Appeal court rules litigation of Sask. pronoun policy can continue

CBC

3 days ago

Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal has ruled a challenge of the province's pronoun policy can continue.
On Monday, the Court of Appeal found that litigation of the policy, which requires parental consent for children under 16 years of age who want to use a different name or pronoun at school, can be heard at the Court of King's Bench.
The decision clears the UR Pride Centre for Sexuality and Gender Diversity to pursue whether the amendments to Saskatchewan's Education Act violates sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, limiting the right to life, liberty and security of the person (Section 7), and equality rights (Section 15(1)).
UR Pride, a centre at the University of Regina, can also seek a declaration that the amendments violate a section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms related to cruel and unusual treatment or punishment (Section 12).
However, part of the application seeking to have the policy declared unconstitutional must be struck, the Court of Appeal ruled.
The legal battle goes back to August 2023, when the Saskatchewan government announced the pronoun consent policy.
Later that month UR Pride filed an application against the new policy, requesting a judge strike down the changes.
It said the policy was not justifiable under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and denied gay and gender-diverse students "a safe and welcoming educational environment in which to be themselves."
UR Pride also argued that the policy outed children who weren't ready to express their new identity to their parents, and that that would potentially put them at risk of harm.
The province then passed The Parents' Bill of Rights in October 2023, writing the policy into law and employing the notwithstanding clause — a rarely used measure that lets governments override certain Charter rights for five years — to allow the law to stand even if it violated sections 2, 7 and 15 of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The province then applied to have UR Pride's challenge dismissed.
In response, UR Pride amended its legal challenge to say that the law violates Section 12 of the Charter, which protects Canadians against cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. The province did not name Section 12 when it invoked the notwithstanding clause.
In February 2024, a Court of King's Bench judge ruled that UR Pride's amended challenge should be heard. The province appealed that decision, arguing that since the Saskatchewan government rescinded the original policy and the law is protected by the notwithstanding clause, the law will still stand regardless of what the court finds in the challenge.
The Court of Appeal heard arguments over two days in September 2024, then reserved its decision. Now, the decision given Monday has paved the way for UR Pride's challenge to be heard.