“Bob”
For those who may not have been paying much attention to what’s been occurring and Alberta these days, let me take a moment to bring you up-to-date on a couple of items that we have our eye on and may be cause for some concern.
The government of Alberta made a recent announcement of capital funding to build charter and independent schools. This is concerning for those of us who think public money should be spent with the intention of supporting public education. Alberta is one of only three provinces with fully funded public Catholic schools and $.70 on the dollar going to Alberta independent schools. Currently 61% of independent schools are religiously affiliated.
Also, this past August, the premier of Alberta announced restructuring plans to include the Roman Catholic Covenant Health group as a provider of health services. But Covenant does not allow staff to provide medical assistance in dying abortion or emergency contraceptives.
Furthermore, the Alberta recovery model is intended to help deal with addictions may include involuntary treatment or compassionate intervention. While these topics just in and of themselves are very worthy of deep discussions. It’s more troubling if some of the treatments are not evidence based, Christian abstinence 12 step model, or even employee the genesis process. Again should public dollars be pent on faith based treatments?
One last update. You might remember “Bob” the Calgary police sergeant who filed a human rights commission complaint against the overly Christian practices within the Calgary Police Service. Read the latest news on “Sgt Bob’s” situation here.