Non-Catholics with children in religious school system barred from board vote

Some voters were feeling frustrated after being denied a Catholic school board ballot on civic election day.
 
Parents of Catholic school students and those who direct their education taxes typically request a vote in the board race. However, when a catholic board ballot is requested, voters are then asked if they are, indeed, catholic.
 
If they answered no, they did not get the ballot. 
 
“They’re happy to take their money,” said one caller into John Gormley Live, who was denied. “But not let them have a say in how their kids are educated.”
 
Catherine Folkerson, Saskatoon’s returning officer, told 650 CKOM in an interview the rules are set out by the provincial government in the Local Government Election Act.
 
“It doesn’t matter if their children go there, it doesn’t matter if they pay their taxes there,” she said. “They must be Catholic.”
 
Section 36(2) of the Act outlines the rules for any “separate” school board, saying voters must be “of the religious faith of the minority that established that separate school division.”
 
Folkerson noted the rule has been in place for several years, but voter frustration repeats every election.
 
A spokesperson for the Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools said it would be up to the newly-elected board to decide whether they want to advocate for a change to the rules.
 
650 CKOM was able to reach all but one of the board-elects and asked whether they would be open to a loosening of the rules on who can vote for the board.
 
Several said they were open to a conversation on the issue, but many stressed that the Catholic board needed to have different rules to be special.
 
“If everybody can vote in whatever system, what is the difference in Catholic education?” asked Alice Risling, who’s sat on the GSCS board for 23 years. “That’s the choice of the parent to bring their children to a Catholic school.”