If school-based vaccinations for the human papilloma virus are not put to a public vote next month by Calgary’s Catholic board, an advocacy group plans to publicly advocate for donations to fight the matter in court.
That’s according to Juliet Guichon, a community health sciences assistant professor with HPV Calgary.
“We are not going away on this,” she said, adding the public plea could come as early as Sept. 14. “It’s too important.”
After discussing the matter behind closed doors with officials for more than a year, HPV Calgary took their concerns public in late June, pleading with the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) to put the matter to a public debate and vote.
HPV vaccinations have been made available to girls in Grades 5 and 9 since 2007 — studies have shown the virus is a leading cause of cervical cancer in women.
But CCSD moved to block the program in its schools in 2008 at the urging of spiritual leader Bishop Fred Henry.
The Board was going to offer the vaccination but was over-ruled by the Bishop. The Bishop explained that vaccinating young girls against HPV would turn them into sluts.
The Catholic system is publicly funded through property tax revenue, and the Catholic trustees are elected. But the Bishop can over-rule them on anything.
This is the same Bishop who expressed a wish that there should never be a cure for HIV/Aids because it would encourage people to become gay, and the same Bishop who compares gay people to arsonists and murderers.