{"id":102525,"date":"2026-03-04T13:19:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T18:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=102525"},"modified":"2026-03-04T13:19:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T18:19:24","slug":"portage-la-prairie-school-division-holds-firm-to-religious-exemption-refusal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/portage-la-prairie-school-division-holds-firm-to-religious-exemption-refusal\/","title":{"rendered":"Portage la Prairie School Division holds firm to religious exemption refusal"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press The Portage la Prairie School Division is upholding a decision to reject a family\u2019s request for a religious exemption from activities related to Indigenous spirituality. Sharon Sanders Zettler and Vince Zettler have spent the better part of the academic year seeking accommodations for their children at Yellowquill School. \u201cI have raised my kids in the Catholic faith from Day 1 and I am just looking for respect for that,\u201d said Sanders Zettler, a mother of students enrolled in Grades 5 and 7 in Portage la Prairie. Her husband echoed those comments while noting they are not interested in policing what other children learn. The couple expressed frustration that few details were provided to families before the school division rolled out… <\/p>\n

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By Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press The Portage la Prairie School Division is upholding a decision to reject a family\u2019s request for a religious exemption from activities related to Indigenous spirituality. Sharon Sanders Zettler and Vince Zettler have spent the better part of the academic year seeking accommodations for their children at Yellowquill School. \u201cI have raised my kids in the Catholic faith from Day 1 and I am just looking for respect for that,\u201d said Sanders Zettler, a mother of students enrolled in Grades 5 and 7 in Portage la Prairie. Her husband echoed those comments while noting they are not interested in policing what other children learn. The couple expressed frustration that few details were provided to families before the school division rolled out... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nPortage la Prairie School Division holds firm to religious exemption refusal - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/portage-la-prairie-school-division-holds-firm-to-religious-exemption-refusal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Portage la Prairie School Division holds firm to religious exemption refusal - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press The Portage la Prairie School Division is upholding a decision to reject a family\u2019s request for a religious exemption from activities related to Indigenous spirituality. Sharon Sanders Zettler and Vince Zettler have spent the better part of the academic year seeking accommodations for their children at Yellowquill School. \u201cI have raised my kids in the Catholic faith from Day 1 and I am just looking for respect for that,\u201d said Sanders Zettler, a mother of students enrolled in Grades 5 and 7 in Portage la Prairie. Her husband echoed those comments while noting they are not interested in policing what other children learn. 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