Last week, the British Columbia Court of Appeal
(“BCCA”) heard the appeal of
Servatius v. Alberni School District No. 70, 2020 BCSC 15,
a provocative Charter case concerning the interplay
between religious freedoms and Indigenous cultural safety in public
schools. Our litigation group proudly represented the
Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (“NTC”)
in its intervention in the appeal.
From NTC's perspective, the BCCA's decision will
determine whether non-Indigenous litigants can use the
Charter as a sword to prohibit demonstrations of
Indigenous cultural practices in the classroom and other state
sponsored events, undoing years of progress made towards achieving
reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
