Watch it on Youtube
Chapters:
06:45 Political Perspectives & Community Values
09:40 Challenges in Public Education & Parental Concerns
17:00 Catholic Education & School Expansion
19:40 Religious Values and Their Role in Society
24:00 Healthcare & Catholic Contributions
30:00 Pro-Life Perspectives & Family Support Policies
35:00 The Role of Faith in Building Strong Communities
42:00 The Decline of Moral Compass in Society
46:00 School Choice & Government Policies on Education
49:30 The Future of Catholic Education & Political Support
50:10 Closing Thoughts & Call to Action
If you are interested in our school, make sure to check out our website:
https://www.sjp2academy.com/
Follow us on social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sjp2academy/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sjp2academy
X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/SJPIIAcademy
How do faith, education, and politics shape our society? Listen in as host Troy Van Vliet sits down with Brent Chapman, MLA for Surrey South,for a candid conversation about the role of Catholic schools, the challenges facing modern education, and the values that unite strong communities.Brent & Troy share personal anecdotes, insights into his political journey, and his vision for supporting independent schools. From their chance meeting at a coffee shop to Chapman’s journey into politics, this conversation dives deep into the importance of preserving faith-based education, fostering moral leadership, and shared values
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Troy Van Vliet: Welcome to Catholic Education Matters, the podcast that celebrates the beauty of Catholic education. Join us as we share the stories of those making a lasting impact on Catholic education. Let’s begin.
[00:00:18] Hello everybody, we’re here today with my friend, newly elected MLA in the South Surrey, White Rock area, Brent Chapman. Brent, welcome.
[00:00:28] Brent Chapman: Thank you very much. The MLA for Surrey South
[00:00:31] Troy Van Vliet: For Surrey South, that’s the official name for it.
[00:00:33] Brent Chapman: Yes, yes, yes that’s right, it’s official now.
[00:00:34] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, so you have just. So, this is new for you. you have just, this is, this is new for you.
[00:00:37] Brent Chapman: It is relatively.
[00:00:38] Troy Van Vliet: Politics.
[00:00:38] Brent Chapman: Well, I have a wife who’s in politics and I’ve followed her quite closely over the years then needless to say but um, Carrie and I got involved in an issue that was quite political back in the 1990s. And it was the Musqueam leaseholders, uh, situation that happened in, in Vancouver.
[00:00:58] Troy Van Vliet: Mm, Mm-hmm.
[00:00:58] Brent Chapman: And so, I got a real sort of, [00:01:00] um, um, crash course in how politics works and who, who runs what and who does what.
[00:01:05] Troy Van Vliet: Right.
[00:01:05] Brent Chapman: I mean, there’s, there’s so much for me to learn still. And I, I feel that every time I walk into
[00:01:09] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:01:09] Brent Chapman: Victoria that it feels like a bit of a, you know, kind of a bit of a madhouse. But it’s yet it’s so, it’s so august and so kind of regal almost,
[00:01:17] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:01:17] Brent Chapman: You know that there’s a lot of stuff that goes on there,
[00:01:19] Troy Van Vliet: Yep.
[00:01:19] Brent Chapman: And you just get the sense that, the that’s where the action happens. So, I’m still learning about that, but I did have a, an understanding how the media ties into to politics,
[00:01:28] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:01:28] Brent Chapman: And how politics, politics [00:01:30] can separate itself and how it gets into the community. And because prior to that, I think, you know, we all kind of think, well, you vote and you watch some stuff on TV and how deep do you really get in, you know, a story that kind of bothers you?
[00:01:40] Troy Van Vliet: Yep.
[00:01:41] Brent Chapman: But when you’re in the middle of that, that whirlwind. And, um, the medias that’s talking, normally talking to a politician is now talking to you.
[00:01:48] Troy Van Vliet: Mm-hmm.
[00:01:49] Brent Chapman: Um, you really get a different viewpoint of things and it, and am I jaded a bit in some ways? Probably.
[00:01:54] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:01:54] Brent Chapman: You know, a little bit. Yeah. And kept that, and maybe that’s part of a little bit of my cynicism sometimes when I look at [00:02:00] all this. But I really felt for myself and uh, and my wife said to me, you know, is it time for you to run? Because I’ve always, probably at times more political than she is. And she says, is it time for you to run? And I think I said, yeah, I think I, I think I’d like to do that now.
[00:02:13] Troy Van Vliet: There you go.
[00:02:13] Brent Chapman: And so,
[00:02:14] Troy Van Vliet: and for those of us, for those of you that have joined us, um, your wife is, your wife’s Carrie Lynn Finley,
[00:02:20] Brent Chapman: right
[00:02:20] Troy Van Vliet: so, she’s a MP,
[00:02:22] Brent Chapman: right
[00:02:22] Troy Van Vliet: for the South Surrey,
[00:02:23] Brent Chapman: right
[00:02:23] Troy Van Vliet: white Rock area.
[00:02:24] Brent Chapman: That’s right, that’s right, yes.
[00:02:25] Troy Van Vliet: So, and she’s been at that for a while now,
[00:02:28] Brent Chapman: but she was the MP for, [00:02:30] um, uh, Delta Richmond East, it was called,
[00:02:33] Troy Van Vliet: Oh OK.
[00:02:33] Brent Chapman: Which was to Tsawwassen, Ladner,
[00:02:34] Troy Van Vliet: Yep.
[00:02:34] Brent Chapman: And Steveston all the way out to Hamilton.
[00:02:37] Troy Van Vliet: Ah, ok.
[00:02:38] Brent Chapman: And so that was her first riding, she was a cabinet minister under Harper. She is,
[00:02:42] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:02:42] Brent Chapman: Quite, it did quite well, but she came back and, and the opportunity was there to run in Surrey South. I had always wanted to live in Surrey.
[00:02:48] Troy Van Vliet: Yep.
[00:02:48] Brent Chapman: To be honest, I really quite liked it. I mean, Ladner was, it was fantastic, but we actually lived on a street and when we moved there, it was really quiet. It was really nice.
[00:02:56] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, mm-hmm.
[00:02:56] Brent Chapman: Right. And then they started to develop at the end of the block, like a [00:03:00] lot. And next thing you know, our street was like a thoroughfare,
[00:03:02] Troy Van Vliet: Ahh.
[00:03:02] Brent Chapman: And it went to be where like once we hit about nine o’clock at night, the, you know, the, the neighborhood shut down,
[00:03:07] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:03:08] Brent Chapman: But now it was like three in the morning and traffic’s building up and you can also you realize what you can hear.
[00:03:13] Troy Van Vliet: So, you moved out this way?
[00:03:14] Brent Chapman: Yeah. Yeah. And, and though I had a wonderful time, people in Ladner are wonderful.
[00:03:18] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:03:18] Brent Chapman: It’s a wonderful community.
[00:03:19] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. It’s a beautiful area.
[00:03:20] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:03:20] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. Beautiful area.
[00:03:21] Brent Chapman: And up in Tsawwassen
[00:03:22] Troy Van Vliet: one of our feeder schools is, uh, sacred, uh, sacred heart.
[00:03:25] Brent Chapman: Right, right.
[00:03:26] Troy Van Vliet: And, um, so yeah, we’re, uh, they’re, they’re a bit of an [00:03:30] orphan school because they’re out there sort of out there in the middle of nowhere.
[00:03:32] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:03:32] Troy Van Vliet: And it’s like everywhere, every high school is, is a ways away. Every Catholic high school is a ways away. So
[00:03:37] Brent Chapman: Bill Vander Zalm’s close.
[00:03:38] Troy Van Vliet: Yes. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. He’s right there.
[00:03:41] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:03:41] Troy Van Vliet: That’s his parish. So, you and I met in kind of a funny way.
[00:03:45] Brent Chapman: Yes.
[00:03:45] Troy Van Vliet: Um, it was at a coffee shop, at Blenz.
[00:03:47] Brent Chapman: That’s Right.
[00:03:48] Troy Van Vliet: Do you remember?
[00:03:48] Brent Chapman: Yeah, I remember. I was just telling somebody, you were wearing a t shirt,
[00:03:53] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:03:54] Brent Chapman: That we were like, hey, hey, look at that guy. But first off, you know, you cut quite a figure when you walk in a room [00:04:00] anyway, so it’s quite a swath.
[00:04:01] Troy Van Vliet: Oh, OK.
[00:04:01] Brent Chapman: And we’re all like, who’s this guy here? He’s a giant. He’s handsome. And all of a sudden, I go, look at his shirt.
[00:04:06] Look at that. What? Oh, and it was something about lions,
[00:04:09] Troy Van Vliet: It says lions, not sheep,
[00:04:11] Brent Chapman: lions, not sheep. And we were like, oh, yeah, this is this. We have to meet this guy. Meet that guy. And I don’t know if I said something.
[00:04:19] Troy Van Vliet: It was you.
[00:04:19] Brent Chapman: Was it me? Yeah,
[00:04:21] Troy Van Vliet: you’re not. You’re not shy.
[00:04:21] Brent Chapman: No, I’m not shy at all. Um, and then we realized, of course, I, I have a background. I broadcast football at SFU for a while,
[00:04:30] Troy Van Vliet: [00:04:30] right?
[00:04:30] Brent Chapman: And then I got to know all the guys there. And Steve Harrison, who played, at UBC,
[00:04:33] Troy Van Vliet: mm-hmm.
[00:04:34] Brent Chapman: In that E, ’82 championship team, I think it was.
[00:04:37] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, ’82.
[00:04:38] Brent Chapman: And so, I got to hang out there, but Jordan Gagner,
[00:04:40] Troy Van Vliet: Yes.
[00:04:40] Brent Chapman: Who was quarterback for your team,
[00:04:42] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:04:43] Brent Chapman: Um, was worked at a, um, worked at a theater.
[00:04:47] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. Yes.
[00:04:47] Brent Chapman: Security and I got to know him through that. And so, I got to know Jordan. I’m trying to think if I met him somewhere else before, but yeah, so I got to know Jordan and we, I worked, I actually worked out at UBC for awhile when I was about 26. And kind of toyed with the idea of thinking, could I go as a mature student?
[00:05:03] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:05:03] Brent Chapman: I was a decent punter. Um, and I thought, yeah, and I thought maybe I might, I might do this.
[00:05:08] And then I, I was running a quick inside pattern and I put my hand up. And the guy behind me was a good DB, I forget his name, I think it was Mark. Was it Mark Mahaden? Is that the right name?
[00:05:17] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:05:18] Brent Chapman: And he, and no fault of his. He just bumped my, just gave me a little bump in my arm. But my hand went like this to like this. And the ball went straight onto my,
[00:05:26] Troy Van Vliet: Oh ouch.
[00:05:27] Brent Chapman: Onto my, yeah, and my, well two of them [00:05:30] were like just like bent and funny and it’s funny like I, I got hit by a car as a kid. and I don’t think it hurt me as much as those fingers. This was like, holy cow!
[00:05:38] Troy Van Vliet: I’ve had that.
[00:05:39] Brent Chapman: Oh Yeah.
[00:05:39] Troy Van Vliet: I’ve had that with a football.
[00:05:41] Brent Chapman: Yeah, for you. You kept going. I couldn’t recover. I just had to move on.
[00:05:46] Troy Van Vliet: That happened for me in grade ten or something like that.
[00:05:48] Brent Chapman: No, see, now I feel like a failure. Twenty-six. But I was sweating. I was sweating. It was terrible. But no, but I got to know Jordan and the guys,
[00:05:57] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:05:57] Brent Chapman: And Jordan’s a great human being.
[00:05:59] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:05:59] Brent Chapman: He’s [00:06:00] wonderful.
[00:06:00] Troy Van Vliet: He was a St. Thomas Moore grad as well.
[00:06:02] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:06:02] Troy Van Vliet: We went to high school.
[00:06:03] Brent Chapman: Well, it’s, uh, so yeah, the football world kind of just kind of got around it a little bit, played a little bit of, uh, uh, flag football and, and, you know, just got to know some of the, played touch for quite a while, but more, you know, more of the, more of the football guys seem to go around flag more. You know, there’s more of a place for them.
[00:06:18] Troy Van Vliet: So, after that funny meeting, we kept, uh, bumping into each other at the same coffee shop.
[00:06:22] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:06:22] Troy Van Vliet: And, uh, shot the breeze there many a times.
[00:06:25] Brent Chapman: Yes.
[00:06:25] Troy Van Vliet: And, uh, over a couple of years. Because it was early, it was in Covid when we, [00:06:30] uh,
[00:06:30] Brent Chapman: yeah, it must, must have been, must been. Yeah, or shortly thereafter.
[00:06:32] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:06:32] Brent Chapman: Yeah,
[00:06:32] Troy Van Vliet: And then, uh, and then you decided to run, which is great. A few of us rallied around you There.
[00:06:38] Brent Chapman: Absolutely.
[00:06:38] Troy Van Vliet: Got my vote.
[00:06:40] Brent Chapman: Oh, thank you.
[00:06:40] Troy Van Vliet: And, uh, and, uh, many others. So, it was an easy win for you there in, uh, south Surrey.
[00:06:45] Brent Chapman: Yeah. It, it, it, it’s, it really sort of restored my faith in, in community, in, in, in that community.
[00:06:54] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:06:54] Brent Chapman: That my message, um. Kind of got hampered a bit, but it wasn’t. I mean people still saw through it and saw [00:07:00] what they wanted. And I, it’s not so much.
[00:07:01] I felt not so much me, but more what what our party was representing.
[00:07:05] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah,
[00:07:06] Brent Chapman: you know, and that people wanted that, people in that area. Because you drive around every day you walk around every day you think well, we’re not like we were years ago where you kind of connected with people. We’re really quite disconnected right now. And I don’t like it. I, I like, you know, I love talking to people and connect because I felt that’s the way I grew up,
[00:07:22] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:07:22] Brent Chapman: But now I don’t feel people are on that same wavelength. But maybe it may give me an understanding saying that there’s 13, 000 people that [00:07:30] maybe are looking at things more, more the way I see it.
[00:07:32] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:07:32] Brent Chapman: And, and, or we see it.
[00:07:33] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:07:34] Brent Chapman: And that’s a good feeling.
[00:07:35] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, it is a good feeling. Cause it’s, um, in life in general, there’s a ditch on both sides of the road. We’ve been in a ditch for quite a while, I think. Uh, and, um, and, and, and almost going deeper into that ditch on the one side of the road for a while. And, and people are starting to, people are starting to wake up to it a little bit and they’re starting to go, hey, what’s, what’s, what’s going on with society here? There’s, you [00:08:00] know, up is down, left is right. And, and nothing is sacred anymore. And, uh, it’s kind of, uh, Troubling.
[00:08:08] Brent Chapman: You know, I always say that there’s a difference. I think people right now, I’m mad is one thing. We’re all mad. People get mad. Yeah, but I think we really is and we’re not even angry as much as we’re frustrated that the changes that have been made are frustrating men, they’re frustrating women and they’re pushing people just just too hard. And I mean, we’re looking at, I mean, if we, if we allow this to fester, it’s, it’s, it is really a [00:08:30] revolution that’s taking place right now where you’re, you know, you’re reimagining our natural sort of selves, which is ridiculous,
[00:08:37] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:08:37] Brent Chapman: And I think they saw this in the conservative party, British Columbia, a chance for them to put the top of the break.
[00:08:42] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:08:43] Brent Chapman: to say, this isn’t, this isn’t the way we want to live.
[00:08:45] Troy Van Vliet: we’re going a little too fast, which is what conservatism is all about.
[00:08:48] Brent Chapman: Or or not maybe too fast, but maybe just down the wrong road,
[00:08:51] Troy Van Vliet: yeah.
[00:08:51] Brent Chapman: Period.
[00:08:52] Because it’s because here’s the other side of it. It’s not like everything’s fantastic. It’s not like we’re going on the road and we’re standing here stubborn, saying, no, we want to just [00:09:00] stay right here where we are. Because, you know, your guys are going off in such a great direction. It’s not working. And we were sure that this all these great initiatives and all this sort of, um, Relaxed attitude towards things were going to make it better for us. We’d have a happier life and everyone would be happy, but we’re not.
[00:09:16] Troy Van Vliet: No,
[00:09:17] Brent Chapman: we’re not happy. No, no, no, no. I had a person walk up to me before I was even running and they said that when it comes to SOGI, and he was saying that my daughters don’t want to go to school anymore. He said, they’re 15 and 11. I wasn’t [00:09:30] even, I wasn’t even running. I hadn’t said that I was running yet.
[00:09:32] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:09:32] Brent Chapman: And he said to me, just out of the blue, my daughters don’t want to go to school. He said, they’re so tired of this conversation. They don’t want to have it anymore.
[00:09:40] Troy Van Vliet: Wow.
[00:09:41] Brent Chapman: And so, when you start getting that, um, you know, un, unsolicited, you know, uh, complaint of someone saying, no, I don’t like this.
[00:09:49] And just, he was basically making conversation of how disappointed he was.
[00:09:53] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:09:54] Brent Chapman: And I don’t think he’s alone.
[00:09:55] Troy Van Vliet: No, it’s, it’s scary. Well, when, when suicide of [00:10:00] our youth is way off the charts, drug overdoses are way off the charts. You know, they were way higher than any COVID deaths were during COVID. Um, and that was just, we just chose to ignore that, you know, it wasn’t something that was put in the front, you know, like, uh, during COVID was, you know, if it just saves one life, which is noble, but.
[00:10:19] You know, but it’s not practical. It doesn’t make sense, you know, and, um, Um, but when it comes to the drug overdoses and how it’s being, I don’t know, flamed [00:10:30] by our current provincial government, if I might say so myself, um, uh, and in all but encouraged. You know, it’s a, it’s going down a road of destruction and, um, really fast. And that’s that ditch we’re just talking about
[00:10:44] Brent Chapman: Right.
[00:10:45] Troy Van Vliet: Or one of the things in that ditch that we were just talking about as well.
[00:10:47] Brent Chapman: And I think when you push to something as, as personal as, as sexuality
[00:10:52] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:10:52] Brent Chapman: And come up with a one size fits all.
[00:10:54] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:10:54] Brent Chapman: And that’s where we get into danger. And that, and this is not to have any lack of compassion for people who [00:11:00] struggle with, with their identity or struggle with their sexuality, but for us to say, I mean. I said this, I said this in my campaign. It’s not necessarily a policy of our party, but what I would like to see as an individual as a, um, as a citizen, if I’m not an elected, let’s just say. But I think that we have to find a way to have better counseling, right? Let’s restore a base to what our schools are teaching, right?
[00:11:22] Troy Van Vliet: Yep.
[00:11:23] Brent Chapman: And then let’s, when the kids have these issues, let them go to a good counselor. Let the parents be brought in. But maybe, you know, I said, why not have an [00:11:30] evening you know, every month where the parents sit down with the counselors and the counselor gives a presentation of what’s the latest, you know, psychological, you know, sort of thoughts and teachings and understandings on these particular issues and let the parents decide what it is, you know, what they’re going to do.
[00:11:45] And I said, I, you know, I was to save this for later, but, but truthfully is, I firmly believe that if someone said to me once that parents know best, I don’t think parents do know best. We want to, we try our best.
[00:11:58] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:11:59] Brent Chapman: But we don’t really know [00:12:00] what’s best because you can see that where you have some people have you know six kids and one’s in jail.
[00:12:05] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah,
[00:12:06] Brent Chapman: no one’s a doctor and they all in different directions because your children are all different. There, you get a different hand with every kids. It’s not the same hand of cards.
[00:12:12] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah,
[00:12:13] Brent Chapman: so, you don’t know how to play them exactly.
[00:12:14] Troy Van Vliet: Mm hmm.
[00:12:15] Brent Chapman: And so, but what we do know as parents is we know we’re responsible.
[00:12:19] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah,
[00:12:20] Brent Chapman: so, we’ll try our best, but I mean at the end of the day If our child’s 28 years old and they’re falling apart and their life’s having a struggle, they’re coming home. And you’re going to help them put things back [00:12:30] together again. But they’re not going to go look for their grade 8, you know, grade 9 history teacher. They’re coming to you.
[00:12:35] Troy Van Vliet: Right.
[00:12:36] Brent Chapman: Right, that grade 9, all those teachers, and no disrespect for that period of life that they’re with our kids.
[00:12:41] Troy Van Vliet: Yep.
[00:12:42] Brent Chapman: God bless them for doing what they do. But once that’s over, pretty much over. They’re coming home.
[00:12:47] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, exactly.
[00:12:47] Brent Chapman: So, we’re going to deal with whatever these people have instilled in our children. So, I think that’s where parents must have a say, and it has to be regarded.
[00:12:55] Troy Van Vliet: Yep.
[00:12:56] Brent Chapman: I think.
[00:12:56] Troy Van Vliet: Yep. I couldn’t agree more. Couldn’t agree more. There’s things that just [00:13:00] shouldn’t be in the school. And there’s things that are happening that are, uh, sexualizing kids that are, and we’re permanently damaging them. We’re making permanent decisions when they are in their teens, in their early teens, that are going to affect them for their entire lives. And um, I mean, I don’t know about you, but I mean, when I was in high school, I was a different person than I was today, and I was thinking about a lot of different things than I do today, and I had a hell of a lot to learn. I still have a hell of a lot to learn, but [00:13:30] um, to make some of those life changing decisions back then that they’re doing right now is just, to me, it’s appalling.
[00:13:36] Um, it’s not, it’s not that it’s same as you were alluding to in terms of compassion. It’s not about that. I mean, we can be compassionate and still steer people in the right direction. There is truth. There is. There is basics that, that need to be followed, you know.
[00:13:52] Brent Chapman: Well, I think you make a good point there, though. It’s almost like, okay, let’s, let’s, let’s just say that we’re going to do it their way. But we [00:14:00] cut it off at, we cut it off at the permanent side. And nothing, and there’s nothing we do that would be permanent. Everything we do, maybe we’re going to manage this. this, this, um, ideation or, or, or the feelings that they have, we’re going to sort of manage them, but we’re not going to go to where we’re, you know, giving pills and we’re, we’re changing, you know, where we’re hormone blockers and all these things, because those are not reversible.
[00:14:21] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:14:21] Brent Chapman: Right. So maybe there’s a way we can, if we were to manage that. I’m not sure if I would, I would be happy with it all, but I would be satisfied that it’s something that [00:14:30] can be undone.
[00:14:31] Troy Van Vliet: It can be undone.
[00:14:31] Brent Chapman: Right, or we can work around, and typically, how many times, God, there’s guys that you went to school with who would walk around with a football in their hand who swore they were going to be professional football players.
[00:14:41] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:14:42] Brent Chapman: Maybe for a lack of talent, but all of a sudden one day they realize that’s not what they want to do and the next thing you know they’re a dentist.
[00:14:47] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:14:47] Brent Chapman: So I, I mean, you know, imagine, you know, imagine if you, you know, if you basically change them and start putting them on steroids when they were 13 to bulk, bulk them up, play football or something.
[00:14:57] I’m not saying that guys do that, but you know what I mean? And [00:15:00] you give them some, and yeah, the damage that would be caused by that.
[00:15:04] Troy Van Vliet: Exactly.
[00:15:04] Brent Chapman: And how do you undo it?
[00:15:05] Troy Van Vliet: That’s a great analogy. You know, I had never thought of that that way, but yeah, you know, it, it would, it, it is, it’s more damaging what we’re doing. It’s permanent, even more than what steroids. Giving steroids to a 14-year-old you think well, that’s ludicrous. Who would do that? That’s the most but this person identifies as football player. That’s all they want to do is play football And so we have to nurture that.
[00:15:26] Brent Chapman: Yeah, exactly.
[00:15:27] Troy Van Vliet: So here are the drugs if you want to be a football player. That’s right [00:15:30] football.
[00:15:32] Brent Chapman: To make sure.
[00:15:32] Troy Van Vliet: It’s crazy so and those examples are endless Like, I mean, we just go down so many different roads with that.
[00:15:41] Brent Chapman: Um, so I guess the question is, is you think this seems very reasonable? I think we’ve taken just in discussing here, we’re very good, both of us. I have to agree. No, but no, we’ve come with a reasonable, a reasonable sort of solution to say. That this is a way we could deal with this and even giving it yielding to their idea that everyone has [00:16:00] these, these, uh, you know, these, um, desires or these ones,
[00:16:03] Troy Van Vliet: they need proper help.
[00:16:04] Brent Chapman: But, but my, but my, my thing is, why doesn’t that work? Why can’t we even have a discussion about this? We can’t even talk about it. No,
[00:16:11] Troy Van Vliet: no, no. Yeah.
[00:16:11] Brent Chapman: And that’s my point is that now we’re having, I mean, we’re having a reasonable discussion here. But why can’t we go to the NDP and, and these education people and say, hey, hang on, hang on. We just want to slow this, tap the brakes. We’re going to bring this back a little bit. So, we, we don’t, you know, we don’t start any fire that we can’t put [00:16:30] out.
[00:16:30] Troy Van Vliet: No. No, exactly.
[00:16:31] Brent Chapman: You know,
[00:16:32] Troy Van Vliet: that’s permanent. That to me should be off the table, right? Not even, you know,
[00:16:36] Brent Chapman: well, you can’t say kids can’t get tattooed. I mean, we’ve heard this a hundred times, but kids can’t get tattoos, and they can’t get, you know, all kinds of decisions.
[00:16:44] They can’t make it.
[00:16:44] Troy Van Vliet: No, they can’t drink alcohol. They can’t drive cars. They can’t smoke. They can’t all of these things, all these regulations that get put on them, but the tattoo is permanent or relatively speaking permanent. And, uh, so yeah, no, yeah.
[00:16:55] Brent Chapman: So, what psychologists are we listening to? If we listen to professionals, it begs the question.
[00:16:59] Troy Van Vliet: [00:17:00] Yeah.
[00:17:00] Brent Chapman: I know psychologists who don’t go along with this.
[00:17:03] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah 100%
[00:17:04] Brent Chapman: Why, you know, why don’t they have a voice of reason? I’m not sure. So, it’s, it’s something that our, our party is definitely wants to remove this from, from school, that it’s not appropriate for schools.
[00:17:17] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. Um, that’s great to hear.
[00:17:18] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:17:19] Troy Van Vliet: It’s one of the things that, um,
[00:17:21] Brent Chapman: not the count, not the counselors would not deal with it and should, should be, they need the resources to do.
[00:17:27] Troy Van Vliet: It will come up. Absolutely. It’s still going to come up.
[00:17:29] Brent Chapman: Right.
[00:17:29] Troy Van Vliet: [00:17:30] But the way dealing with it, you know, embracing a child that says, I’m a cat today and putting a litter box down, we’re not doing that kid any favors in my humble opinion, not a, not a psychiatrist. I’m not a, but just as a human on this planet, I don’t see feeding into that as being helpful, which brings us around to in our original meeting, which we, uh, spoke at when we first met.
[00:17:57] Um, uh, I don’t know how it came [00:18:00] up, but, um, people ask me, you know, what I do and, you know, how I’m involved. And one of the things that I’ve been involved with from day one is championing this, uh, High school. The new high school, St. John Paul, II Academy in, uh, South Surrey, which is in your catchment. It’s in your, it’s your area.
[00:18:14] Brent Chapman: Yes. it is yes.
[00:18:15] Troy Van Vliet: So, and, um, your, uh, wife, Carrie Lynn was at, um, uh, our groundbreaking ceremony there when it, uh, when we first, uh, and that was just over or under two years ago now. And we’ve been a year and a half at it. And our school, new school’s [00:18:30] going to be open. Uh, September, this coming fall, 2020, uh, 2025. So, um, we’re really excited about that.
[00:18:38] Um, one of our feeder schools, um, uh, unofficially, but it’s not most naturally going to be our, our biggest feeder school will be Star of the Sea, which is in, uh, South Surrey.
[00:18:49] Brent Chapman: White Rock yeah.
[00:18:50] Troy Van Vliet: And, um, why I’m bringing that up is because that school is exploding as well. Um, the, uh, uh, just [00:19:00] last year, there was only 20 spots available in kindergarten.
[00:19:02] There’s, there’s 60 available, but 20, 40 were taken up by siblings, 20 spots available. And there was 140 families applying for those 20 spots at Star of the Sea. Um, one of the biggest things that came up is like, you know, families are concerned about what’s being taught in the public schools in that regard, which we were just speaking of. And, um, they’re just like, I, I, I can’t deal with that, you know, like that’s, it’s, it’s gone over the line [00:19:30] and, um, so I’m happy to hear that our conservative party, um, is, is looking at trying to remove that even out of the public schools.
[00:19:40] It doesn’t affect me. It doesn’t affect my family. It affects society.
[00:19:43] Brent Chapman: Absolutely.
[00:19:44] Troy Van Vliet: And, um, and there’s a lot of troubled people on the planet that need help, that we, we should get help. That’s, we’re a compassionate society. We, um, you know, that our, our health care system is based on that as well, that everybody has it. You know, you’re, you’re qualified as a Canadian system, a [00:20:00] Canadian citizen, you get health care from it. And psychological help is one of those things that, um, you know, families, they need to be, have access to for their kids as well. Um, one of the things that’s, um, really important with that. I think is that our society started out It was based on and founded on Judeo Christian values.
[00:20:23] Brent Chapman: Mm hmm,
[00:20:23] Troy Van Vliet: and We have we have gotten away from it. Not only have we gotten away from it. I [00:20:30] mean people have fallen away from the faith That’s happened sort of gradually over time and then it’s almost like we’re on this this this bell curve That’s just going straight up right now in terms of removing Christianity from society. And, um, not realizing that our, our laws are morals, that we’re not born with them, we are taught them. And this is something that has come from the church and they become part of our law, you know, in, in our [00:21:00] makeup of, uh, society. Um, and a lot of us just think, oh, well, that’s just, that’s, that’s how it is. You know, um, that’s, it’s innate, it’s in us to be kind. Um, but no, it isn’t. It’s actually, we need to be taught these things.
[00:21:15] You know, if you’ve seen two toddlers fighting over a toy. Right away, you have to jump in and say, okay, no, no, this isn’t how this works and how did that make you feel and what have you. So, this isn’t something. Um, um, uh, that’s just naturally born [00:21:30] in us.
[00:21:30] Brent Chapman: Well, like a friend of mine said, when you have a, when you have a, like a, a baby, uh, an infant, and you care for them, you call them, and you hold them, and you swaddle them, and you have them all day long, and every time they cry, you pick them up.
[00:21:40] Troy Van Vliet: Right.
[00:21:41] Brent Chapman: Then they turn two years old, and they turn into like little hellions well, what went wrong? I mean, what did I do wrong? But you because by nature, we are not necessarily, you know, great people. There’s, we can be, you know, we can be quite, uh, quite demonstrative of what we need to be. Uh, you know, it’s a, it’s a funny thing. I always [00:22:00] think that Christianity or even, you know, the church, but Catholics were a big part of this country, uh, forming. I mean, more, more priests died out there and were killed by, by, you know, by attacks by, by enemies. And the priests were on the front line, but they were the hospital. That was your, you know, the nurse and the doctor and they were your educators, and they were your counselors and there was a community center, and the church was, was everything to these towns right across the country. It doesn’t happen without them,
[00:22:26] Troy Van Vliet: right?
[00:22:27] Brent Chapman: But I feel like it’s this, it’s [00:22:30] like a car that you take from Toronto to Vancouver and you get to Vancouver and you, you know, jump out of the car and you roll it down the hill and say, I’m done with it. It’s going in the river. I don’t need it anymore. So yeah, but it got you here.
[00:22:41] Yeah, but I don’t need anymore. You’re going to need a car. You’re going to need that vehicle to keep moving around the way you are.
[00:22:46] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:22:46] Brent Chapman: And I, and people do think that they can kind of just, just throw it all away. I will say this, that the people that have come to our country. I think most of our, most of immigrants who, who weren’t Christian actually admired the Christianity and the, and the, [00:23:00] and the faith that we had as people, I don’t think they were offended by it at all.
[00:23:03] Troy Van Vliet: No,
[00:23:03] Brent Chapman: you know, I think liberals are offended by it. You know, I think academics get offended by it. No one’s more offended by the Catholic church than academics.
[00:23:11] Troy Van Vliet: Mmhmm.
[00:23:11] Brent Chapman: It just bothers them.
[00:23:12] Troy Van Vliet: Mm-hmm.
[00:23:13] Brent Chapman: But. I was at a; I was in running. I went to this really like I I’m, I’m a little jealous of, you know, the Sikh faith. I mean, they, they do things as a community that we just don’t do anymore.
[00:23:25] And it was these lovely women who met in a backyard. They look like they were probably from about, you know, 45 [00:23:30] to maybe 80 and they, they had a big circle, and they would sing songs, and they would have this chai tea, and they would just wonderful gathering. There were not many men present. I don’t, there were no men in the group at all.
[00:23:40] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:23:41] Brent Chapman: So, I came to talk to them. And, um, and I sort of said, I was born and raised Catholic. I was baptized and, you know, confirmed. And, uh, you know, that’s my, sort of my religious background. There wasn’t one that turned their nose up. They were just oh good, good, okay, you have values. Right?
[00:23:57] Troy Van Vliet: [00:24:00] 100%.
[00:24:00] Brent Chapman: Yeah, and listen, you know, I’ll stray and I’ll make mistakes along the way, but, you know how do you know you’re making a mistake unless you’ve been taught in the first place what it means to to not do that. Right?
[00:24:11] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:24:12] Brent Chapman: So, I didn’t find any, any, any people that I met, there was not one that, that was questioning, and I was open about what I said.
[00:24:18] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:24:19] Brent Chapman: They were all perfectly fine with that.
[00:24:20] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:24:21] Brent Chapman: But cause they, I think they know that without the belief in a higher power, Mmhmm really what, then it’s just you. [00:24:30]
[00:24:30] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:24:30] Brent Chapman: It’s you making up your mind on everything.
[00:24:32] Troy Van Vliet: It’s nothing.
[00:24:33] Brent Chapman: Well, yeah, but well, it’s not that maybe it maybe it’s worse than that. It’s it’s just humans deciding what’s what’s right and wrong There is no there is no sort of immutable truth that they stand behind.
[00:24:42] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah,
[00:24:42] Brent Chapman: you know I was thinking about that, you know, who are religious leaders is Christ not the great teacher, right? He’s a teacher.
[00:24:48] Troy Van Vliet: and that’s respected across all faiths.
[00:24:50] Brent Chapman: Yes, that’s right
[00:24:52] Troy Van Vliet: or majority of anyway
[00:24:53] Brent Chapman: Yeah, and I look at, you know, I went to I’ve been to a number of Sikh weddings, which is another thing where the weddings are gigantic, [00:25:00] there and it’s just a giant community, and everyone’s a cousin of somebody else,
[00:25:03] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, like they’re two weeks long. Yeah,
[00:25:05] Brent Chapman: but it’s a fantastic celebration of family but you start reading the writings of the Gurus, and you go, oh, wait a minute.
[00:25:12] We’re not too far off here. We can co exist here pretty good.
[00:25:16] Troy Van Vliet: Totally, totally, a lot of it’s been learned. It’s only like a 500-year-old religion, somewhere, about 600, 600 years.
[00:25:24] Brent Chapman: And, uh, yeah, but, but, but, uh, but a wonder, you know, and I talked to, yeah,
[00:25:29] Troy Van Vliet: the, the, [00:25:30] uh, Catholic school system is big in India as well. There’s, uh, there’s many Indians that were educated in the Catholic school system there.
[00:25:36] Brent Chapman: Interesting.
[00:25:36] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:25:37] Brent Chapman: Interesting.
[00:25:37] Troy Van Vliet: So just another tidbit in case you’re on Jeopardy.
[00:25:40] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:25:41] Troy Van Vliet: Exactly.
[00:25:42] Brent Chapman: Well, I was talking, I was talking to someone last night and they were talking about Archbishop Carney in the 90s and just getting onto the idea of Catholic schools and, and apparently Bill Vander Zahm offered him like kind of what, they were not funded at all. He said, I’ll give you 80, up to 80%. And he said, give us 50, right? Because he said, I [00:26:00] don’t, if I give, if you give us anymore, you’ll start to tell us what to do.
[00:26:03] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. It’s funny.
[00:26:04] Brent Chapman: I thought wow, that was brilliant.
[00:26:05] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. That’s a. I was going to talk to you about that today because, um, um, I, I’m mixed on that too because I. Right now, we get 50 percent funding for those that don’t understand how it works. Um, as long as we are operating as a Catholic school, as long as you’re operating at the same per student rate, right? So, all your operating expenses, your, your educators, the biggest thing is salaries, teacher [00:26:30] salaries. As long as you’re operating at this same rate, um, you will get 50 percent funding from the government just for operating. So, it’s got nothing to do with the infrastructure, not like we’re spending 120 million building a new school of which there’s zero government.
[00:26:42] Brent Chapman: That’s yours. Yeah.
[00:26:43] Troy Van Vliet: Zero. So, um, even the civil work that the offsite civil work is paid for by the school.
[00:26:49] It’s not funded by the, uh, so all the roads around the school traffic lights, all that is paid by the school. So, but, uh, 50 percent of the operate as long as we operate at the same level as the [00:27:00] local. Um, uh, public schools, we’ll get 50 percent funding. There’s been threats in the past from NDP governments to take that away.
[00:27:08] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:27:09] Troy Van Vliet: There’s been wonder if we would ever get like Alberta, where you get 100 percent funding for operating.
[00:27:14] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:27:15] Troy Van Vliet: Um, because there you get to choose whether or not your kids want to go to a Catholic school or public, and you can actually choose where your taxes, I believe, go to, your school taxes go to.
[00:27:23] Brent Chapman: Is it a voucher system? Is that really what it is?
[00:27:24] Troy Van Vliet: I believe so, something like that. So, um, so the Catholic schools are free there. Um, in, in [00:27:30] Alberta. So, unlike here, we gotta pay, because we gotta make up for that tuition that we’re not getting from the, uh, from the taxpayer. Even though, so we’re 100 percent tax benefit to society. Um, um, we’re not a tax burden in any way, shape or form. So, the new high school that’s being built right now, today. Zero tax dollars are going into it. And in fact, it saves. The government and society in general, saves money because, um, they’re not having to pay for all of the infrastructure, which is in the hundreds of millions to build a new school. [00:28:00] And, um, they’re not having to pay for, uh, only paying for half the tuition.
[00:28:03] Brent Chapman: Yeah, they would have to build more schools. if they didn’t have those.
[00:28:05] Troy Van Vliet: They’d have to build more schools, exactly. So, and right now there’s over 50 Catholic schools in the lower mainland here. So that’s taking a lot of burden, billions it takes away from the taxpayers that they wouldn’t normally have to pay for. So um, that’s a huge benefit, but it’s funny, like what you mentioned about what Archbishop Carney said, you know, no, we’ll only take 50, we’ll take 50. And it’s like, yeah, because if you take a [00:28:30] hundred now,
[00:28:30] Brent Chapman: Ontario.
[00:28:30] Troy Van Vliet: All of a sudden you start really dictating. And Ontario has got problems right now too, where you start saying no, the government stepping in and said, no, we want you to do this, or we want you to do that. We want you to do this. So, the same thing goes for right now, the, um, um, St. Paul’s. It’s Catholic.
[00:28:47] Brent Chapman: Yep.
[00:28:48] Troy Van Vliet: Hospital. And, um, so it’s being rebuilt under provide, uh, Providence Healthcare and, um, which is the biggest, uh, non-BC, non, non-government, um, healthcare.
[00:29:03] Brent Chapman: Right.
[00:29:03] Troy Van Vliet: Uh, there’s a, there’s a few of the church um, uh, what is it in, uh, Burnaby or in Vancouver? Uh, Mount Saint. Joseph’s, I believe.
[00:29:12] Brent Chapman: Yes. Yes. St. Joseph’s. Yeah.
[00:29:14] Troy Van Vliet: So, um, that’s another, uh, Providence healthcare, um, facility. So, the new church that’s being built, or sorry, the new hospital that’s being built in Vancouver right now, the, the church that owned the property in Vancouver and sold it and they’ve [00:29:30] donated a billion dollars to the new St. Paul’s hospital. Which virtually nobody knows about. Nobody even knows. And it’s like, why would the church even do that? And the reason why they did that, um, speaking with Archbishop, or one of the reasons why, is that there won’t be abortions in that hospital. Um, so you can’t go there for an abortion. Um, the tougher one to keep out is MAID.
[00:29:57] Right now. Um, those two [00:30:00] things are, are, you know, that’s why I like you say we’ve got, we’ve got governments of death right now on both sides coming and going. Uh, we’re trying to get rid of people, which is, uh, which is very sad, but I, I think it’s very noble that the church put their money where their mouth is in terms of saying, yeah, you know what?
[00:30:19] Okay. Here’s a billion dollars, um, on property from property that we purchased forever ago, eons ago. Um, it’s worth a billion dollars today. You take it. No [00:30:30] abortion’s in there. That’s, that’s the only, that’s the main condition of it. So, um, which is huge. Which is absolutely huge. You know, when we hear of private investors like Jimmy Pattison that donated a hundred million dollars was unbelievable.
[00:30:40] Or 75 or a hundred million, somewhere in there towards that. Um, to have a private, uh, citizen say, hey, look, I’m going to put up that much towards St. Paul’s. I believe in healthcare and the healthcare system. It’s huge. And to have the church come up with a billion is also, I think is, is, is massive as a step in the right direction to just,
[00:30:58] Brent Chapman: Right right.
[00:30:58] Troy Van Vliet: Just to say, you know, [00:31:00] because the abortion issue, I know it’s a, it’s touchy for a lot of people. I’m very strong Catholic. We don’t do abortions in our family. In fact, had I believed in abortions, um, this new high school that we’re building right now, which is, uh, going to house up to 900 students. It’ll be there for the next hundred years. Um, educating people, giving them a great moral background. It wouldn’t have been built if I believed in abortion because my youngest daughter with Down Syndrome wouldn’t have been born.
[00:31:26] And um, you know that story, um, [00:31:30] um, I’ve told it many a times but that, that school, um, when I stand outside look at the construction, I stand up with my little daughter at a point I said you know had you not been born. This wouldn’t have been built. And my wife, she was adopted and, um, she was, she, her, uh, birth mother put her up for adoption. She was a young mother, and it was out of wedlock. And back then she had said, um, she had made the choice of, of life for her daughter. So [00:32:00] my wife is here today. to give birth to our daughter and both of them were put in, both of them were, you know, putting, their lives were put in jeopardy. Um, you know, with the whole abortion thing.
[00:32:15] So that school wouldn’t have been born or wouldn’t have been built, had my my wife’s birth mom. Yeah, not chose life,
[00:32:25] Brent Chapman: right, right.
[00:32:26] Troy Van Vliet: Like these types of things like you just don’t know what you’re saying [00:32:30] no to when you’re terminating a pregnancy.
[00:32:32] Brent Chapman: Yeah, it’s it’s such a I mean, it’s such an um a contentious, beyond contentious issue.
[00:32:38] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah,
[00:32:38] Brent Chapman: I, I, my idea, I mean, my thought on it is that I look, we’re not, we are from a political standpoint, the people are going to have to want that change, right? Yeah, we, I think it was sort of foisted on us in a sense, and now we’re going to have to have the, the, the, the people are going to have to come up and say, okay, we don’t want that.
[00:32:56] But I really believe that sincerely that the, the [00:33:00] higher we raise the, the, the level of our morality, but I mean, if we have a more positive society and we start to work on that, Um, I think less and less you will even need abortions, I think, as people
[00:33:14] Troy Van Vliet: Right.
[00:33:15] Brent Chapman: Live better lives. And, but my thing is, this is to say, look, do that, you do it. I can’t, I can’t currently, we can’t stop anything. And I, I, I, I, I accept that aspect of it. Why can’t we have more, like more pro family? Why don’t we make it?
[00:33:28] Troy Van Vliet: Right.
[00:33:29] Brent Chapman: Easier for mothers in [00:33:30] crisis? Why don’t we have it easier to have a baby, easier to raise a family? In Hungary right now, if a woman has three children, she doesn’t pay any more taxes in her life.
[00:33:39] Troy Van Vliet: Wow, there’s a bonus.
[00:33:41] Brent Chapman: So, I mean, you need people, you got to have people let’s find a way to do this.
[00:33:44] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:33:45] Brent Chapman: And, and let’s, let’s, yeah, let’s, that’s a truly a last resort and let’s move to it. Let’s move to a positive society,
[00:33:51] Troy Van Vliet: Exactly.
[00:33:51] Brent Chapman: And get that back. But the main thing is another one that I, I don’t even, I can’t wrap my head around it. I find that it’s, it’s so shocking to, to see where [00:34:00] we’re at and there’s absolutely, you understand that there are people who are suffering horribly from the pain of cancers. And long, you know, long drawn-out deaths and that are are quite terrible.
[00:34:11] Troy Van Vliet: Yep
[00:34:11] Brent Chapman: and I get that,
[00:34:12] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:34:12] Brent Chapman: I understand that I don’t understand much else about it That’s about the only one where I go. Yeah, that might be something where there’s a. You know I mean hey as it is now, we get people incredible painkillers.
[00:34:23] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah,
[00:34:24] Brent Chapman: you know so there and then they slowly die out and I and I you know for whatever opinion [00:34:30] But the other ones, I don’t understand. You hear these horror stories of people who are lonely.
[00:34:33] Troy Van Vliet: They’re lonely and they go, I’m not contributing to society anymore. I’m just certain that, or, you know, I don’t. And this, this comes full circle back to, once again, we’re getting rid of Christianity,
[00:34:43] Brent Chapman: Yes.
[00:34:44] Troy Van Vliet: In the West. We’re getting rid of that. So, what that, what that causes, there’s a problem there. What that leads down to is the family. So, because we’re getting rid of our faith, now the family’s crumbling apart. And when the family crumbles, now society crumbles as well, because you’ve got, you’ve [00:35:00] allowed all kinds of mess to get in there. All kinds of mumbo-jumbo to get in there.
[00:35:03] Brent Chapman: Yeah,
[00:35:04] Troy Van Vliet: and, and it’s this, and it’s getting amplified more and more and more the further we get, the further we go from that. And people are waking up to it and going like, you know what, we’re, we’re, we’ve gone way too far.
[00:35:16] Brent Chapman: Well, you take pretty much anybody, any, any person, you know, that doesn’t go to church, but they seem like decent people.
[00:35:22] Troy Van Vliet: Yep.
[00:35:23] Brent Chapman: You can pretty much guarantee that there’s an aunt,
[00:35:24] Troy Van Vliet: yeah.
[00:35:25] Brent Chapman: Or a grandmother or someone who is a church going person,
[00:35:28] Troy Van Vliet: yeah exactly.
[00:35:28] Brent Chapman: Who instilled those [00:35:30] original values.
[00:35:30] Troy Van Vliet: It came from somewhere. Even those that are completely they’re 100% atheists, go back two three generations, Their, their um their moral upbringing back then through faith It’s, trickled down to them. It’s waning.
[00:35:45] Brent Chapman: Well, yeah, well, they, they,
[00:35:46] Troy Van Vliet: it’s starting to fall apart.
[00:35:48] Brent Chapman: Yeah. They know what they’re turning away from.
[00:35:49] Troy Van Vliet: Exactly.
[00:35:50] Brent Chapman: They understand it. They say that even an atheist is less likely to tell a lie up to four hours after hearing a prayer.
[00:35:58] Troy Van Vliet: Oh, wow.
[00:35:59] Brent Chapman: So, they, so [00:36:00] that that, that impact of that of that goodness, I mean, you take all that out of society.
[00:36:03] It’s a great movie and I, I, I throw it around all the time because I love it, but a great scene from a movie, Moby Dick, and it’s 1954, I believe.
[00:36:11] Troy Van Vliet: MmHmm.
[00:36:12] Brent Chapman: And it’s Orson Welles who’s playing Father Mapples, and he gives the speech in the, in the, the pulpit, which is at the, the bow of a, of a ship,
[00:36:21] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:36:21] Brent Chapman: And it’s, but he talks about, um, he talks about Jonah being in the belly of the whale, and that he’s, you know, and that he’s, he comes out of the whale, and he fights all [00:36:30] sin, and he, you know, he’s, he stands forth his own inexorable self,
[00:36:33] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:36:33] Brent Chapman: Um, and he plucks, he plucks the lies from behind the robes of senators and judges, and it’s this powerful speech. But it was, it was, it’s a remarkable speech, but it was unremarkable for an actor to do that. Today, he’d probably be shunned by the industry.
[00:36:49] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:36:50] Brent Chapman: I mean, like a Kevin Sorbo, where’d you have to go and make his own movies to portray a minister with that kind of conviction and how much he led the congregation, what he meant to those, to [00:37:00] those people, you know, that were living there in this harsh time of these whaling villages where people died all the time, but they looked to him for, for comfort and for. You know, for to make sense of it all.
[00:37:11] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:37:11] Brent Chapman: And I just thought, man, if you, if you, I don’t think you can do that today.
[00:37:14] And, and, and in those days too, people would still watch the movie and go, well, I didn’t like that part too much, but people liked the movie and that was all part of it. Cause that was part of our society back then.
[00:37:23] Troy Van Vliet: Exactly.
[00:37:24] Brent Chapman: You know, so I, it’s, you know, I, I, I was. I grew up in Winnipeg and I went to San Alfonso until I was [00:37:30] 18.
[00:37:30] I moved out here and I went from the Catholic church. I’m at, I’m at a church in Crescent Beach and it’s a, uh, an Anglican church, but it’s,
[00:37:38] Troy Van Vliet: it was the Catholic church, a few years ago.
[00:37:39] Brent Chapman: Well, that’s it. I know, I know. Well, and a miracle to, to, it was a Catholic family that kept it there for us, which is fantastic.
[00:37:47] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, Yeah, yeah.
[00:37:47] Brent Chapman: But I, I, I really missed the mass,
[00:37:50] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:37:50] Brent Chapman: And I found that, you know, started drifting around a bit, but There’s still something about that faith that stays with you.
[00:37:57] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:37:57] Brent Chapman: There’s still something about those I think about you know, every [00:38:00] time my dad dragged me to church, you know, and and he did, he dragged me.
[00:38:04] He did.
[00:38:05] Butt but I got something out of it.
[00:38:07] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:38:07] Brent Chapman: There was things instilled in me that don’t go I said, I was thinking this morning driving in here. I thought, we always use that word moral compass.
[00:38:13] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:38:14] Brent Chapman: You have a moral compass. Well, what is your, what is the compass leading you to? It’s leading you to something, center, right? Something that, that grounds you, right?
[00:38:21] Troy Van Vliet: Right.
[00:38:22] Brent Chapman: But I thought, imagine if you went camping, and every day you got up, and you didn’t know where you were, and you had to get your compass out again. So, you’re there for a week, and every day you [00:38:30] start it all over again, trying to find North, and you’re trying to find this. You learn nothing every day, and you just keep going, walking out, and having this struggle to find yourself. And I really think this is what I was thinking about, the Catholic schools is that you take that away, you, you, you’re not used to, you know, you, you teach them how to use that compass once kind of thing. The compass is there.
[00:38:50] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:38:50] Brent Chapman: So, they’re not starting every day trying to figure who I am and what am I doing here? That’s, that’s, that’s set. Now you can learn,
[00:38:57] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:38:57] Brent Chapman: Right? You’ve got this basis, that you have the teachings of Christ. They’re right [00:39:00] there.
[00:39:00] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:39:00] Brent Chapman: That parts done. Now go and now go conquer the world.
[00:39:04] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:39:04] Brent Chapman: Take that with you.
[00:39:05] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:39:05] Brent Chapman: And you’ll know what your values are. And you’ll know, not only you’ll know when you’re doing right, but you’ll also know when you’re doing wrong.
[00:39:10] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:39:10] Brent Chapman: And that, I think, is one of the big ones.
[00:39:12] Troy Van Vliet: It’s huge.
[00:39:13] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:39:13] Troy Van Vliet: It’s massive. You know, as we say, and we’re sending out kids into the world as strong servant leaders that can go out, that can, that can lead society, that can contribute to society, that can give back to society.
[00:39:26] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:39:26] Troy Van Vliet: You know? And, um, which kind of brings [00:39:30] that full circle back to the whole MAID thing. You know, we are to be humble,
[00:39:34] Brent Chapman: Yes.
[00:39:34] Troy Van Vliet: You know, it is, it is, um, pride is a sin.
[00:39:38] Brent Chapman: Yes.
[00:39:38] Troy Van Vliet: It’s a cardinal sin; it’s a bad one. It’s a nasty one. And as we get older, we have to rely on others more. As we get
[00:39:50] Brent Chapman: Yes.
[00:39:50] Troy Van Vliet: You know, that’s humbling number one and number two It is our last, as our parents get older and eventually [00:40:00] they need to be taken care of, and they die They’re teaching us the last lessons in life.
[00:40:04] Brent Chapman: Yes
[00:40:05] Troy Van Vliet: that it’s not about me It’s about others and it’s about them. It’s about our parents. It’s about taking care of them You know, and you brought up the Sikh families how and you so often you see those parents aren’t in homes. They’re in their homes.
[00:40:18] Brent Chapman: Yes, yes.
[00:40:19] Troy Van Vliet: Right to the very end, you know, and we have,
[00:40:22] Brent Chapman: and they’re helping right to their end. Because parents, because my mother, my mother-in-law was, was 80, 87, [00:40:30] 88 and she struggled, but she would do when you come when you came home, she was, she, she, she, the dishes were done. And I knew and it might take her three hours of those dishes are going to be in the cupboard when you got home.
[00:40:41] Troy Van Vliet: And it gives, it gives people a sense of purpose,
[00:40:43] Brent Chapman: absolutely.
[00:40:43] Troy Van Vliet: a sense of meaning that, that family being around them. It is so important. And those life lessons
[00:40:49] Brent Chapman: Yes.
[00:40:49] Troy Van Vliet: That are being lost by MAID.
[00:40:52] Brent Chapman: yeah.
[00:40:54] Troy Van Vliet: No, it’s my duty to take care of my mom or my dad,
[00:40:59] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:40:59] Troy Van Vliet: You [00:41:00] know, as a, as they gave to me. Now I’m giving to them.
[00:41:04] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:41:05] Troy Van Vliet: And if I’m doing this right, I’m also showing my kids that how important it is to take care of your parents.
[00:41:13] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:41:13] Troy Van Vliet: It’s the right thing to do. You know, it’s one of those things, honor your mother and your father and right till the end.
[00:41:20] Brent Chapman: Right.
[00:41:21] Troy Van Vliet: You know? And no, MAID we’re just going to go.
[00:41:24] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:41:24] Troy Van Vliet: No, sorry. It’s my life. You know.
[00:41:26] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:41:27] Troy Van Vliet: Why would I want to go and see you every week or twice a [00:41:30] week or every day? Why would I do that? You know, when I got to live my life, right? Yeah. And it’s not about taking care of you as you get old and fade away.
[00:41:37] Brent Chapman: But let’s go back to what you said about, like, you talked about these kids that are struggling with their identity. Once they’re gone, you can’t get it back. Once you’re gone, you go, oh, geez, maybe I did that too fast. Yeah. Kind of miss mom. Even though she was struggling, I kind of still miss going and holding her hand and telling her I love her.
[00:41:52] Troy Van Vliet: It’s permanent.
[00:41:53] Brent Chapman: Yeah. It’s gone.
[00:41:54] Troy Van Vliet: It’s gone.
[00:41:54] Brent Chapman: You called the shot. Yeah.
[00:41:56] Troy Van Vliet: It’s cause.
[00:41:57] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:41:57] I didn’t, I went to catechism. I didn’t get to go [00:42:00] to,
[00:42:00] Troy Van Vliet: you didn’t go to Catholic school,
[00:42:01] Brent Chapman: To catholic school, no. And I don’t think, look at the choice in those days was nothing like the choice it is today.
[00:42:06] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:42:06] Brent Chapman: You know, you, you, you weren’t, you know, you could go, you might not go. Okay. Maybe. I don’t know.
[00:42:11] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:42:11] Brent Chapman: But, yeah, the public schools were nothing like they are now.
[00:42:16] This is bizarre. Mind you, of course, I’m talking ancient times.
[00:42:18] Troy Van Vliet: I know. Way back when I was in, early in elementary school, they were still saying the Lord’s Prayer in public school.
[00:42:24] Brent Chapman: Oh, I know. I, yeah, I was there. We wore uniforms.
[00:42:26] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. Oh, did you?
[00:42:27] Brent Chapman: Yeah, I was in Winnipeg.
[00:42:28] Troy Van Vliet: We didn’t wear uniforms.
[00:42:29] Brent Chapman: I [00:42:30] only had for about two years.
[00:42:31] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:42:31] Brent Chapman: But, yeah, yeah, uniform that you wore to school.
[00:42:33] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. Yeah, it makes sense. Everybody’s the same. You know,
[00:42:36] Brent Chapman: well, yeah, well you take that off the table.
[00:42:37] Troy Van Vliet: You take it off the table. Nobody’s like, oh this guy’s got those That cool pants are these cool shirts or whatever, everybody’s the same.
[00:42:44] Brent Chapman: It’s funny. We were talking about this the anti bullying day.
[00:42:47] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah,
[00:42:48] Brent Chapman: who’s pro bullying? I don’t know I mean, I’m not sure we need one day for that and I and I but I but I really felt, I really felt this year and I’m talking with some of my My co members in the party [00:43:00] and saying that what about what about golden rule day? What about a day where we say to the bullies, what about why don’t you stop?
[00:43:06] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:43:06] Brent Chapman: Yeah, we’re not going to just protect these kids We’re going to stop you before you start thinking about. How about, do unto others as you would have them unto you? How about that? Let’s start there because every religion has that.
[00:43:15] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah,
[00:43:15] Brent Chapman: right. That’s that’s natural law, that’s that’s that’s everyone taught even atheists It’s kind of like, well, if I, you know, if I do that to them, they can do it to me.
[00:43:23] Troy Van Vliet: But that came from Christianity.
[00:43:24] Brent Chapman: Of course. Of course. No, but even, but even rationally, you look at that and go, well, [00:43:30] if I do that, they’ll do this. And I mean,
[00:43:31] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah exactly.
[00:43:32] Brent Chapman: Don’t get me wrong.
[00:43:32] Troy Van Vliet: This hurt. Yeah. You know, that hurt. It’s like, oh, well, if I do that to them, that’s great as well.
[00:43:37] Brent Chapman: And of course, I believe that is what, you know, God’s law, Christ’s law says it’s, it’s a very natural law. It’s not unnatural at all.
[00:43:44] Troy Van Vliet: No, no, no, no.
[00:43:44] Brent Chapman: So, and so the idea, but I mean, um. I believe Sikhs have that, uh, that you’re, you are, um, you’re, like, you’re, you share sort of with, with everyone. I’m a friend to all. Like, so it’s, it’s a respect for all and a friend to all. So, I really believe that. Let’s start, let’s, let’s have a [00:44:00] day of pushing that. Let’s have a day where we say to, we, we Look into the, you know, the hearts of these people who are bullies, because they’re always there. Like, you know, there’s so many reasons to get bullied. I mean, people think that there’s, you know, the LGTBQ, and that’s an issue.
[00:44:13] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:44:14] Brent Chapman: But you can be too short. You can be too skinny. You can be too fat. You can have red hair. You can have white hair. You can be, you know, you can have an overbite. You can wear glasses. There’s something you’re going to get picked on for.
[00:44:23] Troy Van Vliet: I felt out of place because I was too tall, literally.
[00:44:26] Brent Chapman: Yeah.
[00:44:27] Troy Van Vliet: You know, I’m a six-foot six minority. [00:44:30]
[00:44:30] Brent Chapman: Yeah, no, no,
[00:44:31] Troy Van Vliet: you know, like I, there’s not a lot of people that are, that are that tall or over.
[00:44:35] Brent Chapman: That’s right.
[00:44:35] Troy Van Vliet: You know, I don’t wear that like a badge, obviously.
[00:44:38] Brent Chapman: No, no, it’s true.
[00:44:40] Troy Van Vliet: We’re all minorities in one way, shape or form.
[00:44:43] Brent Chapman: And who knows, you could have a kid walking to school that’s the perfect height and the perfect build and he walks in, and he has a lisp. The minute that starts, it’s over for him.
[00:44:50] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:44:51] Brent Chapman: You know, that’s all he has to do that once or, you know, Oh God, I mean, show up to school one day with your, you know, with a piece of toilet paper sticking out of your pants or something. And that’s it.
[00:44:58] Troy Van Vliet: And you’re done.
[00:44:59] Brent Chapman: Oh [00:45:00] yeah. Oh yeah. You’re TP boy for the remainder of your life.
[00:45:02] Troy Van Vliet: TP Brent forever.
[00:45:03] Brent Chapman: It doesn’t stop. I didn’t do that actually. No, but, but, but in, in truth, I think we, I, yeah, I, and in those days, like I said, when we were going to school, yeah, you didn’t have this division. This division wasn’t there, you know, and, and I think we have to get that. I mean, I think the public schools have a, going to have a lot of work to do. Maybe that’s where you look at a voucher where people say they get to pick what they want to do. Right?
[00:45:25] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:45:26] Brent Chapman: What would happen, what would happen to the public schools if you did that?
[00:45:28] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:45:29] Brent Chapman: If parents could send [00:45:30] their kids. Because a friend of mine told me that he wanted to, to go back to Dubai. He said, I, you know, I’m, I’m scared that my, I’m scared of what can happen to my daughter at school. You know, I’m, I’m, I’m nervous about that. And, you know, yeah, I never felt like that about this country.
[00:45:43] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. No, no, I know I know it’s crazy.
[00:45:46] Brent Chapman: So, we know there’s good people when there’s a hundred and forty people that are trying to get their kids into
[00:45:51] Troy Van Vliet: 20 spots.
[00:45:51] Brent Chapman: Yeah, in the kindergarten.
[00:45:53] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, in kindergarten.
[00:45:54] Brent Chapman: We’re not, you know, we’re talking about people that understand the problem early and they want to they want to address this.
[00:45:59] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, they’re looking [00:46:00] around going like this is this is not This is not what I want for my kids.
[00:46:04] Brent Chapman: Funny, the funny word they use all the time is they always talk about the climate. They talk about sustainable.
[00:46:08] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:46:09] Brent Chapman: Right? But this isn’t culturally sustainable.
[00:46:11] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:46:11] Brent Chapman: And they do so many things that aren’t economically sustainable. I mean, if you want to be sustainable, this is, it’s not just the environment. There’s lots of things we have to worry that we can do for a long time.
[00:46:21] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:46:21] Brent Chapman: And we can, you know, play out over a long period. And what’s, what’s going to be effective. It, you can’t say that it’s getting better. I, I mean, now they say there’s less crime because, well, nobody [00:46:30] reports it anymore. Back in the day, if somebody, you know, if somebody, um, stole a rake out of your yard, you’d, you’d phone the, you’d phone the police and say, I’ve got a really nice rake there. I picked up a Canadian Tire. What am I getting? And then the police would actually bring it back to you the other day. Well, we found it up the road. A bunch of kids must have been following around.
[00:46:45] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. No, I remember, I remember my bike getting stolen when I was a kid. And, uh, getting it back, yeah. Went through the police station and everything and I ended up getting it back. And, uh, yeah.
[00:46:53] Brent Chapman: Did you have to get; did you have to get a license for your bike back in the day? Do you remember that?
[00:46:58] Troy Van Vliet: No, they were like [00:47:00] play licenses if we had them hanging off the back seat.
[00:47:02] Brent Chapman: Yeah, in, in, in Winnipeg. You would actually go to the local East Kildonan was where I live and there’s a municipal office there. And you went and get your bike license to have a license in your bike. I’d like, you know, we’re 178 or whatever it was, and I thought, yeah, it was, it was probably $2 or something to get here by or $1. 35. But what a great practice for a kid to take that responsibility for them to walk down, go into the office and wait your turn and buy your license, sign your name down there, put your [00:47:30] address down and you ride your bike. Off you go.
[00:47:32] Troy Van Vliet: I just see it as more government overreach. We don’t need that, Brent.
[00:47:35] Brent Chapman: Well, no, no, but no, but here’s the thing. But if bikes are going to ride on the sidewalk, I would really love the idea that I can look down and go, Oh, 583.
[00:47:43] Troy Van Vliet: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Direct. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:47:45] Brent Chapman: Right.
[00:47:46] Troy Van Vliet: Then we’re going to pull kids over on their bikes because they don’t have their license plate displayed properly.
[00:47:51] Brent Chapman: Well, no, but, but listen, I don’t know if, I don’t know if, I don’t know if all, I’m not sure if all government is bad. I’m not sure if all.
[00:47:57] Troy Van Vliet: No, of course it isn’t. Of course it isn’t. Of course, it [00:48:00] isn’t. We’ve just been living in extreme here for a while.
[00:48:01] Brent Chapman: Yeah, that’s, that’s it. So, so if you bring it back to something where you’re, you’re. I think there was a time when, gosh, when you went down to the, to the, the office and you went down to the city hall, there were people smiling to wait and greet you and see how you’re doing and, you know. Now, I mean, gosh, you’re, well, now you can’t go. Now it goes online. And for seniors, I think, my gosh, for seniors to have to go online.
[00:48:21] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, I know.
[00:48:21] Brent Chapman: What a chore that is.
[00:48:22] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, it’s a tough thing.
[00:48:23] Brent Chapman: I can, I can barely see. I need these things. Yeah. People send me, people send me a text when I’m driving and I’m, [00:48:30] even when I pull over, I’m like, trying to look at this thing. I can’t hold it far.
[00:48:33] Troy Van Vliet: It’s not fun getting old, Brent.
[00:48:34] Brent Chapman: I know, I can’t hold it far enough away. I gotta learn to hold it with my, with my toes.
[00:48:38] Troy Van Vliet: It’s tough. Well, that’s a good, that’s a good note to end on there, I think. Um, as we digress into talking about holding our glasses with our toes. Brent, thank you for coming out and for enlightening us in terms of what you’re doing, what your thoughts are, which your, uh, which your, um, uh, background is, [00:49:00] who you are. That’s all, that’s all wonderful stuff. I think everybody needs to hear that. And, and I’m glad that you’re in support of, uh, what we’ve got going in South Surrey with our Catholic schools.
[00:49:08] Brent Chapman: This, this party, this party supports, um, that independent school, it supports independent schools, because it, like you said, for all the things that you said and more as to what it means to, to society, what it means just to education right now and taking up that, that tremendous, you know, a volume that, that’s able to do, but also the type of citizens that are, that, that come, you know, that come from these [00:49:30] schools with that, with a mandate to build, build those kinds of individuals.
[00:49:34] I know John Rustad is someone who spoke about it quite passionately.
[00:49:37] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah.
[00:49:37] Brent Chapman: And we’ve got a party that, that, that would be, you know, behind the Catholic schools and behind, behind schools, faith, schools of faith that were, were there.
[00:49:44] Troy Van Vliet: What would be great is to have you and, uh, John Rustad come to the site, come to the new campus and actually do a walkthrough. That’d be great.
[00:49:52] Brent Chapman: I won’t promise for him, but I’ll do my best.
[00:49:54] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, yeah, yeah, see.
[00:49:54] Brent Chapman: I’ll mention to him.
[00:49:55] Troy Van Vliet: Well, you for sure. But, um, I think it’d be great because it’s something that we get a video [00:50:00] shot there too. And it’ll help promote, you know, he can have a great chance to say to a lot of people, a lot of the followers out there that, hey, this is a good thing that this school is going, we’re doing the right thing for the community.
[00:50:10] So,
[00:50:10] Brent Chapman: yeah. Wow. That’s God bless you for doing.
[00:50:12] Troy Van Vliet: that.
[00:50:12] Well, that invites there.
[00:50:13] Brent Chapman: Yeah. All right. Thank you so much.
[00:50:14] Troy Van Vliet: Thanks, Brent. Appreciate you coming. Thank you. All right. Thank you for listening to Catholic Education Matters. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast on your favorite listening platform. Rate it and also leave a review. Don’t forget to [00:50:30] share this episode with your friends and family to help spread the word about the impact of Catholic education. Be sure to listen again.
