Parents across Alberta are calling on Minister of Education and Childcare, Demetrios Nicolaides, to retract and apologize for a holiday letter that promoted Christian religious doctrine using an official government platform.
The Minister’s 2025 holiday greeting to parents went beyond a general seasonal message and into explicit religious advocacy. In the letter, Minister Nicolaides described the “birth of Jesus Christ” as the “cornerstone of faith,” referred to the “Incarnation of Christ” as the inspiration for service, and rooted the “value of every child” in “the message brought forth by the nativity.”
The BC Humanist Association, which has launched the letter-writing campaign, says this use of a taxpayer funded office to promote a specific religious worldview violates the Government of Alberta’s constitutional duty of religious neutrality and sends a clear message of exclusion to non Christian families.
“The state has no business promoting religious belief, full stop,” said Ian Bushfield, Executive Director of the BCHA. “The Charter requires governments to remain neutral on matters of religion. When a Minister uses their official position to frame education and the value of children through Christian theology, they are failing that duty and undermining the secular foundation of our public schools.”
Alberta is a religiously diverse province. Fewer than half of Albertans identify as Christian, while roughly 40 percent are non religious and another 12 percent belong to minority faiths. According to the BCHA, the Minister’s letter ignores this reality and communicates that these families do not belong in his vision of Alberta’s education system.
“It’s deeply embarrassing and frankly offensive to see the current Minister of Education abuse the authority of his office like this,” said Bushfield, who graduated from an Alberta public high school. “It undermines what was once an inclusive and world-class education system.”
The campaign calls on Albertans to write directly to Minister Nicolaides to express their concerns, demand that he retract and formally apologize for the letter, and commit to inclusive and religiously neutral communications in the future. Participants are encouraged to personalize their letters and share how the message made them feel.
Teale Phelps Bondaroff, Research Coordinator for the BC Humanist Association, who graduated from a Calgary public school, said the issue is not about opposing personal faith, but about the misuse of public office.
“Minister Nicolaides is free to celebrate his faith in his personal life, but he crossed a clear line when he used his role as Minister of Education and Childcare to promote religious doctrine to Alberta families,” said Phelps Bondaroff. “That is not a minor misstep. It is a serious failure of judgment.”
Phelps Bondaroff added that the Minister’s actions show a disregard for the people he is supposed to serve.
“By sending this letter, Minister Nicolaidese has failed the basic responsibility of his office, which is to govern in a way that respects diversity and protects the rights of everyone,” said Phelps Bondaroff. “We are demanding that Minister Nicolaides retract and apologize for his letter and commit to inclusive communications in the future.”
Albertans who wish to participate in the campaign are encouraged to write to Minister Nicolaides and call on him to retract and apologize for the letter and commit to inclusive communications going forward.
Additional Quotes:
“As the parent of a senior at Westmount Charter School I was absolutely shocked by the Minister's letter and the numerous inappropriate references to his own personal religious beliefs. Our school is a secular school, with a wide diversity of students attending. This letter completely disregards the diversity that we as parents and my son as a student have valued and learned from over the past 13 years. The Minister's personal religious beliefs have no place in the public education system.” – Jenny Godley, PhD.
"I graduated from high school in Alberta and it's deeply embarrassing that the Minister is using his office to undermine what was once an inclusive and world-class education system. We are standing up for the majority of Albertans who do not support this government trying to force its narrow religious worldview on everyone else." – Ian Bushfield, Executive Director, BCHA.
“Rather than working to tear down barriers and improve education in our province, Minister Nicolaides seems intent on creating new barriers to safe and meaningful education. Minister Nicolaides has been completely absent and uninterested in our community, and as a constituent, I am appalled that he would use his office to evangelize and impose his personal religious views in such an inappropriate context rather than actually showing up in a meaningful way to understand and improve education for everyone he is supposed to represent." – Karen Lewin, Calgary Bow Resident.