A rally is being held Sunday morning in Saskatoon to protest against the Saskatchewan government continuing to use public money to fund a Christian school that is facing a proposed class action lawsuit.
Legacy Christian Academy is a Qualified Independent School run by Mile Two Church, and the lawsuit alleges that students were subject to physical and sexual abuse. None of the allegations have been tested in court.
The rally is being held at the Lawson Heights northeast parking lot from 9:30 a.m. until 11 a.m.
“We’re also protesting that their policies don’t line up with the human rights code,” Caitlin Erickson, a former student and plaintiff in the lawsuit, said Friday.
She claimed there’s been mistreatment of students at the school, and that the province hasn’t mandated proper curriculum to this school, as well as other Qualified Independent Schools.
Independent schools in the province have been under the microscope since August 2022 when the lawsuit was launched, and the province of Saskatchewan was later added to the lawsuit.
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Erickson said she’s seen a lot of community support, noting she’s received messages from people saying if they can’t be at the rally, they are supporting them in spirit.
She said this has nothing to do with religious freedom and attacking religion, pointing to other churches who have denounced Mile Two Church after the allegations came out.
Back in November, Living Skies Regional Council, the United Church of Canada in Saskatchewan released a statement supporting Erickson and “all the survivors of Legacy Christian Academy.”
“The experiences they have described should never be associated with any place of learning, or with any Christian context. As we said in an earlier statement, we reject the theology and practices surrounding beliefs espoused by the school. We reject transphobic and homophobic beliefs associated with some expressions of Christianity, including Legacy Christian Academy,” read the statement.
Erickson said this wasn’t an issue that was going away, noting she and the other former students will continue to be a voice in the community.
“When you’ve failed that many people, it’s time to close your doors and walk away,” Erickson said.
Erickson said there’s a bias that the current provincial government has regarding education, noting public educators are frequently crying out about a lack of funding, yet schools like Legacy Christian Academy get government funding and can charge tuition on top of that.
“I don’t think taxpayers in our community are OK with that either, with public dollars going to this place when our public schools are suffering so immensely.”
Erickson stressed that people who come out to support the rally need to keep 50 metres away from the schools due to the rules within the education act.
The Saskatchewan NDP called on the province to freeze funding for the school back in August 2022 after former students alleged paddling, exorcisms and discrimination due to one of the students being gay took place at the school back when it was known as Christian Centre Academy.
“Outwardly anti-LGBTQ2S+ sentiments and violent discipline have no place in our schools,” Saskatchewan NDP leader Carla Beck said in August.
Red flags have been raised in other areas in regard to the church, the school and its former members.
The former athletic director of Legacy Christian Academy (LCA), Aaron Benneweis, was charged with sexual assault and sexual exploitation while he was in a position of power.
Jennifer Beaudry, a 2013 graduate of LCA, reported Benneweis to the police in August 2022. Forty-six-year-old Benneweis turned himself in to the Saskatoon Police Service on Jan. 31, and was released on conditions after his arrest.
Concerns about the curriculum at the school have been raised on several fronts.
Last November, a biology textbook from the school that was part of the ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) curriculum and SAICS (Saskatchewan Association of Independent Church Schools) received scrutiny after it was found stating that dinosaurs and people co-existed with each other, using the theme of dragons throughout history to support that theory.
A freedom of information request came back with emails last week noting that LCA offered an unapproved Advanced Placement computer sciences course from September 2020 until April 2021.
Another freedom of information request from the NDP highlighted other issues within the school, showing that the provincial government was working on addressing gaps in the curriculum for the school in November.
Beck also took issue that Qualified Independent Schools saw increased funding in the provincial budget this year.
“We see that the Sask. Party government this year increased funding to Qualified Independent Schools by 25 per cent.”
“(These reports) show that there was a surplus revenue fund created once the Sask. Party began funding these schools, and a clear lack of oversight and proper financial record keeping,” Beck added.
The proposed class action is scheduled for its first appearance in July.
Global News reached out to both the Ministry of Education and Legacy Christian Academy for a response.
When asked why public funding is still going towards Legacy Christian Academy after several calls to freeze or stop funding, the Ministry sent the following statement:
“The Education Act, 1995 makes provision for the registration of independent schools. This provision allows parents/guardians to educate their children in accordance with their conscientious beliefs, which may include faith-based education, and provide them with a legitimate exemption from a public or separate school.”
“The Government of Saskatchewan believes in the importance of supporting parental choice and the ability to access faith-based education in Saskatchewan.”
– with files from Brooke Kruger, Nathaniel Dove of Global News, and Kelly Skjerven
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