or the practice of a specific religion." The rules particularly impact about 100 subsidized day cares that have a religious focus.  The Montreal Gazette and the Toronto Globe and Mail both report on the lawsuit. Plaintiffs, known as Quebeckers for Equal Rights to Subsidized Day Care, argue that the new rules are vague, discriminate against parents who believe that daycares should be an extension of the home and infringe freedom of religion protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.