Camps bear brunt of Human Rights complaint
Nestled on the shore of Lake Winnipeg is Camp Arnes, a Christian camp with strong Mennonite roots that has welcomed campers of all stripes for half a century. Over the years it has built a strong reputation for its programs.
Scores of schools have used the facilities during the winter months for outdoor education programs, and summer camps have thrilled thousands of children and young people with a well-developed Christian camp schedule.
Many other groups have used the camp's facilities too, but the Rainbow Harmony Project, identifying itself as a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered choir, isn't among them. In mid-2002, they tried to make a booking for a weekend at the camp without identifying who they were.
When the camp discovered more about the group through the internet, they wrote a polite letter declining the rental and explaining that their faith and mission statements and code of conduct would conflict with the choir's purpose.
That led the choir to lodge a complaint with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission. A ruling has yet to be released.
Since the complaint was lodged, numerous letters have gone back and forth between lawyers and spokespeople for the camp and commission. Most seriously, the publicity around the complaint led the Winnipeg One School Division, the largest in the province, to put Camp Arnes off limits to the division's schools.
In fact, it also led the school division, which has adopted a strong public stance in support of homosexuality, to initiate a hunt for other camps that might have anything similar in their policies. As a result, three Camps With Meaning facilities operated by the Mennonite Church of Manitoba (MC Manitoba) were also blacklisted.
That, in turn, forced "a couple of dozen" Winnipeg One schools to cancel camp bookings, says Bob Wiebe, director of education ministries for MC Manitoba. "Many [of the schools] are quite distressed. They call us; they don't have a conflict with our camps. Some have been coming as many as 20 years."
But the schools can't over ride division directives, he says.
Wiebe says the camps are trying to work at articulating their policies in ways that don't compromise their values and yet might make it easier for schools to come to them. For example, he says, "We've clarified that we don't police the individual, it's the group that matters."
So far, however, it hasn't led to a change in the division's position.
Similar issues
Red Rock Bible Camp, located in Whiteshell Provincial Park but headquartered in Steinbach, Manitoba, has faced similar questions. The camp's facilities are not available to "the public" on weekends; only Christian groups that identify with Red Rock's statement of faith and use it for ministry purposes can use it at that time. Schools that want to use the camp for outdoor education programs can rent it during the week.
The problem, however, arose from the camp's request to be able to speak a prayer before meals when students were there during the week. The Winnipeg One School Division deselected the camp for that reason and then reinstated them again. The relationship is uncertain, however.
Garth Epp, Red Rock's on-site program director, says the camp has also heard from schools who want to come to them but can't because of school board resistance. They are meeting with board officials to try to find a resolution to its issues, but Red Rock's commitment to Christ-centred camping will over ride everything else, says Epp.
Schools concerned
Schools like the Mennonite Collegiate Institute (MCI) of Gretna, Manitoba, which recently opened a $5 million performing arts centre, and Winnipeg's Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute (MBCI); with its Jubilee Auditorium, are also having to deal with the issue.
So far, says the MBCI's principal Norbert Bargen, the school has not had any complaints, even though many groups use the facility.
"We outline what our school is all about and we let groups know that they shouldn't compromise what we are. We've declined to rent to some groups and they've accepted it. Some schools have decided not to ask for our facilities because of our position," he adds.
MCI principal Paul Kroeker says they want to make their facility available to a "wide array of arts groups," but if they feel that a group will undermine the trust of their community, they will decline the use of their facility. Other venues in southern Manitoba would do the same thing, he says.
At the same time, he says, it will be important to the school that the performing arts centre is widely used. "It isn't our intention to sing only to the choir," he says, and he says the school is in the process of developing policies that reflect the desire to "speak to the public."
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