'Historic decision': Saskatchewan government says pronoun law may go to Supreme Court
CTV
The Saskatchewan government says it will fight a court ruling over its school pronoun law, calling it a potential game-changing precedent when it comes to provinces' use of Charter's notwithstanding clause.
The Saskatchewan government says it will fight a court ruling over its school pronoun law, calling it a potential game-changing precedent when it comes to provinces' use of Charter's notwithstanding clause.
"We remain committed to using all tools necessary to protect parental rights, including requesting a stay of this decision and an appeal all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada," Saskatchewan Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre said Friday.
Eyre said she plans to write to other attorneys general across the country over the potential precedent.
"This is a historic decision for Canadian jurisprudence, as no Superior Court in Canada has ever decided that it may issue a declaration respecting an alleged Charter breach, in the face of a validly invoked notwithstanding clause.
"The importance of this decision for all provincial legislatures cannot be overstated."
Eyre was responding to a decision Justice Michael Megaw delivered earlier Friday in a challenge to a Saskatchewan law requiring parental consent for children under 16 who want to change their names or pronouns at school.
Premier Scott Moe's government used the notwithstanding clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to pass the law last year and says as such, the law is not violating the Charter.
