Montreal, Canada - Ever since the compulsory ethics and religious culture course was introduced in Quebec schools in 2008, Sylvain Lamontagne's daughters have boycotted it.
His younger daughter doesn't have the course in her schedule this year. But for his daughter in Grade 11, it means alerting her school that she'll be absent every time she has the class.
She also has to be off school property when the class is held, Lamontagne said.
"That's why we're going to the Supreme Court - to get back the exemption right," said Lamontagne, of Valcourt.
Lamontagne, president of a coalition that opposes the obligatory nature of the course, plans to be in Ottawa on Wednesday to observe a Supreme Court hearing on the case brought by another couple. The Coalition pour la liberté en éducation is helping to pay the legal costs for the latest chapter in a Drummondville couple's battle against the course.
The couple, whose children's names cannot be published because of a publication ban, went to court after the Commission scolaire des Chênes refused to exempt their two children from the course.
The case before the Supreme Court pits the parents, who are Catholics, against the school board and the attorney-general of Quebec.
In their factum, the parents' lawyers asked: "Can the state impose, without the possibility of an exemption, a program of study about religion and ethics on parents who view it as infringing on their religious beliefs and their freedom of conscience? Such is the stake in this case."
The parents maintain, no, the lawyers added.
In the course, students learn about Catholic and Protestant Christian traditions in Quebec culture. They're also taught about the contributions of Judaism, aboriginal spirituality and other religious traditions.
Before the course was introduced, the government said it was designed to be inclusive and respect the freedom of conscience and religion of each student.
The case summary on the Supreme Court's website notes that Quebec's Education Department had publicly announced there would no exemptions.
In 2009, a Quebec Superior Court judge rejected the Drummondville parents' request for an exemption for their children, ruling their right to freedom of religion was not being violated.
Last year, the Quebec Court of Appeal rejected their bid to appeal the decision. There are eight intervenors in the case, including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
The association has often intervened in issues involving freedom of religion and felt this was an important one, said Cara Zwibel, director of the fundamental freedoms program.
"There's been this idea from the outset that 'There are no exemptions' and there hasn't been a careful enough examination of what these parents are asking for: Is there some other way to meet the curriculum's objectives while respecting the parents' religious belief? That just really hasn't been done in this case," Zwibel said.
Other intervenors include the Coalition pour la liberté en éducation and the Regroupement Chrétien pour le droit parental en éducation. The latter is an ad hoc umbrella group representing the Association of Catholic Parents of Quebec, Faith and Freedom Alliance, the Catholic Civil Rights League and the Coptic Christian Association of Greater Montreal.