The Quebec Court of Appeal must intervene to allow children to be exempt from the province’s ethics and religious culture course, in order to protect the rights of parents and children, a Drummondville couple is arguing.

Lawyers for Suzanne Lavallée and Daniel Jutras sought permission to appeal a Superior Court Ruling, Monday at the Montreal courthouse.

In August, Judge Jean-Guy Dubois rejected the couple’s request to have their children exempted from the controversial course.

Exposure to the course is not problematic, Dubois said.

While that may apply to adults, children are more impressionable and vulnerable, the couple argued in court documents.

Lavallée and Jutras questioned whether it is the state — or parents — who are responsible for the moral education of children.

Children cannot be exempted from the course or avoid it by switching schools, they said, since even children attending private schools are obliged to attend the classes.

The Quebec government is seeking to have the case dismissed.

The controversial Ethics and Religious Culture class was designed by Quebec's education ministry to replace moral and religious education classes from Grade 1 to Grade 11.

The course has been taught in the province’s schools since September 2008.

The curriculum focuses on academic instruction of ethical, religious and cultural matters, including Quebec's Catholic and Protestant religious heritage, as well as other faiths represented in the province, including Judaism, Native spiritualism, Islam, and Hinduism.

Several parent groups across the province have taken issue with the course because they say it contradicts the religious beliefs of many families.