Saskatchewan involves Supreme Court on pronoun law

Saskatchewan's government is hoping the Supreme Court of Canada will quickly hear its appeal to a ruling on the province's school pronoun law, citing the legal case as one of national importance.

REGINA – Saskatchewan’s government is hoping the Supreme Court of Canada will quickly hear its appeal to a ruling on the province’s school pronoun law, citing the legal case as one of national importance.

The province is seeking leave to appeal after the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled a challenge of the law, which prevents children under 16 from changing their names or pronouns at school without parental consent, can continue.

Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government had invoked the Charter’s notwithstanding clause in the law, a provision that overrides certain Charter rights for five years.

In the province’s application to the Supreme Court this month, it says the case raises questions over whether courts can review and make declarations that a law limits Charter rights when the notwithstanding clause is invoked.

The province says it’s asking Canada’s highest court to expedite the process so its case could be heard alongside a challenge of Quebec’s law that prevents public sector workers, such as including teachers and judges, from wearing religious symbols on the job.

The Quebec government had also invoked the notwithstanding clause when it passed the law.

Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government introduced the pronoun rules in 2023, arguing parents should be involved in decisions their children make at school.

Lawyers for UR Pride, a LGBTQ+ group in Regina, challenged the rules in court arguing it causes irreparable harm to gender diverse youth.