MEDIA ADVISORY


LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST SCHOOL BOARD SEEKS TO END
SUPPRESSION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS AND PROVIDE ACCOMODATION
FOR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS


WHAT:
Press conference

WHEN:
Monday September 10 9:00 AM

WHERE:
Queens Park, Toronto (in the Media Studio)

WHO:
1. Lou Iacobelli, Chairperson, The Parental Rights In Education Defense Fund
2. Parent/Applicant in the legal proceedings (to be named)
3. Albertos Polizogopoulos, Legal Counsel for the Applicant

WHY:
To announce legal proceedings commenced by a beleaguered parent against an Ontario public
school board which has continually refused to provide reasonable accommodation for his family’s
religious beliefs. The family has also suffered discrimination and been made to feel unwelcome.
Staff suggested that he and his children leave the Board and enroll elsewhere in a private school.

The parent has repeatedly requested that the elementary school attended by his two children
provide him with advance notice of any lessons, exercises or material to be viewed by his
children, which may conflict with his spiritual values as a practicing Christian. All his requests
over the past year and a half have been denied. He has been informed that, in the name of
“equity”, his parental rights and Christian beliefs must be denied.

The parent seeks nothing more than to be given advance notice so that he can either withdraw his
children before the lesson, or prepare his children in advance for what they may be taught.

About The Parental Rights In Education Defense Fund:

Our legal defense fund was formed after observing that parental rights, notably the right to raise and educate
children in a manner consistent with a family’s religious and moral beliefs, were being consistently
challenged. The Parental Rights In Education Defense Fund exists to help parents by assisting them in
obtaining legal counsel to defend their fundamental, inherent rights as the primary educators of their children.