The British Columbia Court of Appeal has dismissed a lawsuit from a Christian mother who said her kids were illegally forced to participate in an Indigenous “smudging” ritual at their school. It caps a legal battle that began over six years ago, and suggests that teaching kids about religion by having them experience a traditional ceremony first-hand isn’t the same as religious indoctrination.

The saga began in 2015, at John Howitt Elementary School, where mother Candice Servatius learned that her two kids would be attending a school-hosted “traditional Aboriginal smudging ceremony.” She claimed her kids had to hold up a cedar branch while sage smoke wafted over them as part of a “Cleansing Ritual.” All of this was done to introduce students to the practices of the Nuu-chah-nulth, Indigenous peoples from the Pacific Northwest.

By the time Servatius went to the school to complain, the ceremony was already over.

Months later, during another school event, a performer allegedly began a traditional dance with a prayer. All of this led Servatius to file a lawsuit claiming the school’s actions violated her religious freedom. ...