Response: The Department considered the committee's position and looked at ways to address the issue within the boundaries of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

"What Charter decisions have shown is that instruction in religions within schools is permissible as long as it is consistent with the multicultural heritage of Canada."

In other words, as long as instruction in religion is offered in the context of other world religions, and is respectful of all faiths and their inherent values, it will not be considered in contravention of the Charter.

Therefore, the department proposed to add a subsection "enabling public schools to allow instruction in world religions and spiritual values in a manner that is respectful of the spiritual or religious values or beliefs of all the students."

Issue: Discussions on religion and spirituality led to a related issue which the committee felt should be addressed. Members noted that the draft act did not provide for expressions of patriotism in our schools. The once-common practice of singing the national anthem on a regular basis has faced from much of our institutional activity.

Members felt that this need not be the case if the department could propose some method of retaining such a practice.

Response: The department's response that a statement "will be added to the preamble referring to the multicultural heritage of Canada" was the result of a misinterpretation of the committee's concern. Further discussion with departmental officials on the issue served to clarify for the committee that the act would not prevent a district authority from including regular expressions of patriotism in schools as a matter of practice, but it need not be made a requirement in the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I would like now to defer to the Member for Yellowknife South and the SCOL chairperson, Mr. Tony Whitford, to conclude this report. Thank you.