Anglophone East rejects minister's ultimatum in Policy 713 legal clash
CBC
The Anglophone East district education council has rejected the education minister's demand that it stop spending money on a lawsuit against the government over gender-identity policies.
In a letter to Bill Hogan, chair Harry Doyle says the council will only agree to the demand if the minister promises in writing to not "repeal or remove" the district's policy, which he has already said he is repealing.
Hogan had demanded the council comply with his demands by 5 p.m. Thursday or else he would go to court himself to dissolve the council.
Doyle rejected the ultimatum in his letter.
Provincial law "provides that locally elected DECs, responsible to their electorates, decide how to implement public education in their respective school district subject to the Education Act," he wrote.
Hogan issued a statement about an hour after his deadline saying the DEC had left him "no options but to commence the process for dissolution" of the council.
His statement accused Anglophone East of "diverting almost $300,000 from classrooms to Ontario-based lawyers to file a motion to fight the rights of parents to be informed about their kids under 16."
The minister must apply to the court to dissolve the DEC and it's unclear how quickly that might happen.
It is the latest escalation in an extraordinary legal and constitutional confrontation between the Moncton-based district education council and the minister over the province's Policy 713.
The government updated the policy last year to require school staff to get parents' consent when a student younger than 16 wants to adopt a new name or pronoun at school.
Anglophone East argued that that would violate the rights of students under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Education Act and the provincial Human Rights Act.
The council adopted its own policy on implementing 713, which says school staff "shall respect the direction of the student in regard to the name and pronouns they wish to be called in daily interactions with school personnel and other students."
It has gone to court asking for a judge to block any attempt by Hogan to repeal the policy or dissolve the council.
Hogan argues the council can spend money from its budget "for educational purposes only" and must stop spending on the lawsuit.
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