Yellowknife (Sep 22/06) - Kern Von Hagen, superintendent for Yellowknife Catholic Schools, upped the ante in the battle to make the separate school board all-Catholic.

Wednesday, Von Hagen contested the eligibility of the only two non-Catholic nominees for the upcoming election, Debora Simpson and her daughter, incumbent trustee Amy Hacala.

Nominations for the Catholic board were extended a week after YCS board election information said trustee candidates must be Catholic in order to run. People had until 3 p.m. yesterday to challenge nominations. Von Hagen declined to comment on the matter and shrugged off any conflict of interest.

"Let's just say the conflict of interest depends on what was filed," he said, directing Yellowknifer to the "courthouse" for the documentation.

When asked if he was acting under orders, he said: "I'm not the person that's at the heart of what's happened."

Simpson said she was told by returning officer Debbie Euchner that a letter from Von Hagen questioned her and Hacala's eligibility for the YCS board of trustees.

"I was on the board for eight years in the late 80s and early 90s," said Simpson. "To tell the truth it's unfortunate and really kind of awkward. It's never been an issue before but it seems the current board is quite adamant about going forward with this."

According to David Kravitz, community governance manager for Municipal and Community Affairs, said the challenge was rejected by the returning officer because there's nothing in the Local Authorities Election Act to prohibit eligibility for election based on religion.

"(The Act) makes no reference to the religion of a particular candidate so it can't be grounds to us," said Kravitz.

As for what will happen next, Kravitz said it's not up to MACA.

"It's up to Mr. Von Hagen whether he wants to proceed with a judicial review. The ball is in his court now; as to what he will do, we can't say," Kravitz said. "In the simplest terms, we're not in the business of doing constitutional interpretation; that's for the courts or for the MLAs to change the Act, make it clearer or add additional eligibility criteria. All we can do is go by what the Act says."

Incumbent board candidate and chair Shannon Gullberg disagrees with MACA's reading of the Act.

"The board as a whole will follow the legal process to deal with this matter.

"The only comment I want to make on this issue is the board has considered the matter and we believe the Act actually means you need to be Catholic to sit on the Catholic school board."

At deadline, Yellowknifer was unable to find a record of any application filed with the court registry.

Simpson said she's not running over religion.

"I believe in quality education," said Simpson, noting the reason she sent her kids to a Catholic school was because it offered French immersion in kindergarten.

As for the Local Authorities Election Act, Simpson said maybe it's worth revisiting.

"The Act is a bit outdated, it talks about Catholics and Protestants," she said. "What about Muslim people or Jewish people? My concern is what's going to happen to the Parents Advisory Committee. (Is the board) going to be restrictive there too?"

According to territorial government statistics, more than 40 per cent of students enroled with YCS are non-Catholic.