🧵 Here's the problem with the way illusion of "choice" is delivered in Alberta education.
Choice, or the ability to choose between Public, Catholic, Charter or Private isn't equally or freely available to everyone.
Charters, Catholic & Private can pick & choose who they admit >
And they do turn kids away (yes, even Catholic) when it suits them.
Only some families have the ability or daytime flexibility to transport kids to special schools. Only some families have the money to be able to afford certain schools. And only some families have the skills >
Jul 23, 2022 • 31 tweets • 5 min read
1/ A Popey rant thread.
There is a Club. A big Club. And one of the rules of The Club is that women can NOT hold any of the top positions in The Club. In fact this Club disempowers women in an extraordinary number of ways.
2/ The Club says women do not have domain over their own bodies in the matter of not just abortion, but in even just contraception. The Club reduces women to a role in life that is essentially that of human breeding machines with little control over their reproductive cycles
Jan 24, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
1/4 When you post "I stand with the truckers" in support of the convoy you AREN'T standing with THE truckers. The vast majority of professional & cross border drivers are vaccinated. The biggest driver associations & unions are pro-vax & AGAINST the convoy.
And another thing...
2/4 Stop saying cross border driver vaccine manadate is "political". It isn't (in the way it's meant). It's a public health policy.
What gov wants to create or worsen supply chain issues? What do they gain? Pissing people off & getting voted out?
If you want to see "political" >
Jul 20, 2021 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
1/ @GarnettGenuis You are completely unfit to be a representative of the people as you are completely ignorant of & lack any empathy for the lived experiences of many people that do not hold your (religious) worldview.
I am NOT saying it is OK to vandalize & or destroy property >
2/ > AND neither did the person you are dishonestly trying to score cheap political points against in your tweet. What we ARE saying is it is possible to imagine lived experiences so painful & so difficult that someone may resort to such an action.
"Understanding" ≠"Condone".
>
Jul 19, 2020 • 10 tweets • 6 min read
<Thread> A response to @AdrianaLaGrange, @calgaryherald & Ron Koper - "Choice In Education Act is step forward".
- Or why their claims of 'choice' & 'history' are unfounded.
. calgaryherald.com/opinion/column… #abed#abpoli#ableg#abed#psbaa#ata1/9 You & self-serving author Ron Koper are more than happy to just make sh*t up up to suit your narrative.
Your claim that "Choice" impacts education results clearly is not true.
The Top 3 Education Provinces in Canada are AB, BC & Ont.
YET> #abed#psbaa#ableg#abpoli#ata
1/n For those that wonder why I advocate for religious options in a Public system;
First, personally I don't think religious faith traditions should be taught to children in schools. I think it's (intentionally) confusing separating religious allegory from empirical truths.
>>
2/n >There is an inherent hypocrisy & incompatibility in teaching what constitutes meaningful evidence, critical thinking & science alongside faith traditions we know are undemonstrated or almost certainly not true, as truths.
>>
Sep 1, 2019 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
<Thread>
Amended Alberta Education Act comes in effect today.
Here's how #UCP have expanded religious privilege, while rolling back protections against vulnerable #LGBTQ youth in particular.
Also note how ridiculously unfair the Catholic system is to non Catholics. #abed#abpoli2/ To recap;
Non-Catholics over-pay for Catholic schools.
Not only do non-Catholics pay for them ($2,000,000,000 yr), they also have to subsidise shortfall in directed Catholic property taxes ($450,000,000 yr) & inefficiency of running two systems ($200,000,000 yr).
Despite this>
Jun 8, 2019 • 29 tweets • 12 min read
@PennyCameron7 Yes.
Three provinces in Canada still have Catholic Separate schools. Ont, Sask & AB.
AB & Sask have them as part of the deal that brought us into Confederation in 1905. Although there are other older pieces of legislation that also have an impact on this issue (EG the BNA 1867) >
@PennyCameron7 > The idea was to protect Catholicism as Canada expanded west into more Protestant majority territory. This has clearly been achieved as the % of Catholic in AB & Sask has increased significantly to around 25%+
>
Jun 4, 2019 • 36 tweets • 7 min read
Today I took exception to the way Scheer used his faith & "values" & injected them into a soundbite about the UCP & equality.
I share this story to illustrate my issue when I hear "Christian values".
Because it isn't about the "Values" @charlesadler@ryanjespersen@KristinRaworth
It isn't really about the values. It's about the beliefs & the tribe of being a fellow believer.
Let me tell you a story. It's part of the story that caused me to become a secular activist (or an anti-unfair religious privilege activist) or whatever it is I am today.
Apr 11, 2019 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
<Thread> I wasn't expecting a religious lecture on my radio on my school run with the kids this morning - and yet here we are.
.
(Approx 8:30am, 630CHED) @630ched@eileenbell
Eileen Bell managed to deliver a rude, factually incorrect & hypocritical opinion piece this morning, and if it had been exactly the same but about Christian believers the switchboards would have lit up immediately.
Apr 6, 2019 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
I really don't like getting into peoples grills about their beliefs. I really do want to leave people to however it is that they want to deal with their existence (& impending non existence). But it's one thing when you're framing your life in a way that works for you >
> and it's a whole new thing when you're getting into other peoples lives.
This idea that one group of our society is morally wrong, or broken or disordered or less then or less worthy (or worthy of punishment) has a very real outcome. Suffering. On a mammoth scale. >
Mar 27, 2019 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
<Thread> Here's an idea.
Let's start treating people that have made the lifestyle choice of believing they know what a creator of the universe thinks about very specific things - like gay humans, the same way *they* treat gay humans.
Let's start by teaching everybody that it's stupid & harmful.
Let's teach that it's a choice to be deluded.
Tell everyone that Believers are immoral & dangerous.
Let's teach our children to avoid them at all costs.
That they are dirty. Broken. Less than.
