Human Rights - a Little Common Sense Please

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has awarded a family $12,000 because they were convinced that a Montessori School discriminated against a child who was barred from preschool.

The couple who are atheists objected to the school in any way acknowledging Christmas, Hanukkah, Remembrance Day, Valentines Day or Easter. They were aggressive in their refusal to accept any of the normal cultural practices of the school. The school then demanded that they sign a letter agreeing to the policy or else the young student would not be allowed to enrol. The parents refused to sign - yelled foul and took it to the Tribunal.

It needs to be noted that this is preschool and a private preschool at that. The mother was on the board and should have known that the school encouraged the young children to be aware of and celebrate special holidays. If the parents did not want their child to participate in any of these activities, they really needed to look at other options.

I am not saying that it is appropriate for schools, whether private or public, to make people follow specific religious practices nor is it right for that school to dismiss a family’s specific cultural practices.. But it is difficult to see how decorating elf ornaments or lighting candles is forcing children into religious practices or preventing them from following their own.

I understand that some families believe that telling kids there is a Santa Claus is lying to children and therefore sets a bad precedent. The parents were welcome to tell their child that Santa Clause was not true, that there was no tooth fairy, and that the Easter Bunny did not deliver chocolate eggs. But all parents when their child is of a certain age, and starts to question the stories, tell the truth and then very specifically state - “don’t tell your younger brother or sister or your friends - “let them believe in the magic for a little bit longer”. It was the atheist parents with unusually values (arguing that Valentines Day or Remembrance Day should not be recognized has nothing to do with atheism) who were unable to be flexible.

I understand that some people can not/do not believe in any sort of religion. For them, the concept of any sort of higher power is an anathema to their entire being. But it is up to those parents to explain to their child that they believe something different than other people. It is not the school’s job to isolate children from the activities and cultural norms of the world around them.

I think it would be great if we could do away with much of Christmas, Valentines Day and Easter. But even if I wished to outlaw it in my life, and even in my children’s school life, we would all still be exposed to all of the hype and commercialism and yes even a little bit of the religion. If this family want to keep their young child pure with no exposure to all of the silly celebrations and commercialism - they better plan on moving somewhere deep in the boreal forest where no one else lives.

Or else they could take these celebrations as teaching moments - moments when they could explain to their child why they believed something different. It is their choice what they do but we should not reward them for demanding that their way is the only way.

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

The above quote most often attributed to either Mark Twain or to the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, makes the point that it is easy to manipulate statistics to prove almost anything you want them to. Two cases in point:

(1) Various mass media news outlets have been discussing and /or showing the mass protests that have been occurring in France against President Macron’s financial policies. If one could believe those reports - thousands and thousands of protesters have marched in the streets of Paris. And in fact that is probably true. But what is also true is that, according to CBC*, there were (only) about 136,000 protesters across France. There is no doubt that 136,000 people is a lot of people, especially if they were all in one spot, but it is less than .03 percent of the total population of France. 136,000 people (given that Canada’s population is approximately half of France’s) is the equivalent to 77,000 people protesting across Canada. Impressive numbers that would warrant the government’s attention but not sufficient numbers to suggest that the government is about to be overthrown.

(2) The CBC has reported that one out of four adult Canadians have been affected by a shortage of a prescribed medication. On the surface, if one just reads the headlines that sounds as if a lot of Canadians have been affected- in fact based on 2016 Statistics Canada numbers, at that rate - just over 7 million Canadians were affected because they did not have access their prescribed medication. That would perhaps reflect a Canadian health emergency. However if one reads more of the article it goes on to refine the statement by saying the 25% of Canadians have either been affected directly or by having known someone who has. Only 11% of Canadians have been directly affected. That is still a big number and clearly there is a problem with drug companies ensuring that there are sufficient supplies. But there was no information as to whether or not the delays were weeks or even months or if they were a few days. Just saying 25% of Canadians had been in some way affected directly or knew someone who had been, is insufficient to decide if one needs to be concerned.


We all use statistics in some form - they are a convenient form of shorthand that allows us to discuss large numbers without the cumbersomeness of repeating eight or nine digit numbers; they allow us to verbally paint pictures that are easy to see. No matter how illiterate we might be in terms of percentages and fractions, we all know what one quarter of the pie means. The mass media have a special responsibility to ensure that the numbers that they use are not only accurate but that they are presented in such a way that they are both easy to understand and that they reflect what is really happening. As long as the media insists on looking for the most dramatic headlines, pictures or videos while ignoring all of the facts, they can not be trusted. By dumbing down the content to the most attention seeking information the media prevent us from making informed decisions. By inflating the numbers by not putting them in context is not only disingenuous, it is dangerous.

Please just reports the facts….. All of the facts.

*https://www.cbc.ca/news/ world/macron- address-france-protests-1.4938990)