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Showing posts with label Lou Iacobelli. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lou Iacobelli. Show all posts

Sunday 26 November 2017

Ontario Court rules against parental rights - help with legal defense fund needed!

Whatever Vox Cantoris readers can do to assist with funds would be greatly appreciated.




Ontario Court of Appeal rules against parental rights.

http://everydayforlifecanada.blogspot.ca/2017/11/ontario-court-of-appeal-rules-against.html

Ontario Court of Appeal rules against parental rights. First a little background. Dr. Steve Tourloukis has been in a legal battle for over five years trying to defend parental rights in Ontario and Canada. Back in 2010, as the McGinty Liberal government tried to pass the radical sex-education curriculum, Tourloukis simply asked his children's school board to be notified of classes that contradicted his Greek-Orthodox faith. He could then choose to keep them at home when instruction was inappropriate. The lessons of concern included topics such as same-sex marriage, homosexuality, abortion and transgenderism. The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, HWDSB, refused his request for accommodation. So in 2012, given no other choice he took the school board to court.

The case was first heard last year in Hamilton, Ontario where Justice Robert Reid of the Ontario Superior Court made a terrible ruling against Tourloukis. The judge basically concluded that parents don't have the final authority over what their children learn. The idea that state has the "right" to overrule parental rights because of competing Charter rights is unjust and completely wrong. An appeal was launched.

Today the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled against Steve Tourloukis. This is another unjust decision that serves to further undermine parental rights. Tourloukis claims that his parental rights and religious freedom were violated under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The judges disagreed. This is a bad decision for Canadian parents, regardless of whether they're believers or agnostics.

Three judges Peter Lauwers, Robert Sharpe and Bradley Miller in rejecting Tourloukis's appeal argue that he failed to prove that there was "any interference with or violation of his religious freedom." Judge Lauwers did admit that: "Dismissing this appeal does not, however, give s.169.1 the program a clean constitutional bill of health. Were the evidence that the s.169.1 program undermined a parent's ability to transmit religious faith, together with a refusal to provide accommodation, the result might be well different." But "Equity Education" is precisely about changing (indoctrinating) students thinking about human sexuality, the person and marriage. Surely the judges have enough proof in the government and school board documents that the policy undermines a parent's ability to pass on the faith or other views.

A reasonable person (not Canadian judges in these days of political correctness) would say that forcing "diversity education" on all public students is a direct infringement on a parent's ability to teach the Christian faith and family values. The judges, with the red herring lack of evidence position, sided with the government, the school board and the teachers' union. "Equity Education" trumps every other view, especially the Christian one.

Lauwers refers to section s.169.1 of Ontario's Education Act which under duties and powers allows schools boards to "(a) promote student achievement and well-being; (a.1) promote a positive school climate that is inclusive and accepting of all pupils, including pupils of any race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status or disability; (a.2) promote the prevention of bullying." The court acknowledges the importance of "inclusivity" in creating a positive school climate devoid of bullying. However, the idea that faith is also a central aspect to student's success, health and emotional well being can be excluded.

Court of Appeal for Ontario
Lauwers, while asserting that the Education Act protects religious freedom and parental rights, then goes on to quote ministerial guidelines from the Ministry of Education regarding the importance of Equity Education:
The directive and policies are all designed to combat racism, religious intolerance and homophobia, and to ensure that all students feel welcomed and accepted in public schools.
Students are to be provided with learning materials that are bias-fee and that reflect the diversity of the school population, including diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity. A central feature of the Policy is that diversity, anti-discrimination and anti-homophobia are not taught in stand alone lessons but rather are fully integrated into the curriculum so that acceptance of difference becomes routine. For example, teaching materials for a lesson on mathematics might feature children with two mothers and two fathers. In this way, all courses are infused with equity principles and teachers are directed to ensure that all students-including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual and two-spirited, intersex, queer and questioning people - will, in the words of EIES (Equity and Inclusive Strategy), be 'engaged, included, and respected and ... see themselves reflected in their learning environment.
So Tourloukis, as do all parents in the province, has parental rights according to the court decision. However, given current government policies and without clear proof of harm, school boards are permitted to violate both parental rights and religious freedom because they have a mandate to not just promote "Equity Education," but to inculcate it as a "neutral" civic virtue. In short, transgendersim, secret school sex clubs and about a dozen sexual orientations are just fine for the court, but not the Christian faith and the right of parents and the freedom to say no to legislated "diversity education." Teaching about two mothers and two fathers in a mathematics class should not take precedence over parental rights.

The three justices know about the radical sexual indoctrination that children are being exposed today in schools. As specified in ministerial guidelines produced in court, students are being brainwashed across the curriculum, that is in every subject. This is clearly a contravention of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Education Act. Nevertheless, this is now legal because it's all part of "Equity Education."

This ruling was definitely a loss for the Hamilton father, and we won’t try to sugar coat that. The court refused to grant him any relief in the absence of “proof” that his children had been exposed to lessons which contradicted his religious beliefs, and that’s really bad for his family. Nonetheless, the ruling affirmed that parents do have primary authority over their children’s education and that the state’s authority is subordinate. Importantly, the ruling also laid out a path for a future legal challenge against the section 169 of the Education Act which is a sort of linchpin being used by the educrats to justify imposing their radical sexual agenda on other peoples’ children. Our thoughts and good wishes go out to Steve Tourloukis and his family. This must be another very difficult day. Our prayers and support are with them. And parents take note.

Readers, if you wish to help pay the legal cost and learn more about Steve Tourloukis' case, please go to the Parental Rights in Education Defense Fund.

Wednesday 14 December 2016

Sexual indoctrination: an attack on parental rights, family and children’s souls. It's not our old "birds and bees."

The following is a guest post by Mr. Lou Iacobelli of the Everyday For Life Canada blog. In what is not your "birds and bees" education program, Lou highlights the indoctrination that has beset our children and families. I am honoured to know Lou and pleased that he has taken the time to write this important article to be posted here.

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Sexual indoctrination: an attack on parental rights, family and children’s souls
by Lou Iacobelli

Sexual indoctrination is an attack on parental rights, family. marriage and children’s souls. Let's connect the dots to see how we have arrived at this moral abyss, a ravine which is putting children and families at risk both physically and spiritually. The moral devastation of the sexual revolution of the 1960s has transformed itself into today's radical sex "education" programs. Let's examine some of the evidence.

The Vatican

At the last World Youth Day held in Poland, 2016, the Vatican released a radical sex education program. To the shock of many, the goal of the program contradicts past Church teaching on marriage, family and life. The program is called “The meeting Point: Course for Affective Sexual Education for Young people.” It's an explicit sexual program that is the direct fallout from Pope Francis' Amoris Laetitia. The program is illustrated with a number of what can only be called pornographic photos.

What's wrong with it? There are so many things. To begin, it teaches about gender identity...a concept which is totally anti-Catholic because it rejects the biological and divine idea that human beings are made in the image of God, and created male and female. Instead, the Vatican program pushes the notion that parents are to make sure that their children are instructed in sexual education. But the program undermines parental rights by telling parents to let institutions do the sexual teaching not that parents are the prime educators of their children. There is no mention of sexual sins or the breaking of the 6th and 9th commandments. Basically, the Vatican has surrendered to the modern comprehensive sex education buzzword which is being pushed by all Western countries.

Ontario, Canada

In Ontario, Canada the radical sex curriculum began in earnest in 2009 with a school policy called, “Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy.” This was followed in 2015 by the provincial Liberal government release of the Physical Heath and Education program that contains a very radical sex curriculum. The controversial contents are now protected by law with Bill 13, the Accepting Schools Act.” In short, the policy, the sex curriculum and the law establish gay/straight student clubs in both Catholic and public schools. Ontario schools must teach and recognize gender, sexual orientation, gender expression and identity. Children in elementary grades learn about genitalia, masturbation, sexual consent, anal sex, oral sex, condom use, sexual pleasure and how to make a sexual plan. Many Ontario parents have protested the sex curriculum because it violates parental rights and religious freedom. In fact, 186,000 parents signed petitions against the curriculum which were presented in the legislature. But the government has refused to listen and will not even allow parents to withdraw their children from any section of the curriculum even if contradicts family values and beliefs.

Ontario Bishops

In 2016, the Ontario Catholic Secondary Curriculum Policy Document: for Grades 9-12, Religious Education prepared by the Institute for Catholic Education and approved by the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario was released. The policy document states that Catholic religious courses will include the topics of gender, sexual orientation, homophobia, gender identity and expression. It's on pages 51-52 of the document, under the headings: "Healthy Relationships and Religious Education" and "Equity and Inclusive Religious Education." The bottom line is this: the Ontario bishops have surrendered and have now given the green light to the 2015 Government sex curriculum which undermines parental rights, puts children's bodies, minds and souls at risk. It is a sex education program that totally contradicts Catholic teaching on the person, family, marriage and sexuality. The bishops must have been reading from the liberal pages of the Vatican's sex curriculum.

Ontario Courts Overruling Parental Rights

In November 2016, after a four year costly legal battle, an Ontario judge ruled against a father who had gone to court to defend his parental rights and religious freedom. Dr. Steve Tourloukis took the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board to court in 2012. He simply wanted the school to inform him of class lessons dealing with the sex curriclum that contradicted his Greek-Orthodox faith so that he could keep his children at home. The judge's verdict is no.

In his argument, the judge makes a statement that should concern all parents in the province. He agreed that parental rights must be respected. However, there is a limit. Judge Reid writes, "I do not take the position of the applicant that his authority over his children and their education supersedes the law. Rather, the applicant seeks a declaratory order to support his claim that he can assert his Charter and Code rights without the Board responding by asserting a superior level of authority when it comes to the education of his children." The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Ontario Human Rights Code are supposed to protect religious freedom. However, the judge decided that "a superior level of authority" trumps parental rights and religious liberty. Readers can get more information about this terrible decision by going to the Parental Rights in Education Defence Fund.

The United Nations

The same radical comprehensive sex education is being pushed by the United Nations around the world. The UN website nicely describes it as "helping young people to explore and nurture positive values regarding their sexual and reproductive health. This education includes discussions about family life, relationships, culture and gender roles, and also addresses human rights, gender equality, and threats such as discrimination and sexual abuse." For many years, the United Nations has been advocating for universal sexual education. They have tried to go even further by suggesting that sexual rights is a universal human right, like the right to food, clean air and water! Note how sex education includes "gender roles" which means that children should be taught about sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. There is never a mention about the important role of parents. What's happening is that children are being taught the secular vocabulary of sex and this will change their thinking and then of course, their behaviour. 

Conclusion

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in Article 26, (3) states: "Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children." The Church too has always defended the rights of parents to direct their children's education. Past governments have respected this. Sadly, today, the state, the schools, the courts and even the Church can no longer be trusted to defend children and parents against an anti-moral attack that is relentlessly coming at them from many sides, disguised as sex "education," "equity and tolerance" and "sexual rights." These radical sex programs have nothing to do with education. They are sexual indoctrination that attack children, morally, spiritually, psychologically and spiritually. They necessarily attack parental rights, family and marriage. We are in a spiritual cultural war and children are being abused on so many fronts. Parents need to get informed and do all that they can to protect the souls of their children.


Lou Iacobelli is a "retired" Catholic educator who really has never stopped teaching. He is the Chair of the Parental Rights in Education Defense Fund and has been assisting Mr. Steve Tourloukis in his fight for parental and child rights in public education. Lou is the publisher of the blog, Everyday For Life Canada featured on the blog roll to the left, a blog that should be on your daily must-read which can be linked at: http://everydayforlifecanada.blogspot.ca/