Muslim Religious Services In Canadian School Angers Hindus, Raises Legal Issues

Canada's National Post reported Tuesday on questions raised by the practice in a Toronto public school that has a predominately Muslim student body of permitting an imam to conduct a 30-minute prayer service for students in the school cafeteria on Friday afternoons. Valley Park Middle School is 80% to 90% Muslim, and some 400 students each week choose to attend the service.  While there is a mosque down the street, parents are concerned about safety and the students' failing to promptly return to school that is involved if students are merely excused to attend services there. School officials see the in-school alternative as an accommodation of students' religious practices, and not the kind of imposition of religion in the classroom that the Ontario Court of Appeals found unconstitutional in the 1988 case of Zylberberg v. Sudbury Board of Education. That case involved opening of class with a scripture reading and the Lord's Prayer.  In a National Post interview, a Canadian Civil Liberties spokesperson said:

If you looked at what happened with the Lord’s Prayer — even though you had an opt-out for students who didn’t want to say the prayer — the concern was they would be subject to a lot of peer pressure that could make life difficult. Given the size of the Muslim population in this school, it may raise similar concerns of pressure on non-Muslims to participate.

Meanwhile, Hindu groups are complaining about the potential for inflammatory preaching against Hinduism, and the fragmentation of the student body that this involves.  Canada's South Asian Focus reports that the group Canadian Hindu Advocacy says that the Muslim services in the school are unacceptable.  SAF spokesman Ron Banerjee said that his group is also opposed to the serving of halal meat in the public schools.  He added: "Our organisation is determined to ensure all Hindu students are provided non-halal meat alternatives."