Well, Bill 44 has been passed into law.
What is Bill 44? Bill 44 is the ‘parental rights’ legislation that stipulates that parents have the right to pull their children out of contentious classroom situations. Topics such as Human Sexuality, Religion and Evolution have been mentioned as possible situations.
Bill 44 or “The Right to Remain Ignorant” bill has been postponed in its implementation. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reports that the culture minister Lindsay Blackett has delayed the legislation for some more fine tuning to allow the schools to as he puts it: “Our intention is certainly not to get school boards before the Human Rights Commission.”
Intentionally or not this legislation allows teachers to be brought before a HRC tribunal when discussion such controversial topics such as evolution and sexual education are included in a lesson without parental approval.
This is a gross neglect of public education in Alberta. I’ve already written about Bill 44 here when this particular travesty of Bill came out. I am hoping that the Alberta Government have realized the magnitude of the stupid (stupid burning so bright that it made it a mark on PZ Myers’s blog Pharyngula) that is in this bill and working to neuter it as quickly as possible.
Given the lovely conservative nature of the politics in this province, I highly doubt any significant revisions will be made.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
3 comments
June 28, 2010 at 7:01 am
Alberta Bill 44 – Protecting Children from Education. « Dead Wild Roses
[…] delusional behaviour, Education, Religion | by The Arbourist Bill 44 reminds me of why I love living in Alberta darn so much. Bill 44 is about parental […]
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June 28, 2010 at 8:39 am
Bleatmop
From my perspective this is a move forward, sadly. I remember having permissions slips go out when I was in Jr. High that had to be signed before they would teach you evolution.
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June 29, 2010 at 10:59 pm
The Arbourist
I think we were doing fine without the get out education free card for religious nutters who happily believe in sky daddies and burning bushes. This legislation is a step back toward the childhood you remember, and I am pretty sure we do not want to go there.
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