An Athabasca Good Samaritan Ministries Association member said it will not host outside flyers at the local food bank after a complaint when they displayed information on court opposition to Bill 24 May 16.
The information, contained in three sheets of paper, was displayed at the front desk of the food bank, according to Athabasca Good Samaritan Ministries Association secretary-treasurer Lois Uchtyil, while people were in line waiting to use their services. The sheets detailed the opposition of Parents for Choice in Education (PCE) to Bill 24: An Act to Support Gay-Straight Alliances, as well as opposition to the Liberal government’s summer jobs program requirements.
During an interview, Uchytil said association would likely not allow any flyers at its food bank facility in the future.
“We won’t let anybody put anything here. It’ll just be ‘no, we’re not going to do that, because somebody is going to have a bit of a hissy fit,’” Uchytil said in an interview.
She added besides in conversations with the Athabasca Advocate, she had not heard anything negative about how the information was featured at the food bank.
The information handed out dealing with Bill 24: An Act to Support Gay-Straight Alliances comes from the PCE website and highlights the organization’s efforts to challenge the bill in courts. The flyers encouraged people to sign in support of the association’s court challenge of the bill.
“Let’s show our strength in numbers in order to edify and encourage those who are fighting on the frontlines to oppose this unjust law, as well as send a message to our political representatives across Canada and around the world that we will no longer accept legislation that undermines our families and our freedoms,” stated one of the pages made available at the food bank.
However, the sheets of information at the food bank make no mention of the fact the Bill 24 concerns gay-straight alliances (GSAs) in schools and does not discuss the exact contents of the bill.
The online Oxford English dictionary defines propaganda as “information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.”
Bill 24: An Act to Support Gay-Straight Alliances amends the School Act to require all publicly-funded schools create “welcoming, caring and respectful policies and make them publicly available,” and protect the establishment of GSAs from political interference, according to a Nov. 2 provincial press release.
The bill also makes explicit that a section requiring parental notification of any courses of study or educational program primarily dealing with religion or human sexuality does not apply to voluntary student organizations, such as GSAs.
Uchytil said the information was provided to the food bank by clientele May 15. The clients were concerned about Bill 24 and wanted the information made available to people. The users requested the food bank make the sheets of information available, Uchytil said.
“They felt Bill 24 was challenging the rights of parents with their children, and people should be aware of it and be able to voice their opinion about it,” Uchytil said.
One sheet of information also details how the federal government “wants groups to pass a values test” for summer job program and that “Canada’s Conservatives believe that is wrong.” It does not specify what the values test is.
The federal government required applicants for 2018 federal summer jobs funding must check a box affirming they respect the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which including reproductive rights and the right to be free from discrimination.
Uchytil said the people who originally brought the information to the food bank were not willing to comment for this story.
Social worker speaks out
Jane Doe, who said she works with users of the food bank, provided copies of the fliers to the Athabasca Advocate. The fliers were given to her by food bank users who were there when Bill 24 was discussed at the food bank, Doe said.
The Advocate agreed not to use Doe’s real name, as she was concerned with professional consequences from speaking about this story.
Doe said she was told by users of the food bank that while people were waiting in line at the facility, a back-and-forth conversation took place between a member of the Good Samaritan Ministries Association and food bank clientele about the sheets of information and Bill 24.
After reading the information and researching Bill 24, Doe said she thinks people at the food bank were being misled.
“They’re not being 100 per cent honest with people,” Doe said. “They’re leaving out important information and some of the families we send out there are quite vulnerable. Some of them don’t understand.”
Uchytil said she did not realize Bill 24 concerned Gay-Straight Alliances, and the fact never came up in any conversation at the food bank May 16.
But she added she does not feel this was misleading vulnerable people.
“All I was doing was just passing on information,” Uchytil said. “It’s up to them to take it and do whatever they’re going to do with it. I don’t believe it was misleading vulnerable people. I believe the people understood exactly what was on the page. Even then, they still have to go online and look at it. If they want to choose to oppose to or approve it. They still have to go online and do that themselves. That’s their choice.”
The PCE webpage where the sheets of papers were pulled from also does not mention the full name of Bill 24, nor the fact that it deals with GSAs in schools. Specific information on the contents of the bill, and the fact that it concerns GSAs, is only available through an embedded URL on the webpage.
Conversations about the bill
Doe said the Good Samaritan Ministries Association member discussed the bill with people using food bank services, including how it would take away parents rights.
“It was stated that it would eventually take away all the parents’ and grandparents’ rights,” Doe said.
Residential schools were also brought up in the discussion at the food bank, Doe said, with it being stated that the bill could lead to the government creating residential schools again.
Uchytil said the member of the association was the only person who spoke to people about the information and only did so when people requested, as some of the food bank users could not read well.
Uchytil added the people who originally brought the sheets of information had been involved in residential schools and felt this legislation, like in the case of residential schools, was an act of the government taking away parental rights.
“We do serve people from a lot of First Nations communities,” Uchytil said. “We’ve heard firsthand experiences, and we understand their concern and their reaction to anything that would vaguely resemble what they were through before. Even if it was just a hint of it.”
Uchytil said the sheets of information were not actively handed out, but people could pick up the sheets of information if they so chose.
She added the food bank has historically made fliers about all kinds of things available to people.
“People bring in information all the time about different things. The information is there for people,” Uchytil said. “This is not an uncommon thing.”
However, Uchytil also said there has not previously been information concerning opposition to a bill at the food bank before.
Food bank rules
Food Banks Alberta executive director Stephanie Walsh-Rigby said there are no provincial rules or regulations regarding what information or links food banks provide.
“All the food banks in Alberta are independently owned and operated, for lack of a better word, so each one has their own community board of directors,” Walsh-Rigby said. “Anything that goes through a food bank goes through the board to discuss about what they want to present and how to the community.”
When asked whether a food bank should scrutinize the kind of information it presents to its clients, Walsh-Rigby said it is incumbent on all of us to ensure the information we make available is accurate.
“In so many circumstances, whether it’s a food bank or any other social services organization, they’re inundated with pamphlets and information and resources from a variety of sources. So it can get to be a bit much, but we do want to be diligent and be sure that anything we are providing is accurate,” Walsh-Rigby said.
Other solicitation
Doe said she believes the Athabasca Good Samaritan Ministries Association has pushed its religious beliefs on families she has worked with.
“They definitely do push their religious beliefs. They have done that with families that I work with in the past,” Doe said.
However, she added this is the first time she has had forms like this asking people to sign things brought to her from the food bank.
She said calls have been made to the provincial food bank association about previous instances of beliefs being pushed onto local food bank users, but the association did not take any action.
Walsh-Rigby said any complaints against a food bank sent to Food Banks Alberta are kept confidential.
“If I was aware of any complaints, I wouldn’t have any discussion outside of the food bank with that. Anything that comes to our attention through the food bank network is completely confidential,” Walsh-Rigby said.
When asked whether food bank staff had ever pushed forward religious or political views on people using the food bank before the May 16 incident occurred, Uchytil said “no, not at all.”
Doe said the entire May 16 incident is upsetting.
“It makes me sad, because they’re using some of our most vulnerable citizens to push their own agenda,” Doe said. “And not being 100 per cent with what their agenda is.”
Uchytil said the Athabasca Good Samaritans Ministries Association did not mean to offend and it is a place welcome to everyone.
“We certainly didn’t do that in any intent to offend anyone at all. We had just been passing on any information that was passed on,” Uchytil said. “The food bank is open to every kind of race, culture, creed – does not matter. Available for all and it’s available for all equally. There’s no prejudice.”
