The court case around smudging being heard at the Supreme Court of B.C. in Nanaimo could have major repercussions for reconciliation efforts in the province. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Spencer Sterritt

religion v. culture

Participating versus witnessing a key factor in religious court battle over smudging in classrooms

Nov 19, 2019 | 9:12 AM

NANAIMO — What constitutes taking part in or merely watching an activity is one of the main questions running through an important court case unfolding in a Nanaimo courtroom this week.

The matter was raised in the second of a five-day hearing at the Supreme Court of B.C. in Nanaimo, where Port Alberni mother Candice Servatius is attempting to prohibit smudging ceremonies in B.C. classrooms.

“A demonstration is telling someone about something and maybe showing,” she told the court when being cross-examined by her lawyer Jay Cameron. “In a smudging ceremony, showing the shell, showing the safe, explaining what would happen. Once you light that and walk around the room, that’s participating in something.”

Servatius and her family are practicing evangelical Christians. Her court submissions in the case say her daughter experienced “anxiety, shame and confusion as a result of being forced to participate in a religious ritual that conflicted with her own religious convictions.”

School District 70 lawyer Keith Mitchell pressed Servatius about how the Sept. 16, 2015 smudging ceremony interfered with the religious beliefs of her and her family.

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“Because she was put in a position with an authority figure telling her it would be disrespectful if she is not part of it and she’s told to sit down,” Servatius argued.

A major dispute in the case is whether the teacher told students they were required to stay in the classroom. An affidavit from the teacher said several students who brought up concerns about the smoke were let out of the classroom.

Servatius argued on the stand the core idea of smudging, which cleanses an area of bad energy, was inherently religious.

“I know in my beliefs God is the one true god and we’re not to pray to or have any type of ceremony to any other gods or any other beings.”

Education worker Sherri Cook, who organized the smudging ceremony with an Elder, argued smudging is not a religious ceremony and is instead a cultural event with no equivalent in the evangelical Christian beliefs.

“Religion implies many things which don’t apply to First Nation culture,” she said. “Religion implies there’s a place and time where you worship in a singular god. That does not happen, that does not exist in First Nation culture. We pray, yes, but we don’t have a time and place where we have to do such.”

The question of what is a cultural or religious ceremony, what constitutes taking part in a ceremony and how if the smudging interfered with the freedom of religion will be considered in court for the rest of the week.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit