Former Legacy Christian student discusses advocate’s report

A former student at Legacy Christian Academy agrees with a report by the Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth on independent schools, but says she wants to see the province take action.

Earlier this week, the advocate released a report titled “Making the Grade: Moving Forward in Independent Education.” It argued for a greater degree of oversight at independent schools.

The report was launched due to historical allegations of abuse at Legacy Christian.

Caitlin Erickson, one of the plaintiffs in a $25-million class-action lawsuit against Legacy Christian Academy (formerly known as Christian Centre Academy and Christian Centre Church), said the report highlighted a few things that she and other former students brought up to the ministry last year.

Those include things like grade inflation and lack of credential requirements for teachers at some of these schools.

“The good thing is that everything that we brought to the Ministry of Education over a year ago now is all in the advocate’s report and more,” Erickson said Thursday.

However, Erickson said she has little faith in the government to properly regulate independent schools and said Legacy Christian Academy’s funding should be frozen immediately.

“You have multiple people charged, you have ongoing police investigations still, a criminal lawsuit, you have now the ombudsman and the provincial child’s advocate saying, ‘You guys have dropped the ball significantly’ — both the government and these schools,” Erickson said.

The report is what the advocate called a “systemic examination” into the Ministry of Education’s oversight of Saskatchewan’s registered independent schools.

“The school-age years are vital to a young person’s development, and children and youth have a right to a quality education,” Dr. Lisa Broda said in a media release.

“It is incumbent upon the ministry to provide appropriate oversight to all forms of educational services.”

The report said setting and monitoring compliance with minimum standards is a service to kids at these schools.

One of 36 recommendations listed in the report included having the ministry develop and implement a standardized process to ensure that independent schools adhere to the province’s curriculum.

It also had recommendations pertaining to teacher credentials, non-discrimination and the rights of children.

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The children’s advocate said it learned about the allegations in 2022 and immediately contacted the Ministry of Education to see what steps it was taking to ensure children’s safety.

Throughout the investigation, the report said the ministry made some changes and improvements that mitigated the need for recommendations.

“The changes that were made are things that are very bottom-of-the-barrel things,” Erickson said. “These are things that should have been mandatory to begin with.”

Erickson mentioned things like the introduction of a policy that requires criminal activity to be reported to the police.

“Why (is there) such a difference of expectation between these private schools in Saskatchewan and public schools?” she asked. “There should not be a discrepancy in policy between two schools — two different types of schooling.”

Erickson said parents should check the credentials of schools that parents might think of sending their children to.

“I can see where people are wanting something different because our public education is so underfunded at this time, but do we really want to live in a two-class type system?” Erickson said.

“At the end of the day the Ministry of Education does have a legal responsibility to the children of this province to make sure they’re properly educated.

“I think if you’re going to (enrol in an independent school) you really have to do your homework.”

In an emailed response Thursday, the ministry said it appreciated the work of the children’s advocate but was unable to comment about concerns about its capacity to regulate independent schools.

“The Government of Saskatchewan believes registered independent schools are a valuable part of our education sector as they provide parental choice with respect to their child’s education,” the email read.

“Due to the length of the report and the number of recommendations made in it, a detailed analysis is required before we can provide further comment.”

NDP MLA Matt Love said earlier this week he didn’t get a chance to review all 36 recommendations in the report, but did say he hopes the province complies with the advocate’s call to uphold human rights.

“The fact is, (human rights) have not been upheld in a number of these schools with allegations of historical abuse,” Love told reporters earlier this week in Saskatoon. “This government has shown no interest in ensuring that human rights are upheld in those schools.

“In fact, they’ve gone so far as to increase their funding at a much higher rate to the schools with this track record than they have to our public, separate and (francophone schools).”

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Shane Clausing