B.C. Mom Who Sued School District Over Indigenous Ceremony Loses Appeal

A file photo of a woman holding an Indigenous smudge stick at Yonge and Dundas Square in Toronto on April 18, 2022. Yader Guzman/The Canadian Press

A Vancouver Island mother sued her children’s school district for holding an indigenous ceremony that she said was of a spiritual nature, allegedly violating her children’s right to religious freedom. After years of litigation, B.C.’s highest court dismissed her appeal on Dec. 12.

Candice Servatius of Port Alberni had enlisted the help of the Alberta-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. The court ruled that because this group funded her lawsuit and she did not pay out of pocket herself, she must also cover the school district’s legal costs. An earlier court decision had decided to relieve Servatius of this standard duty to pay the costs of the winning side because she was of limited means.

A JCCF statement followed the appeal court’s decision on Monday: “Imposing supernatural or spiritual practices on public school children without parental notification and parental consent, and without even the right for students to opt out is a matter of substantial public concern.”

The two rituals performed were smudging and a hoop dance, during which the dancer said a prayer. Servatius, an evangelical Protestant, said her two children should not have participated in these ceremonies that do not conform with her family’s religious beliefs.

The JCCF statement said, “The school failed to provide Ms. Servatius with notice that her child’s classroom and her children would be smudged. The school itself had described the ceremony as seeking to ‘cleanse the spirits’ of the children.”

The ruling found “the children’s presence at the events in question did not amount to compelled participation in a ‘religious ceremony,’ but, rather, amounted to learning about Indigenous practices and culture.”

The “cleanse the spirit” wording had come from a teacher at the school, the ruling said, but did not reflect the nature of the event itself. The children were observers rather than participants, the ruling found.

JCCF said Servatius was fine with indigenous practices and culture being taught in school, so long as spiritual ceremonies were not imposed on children. Her daughter had testified that she was not allowed to leave the classroom though the smoke made it hard to breathe.

The ruling said: “The judge considered the daughter’s evidence. He did not overlook it or make any mistakes about the content of her evidence, but he rejected it and preferred the evidence of the other witnesses who described what happened.”

Servatius first filed a lawsuit in 2016. The Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled against her in January 2020. JCCF did not reply to inquiry as of publication time regarding whether Servatius would take any further action after this appeal dismissal.