A judge has ruled a court challenge can proceed over the Saskatchewan government’s law requiring parental consent for children under 16 who want to change their names or pronouns at school.
Damn, did Premier Moe and his Cons, learn from Ford the trick to “notwithstand” any legislation they don’t want challenged?
The notwithstanding clause was guaranteed to result in a constitutional crisis eventually. Hopefully we can do away with it and any crap laws that came from it.
What would a constitutional crisis entail, and what would it take to get right of the notwithstanding clause?
The crisis will be exactly what’s happening: Politicians using it to erode protections against marginalized groups. The fix is unknown, because it’s uncharted legal territory.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A judge has ruled a court challenge can proceed over the Saskatchewan government’s law requiring parental consent for children under 16 who want to change their names or pronouns at school.
“We’re relieved that the court has agreed that we need to be able to argue on behalf of gender-diverse students in the province and that the government’s use of the notwithstanding clause doesn’t limit our fight,” said Bennett Jensen, the legal director at Egale Canada and co-counsel for UR Pride.
Lawyers for UR Pride urged Megaw last month to allow the challenge, arguing the law passed by Premier Scott Moe’s government limits the rights of gender-diverse youth who are entitled to a safe educational environment.
Part of the argument relies on Section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects people from cruel and unusual treatment or punishment, often used in regards to the penal system.
Last year, New Brunswick enacted policies for young people questioning their gender, bringing in rules that require students 16 and younger to have parental permission to change their names or pronouns at school.
This week, 36 law professors and legal researchers from Alberta’s two largest universities urged the province reconsider its decision, saying the changes violate multiple sections of the Charter and may constitute cruel and unusual treatment.
The original article contains 856 words, the summary contains 218 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!