Judge says 'chaos' can't continue as province, Anglophone East appear in court
CBC
A judge says there needs to be clarity before September over "who's calling the shots at the Anglophone East" as its school board and the province's education minister clash over a gender identity policy.
"This chaos cannot continue," Court of King's Bench Chief Justice Tracey DeWare said Friday to lawyers representing the sides.
"And by the time students return to classes in September, everybody needs to know who is calling the shots at the Anglophone East School District."
DeWare made the comments during a case management conference in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Policy 713, filed by the the education council against the province and Education Minister Bill Hogan.
The education minister changed the policy last year to require parental consent before using the preferred name or pronoun for students under 16 years old.
The education council's case alleges the policy violates student rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Education Act and the provincial Human Rights Act. The council, which oversees 39 schools with 20,000 students in the Moncton region, passed its own policy that says staff should respect a student's wishes.
It's a policy Hogan has demanded be revoked. The district has sought an injunction to prevent Hogan from revoking it and to block him from dissolving the council.
Hogan had set Thursday at 5 p.m. as a deadline for the district to halt spending on the case. After the district refused, Hogan announced he would seek to dissolve the council.
Under the Education Act, that step requires cabinet approval and an application to the Court of King's Bench where a judge would decide the issue. That application has not yet been filed.
The dissolution request was discussed in court Friday where it became clear it wouldn't be a fast process.
"If the minister decides to pursue the dissolution of the council, of course he'll have to file an application," DeWare said. "That needs to be scheduled by the court, so that's not going to take anyone by surprise."
The judge added, "It's not going to happen in the shadows, or it's not going to happen on short notice."
The judge said if the injunction Anglophone East is seeking isn't granted and the minister applies for dissolution, "then very quickly you can see how we're going to run up against September, and I would hope for all concerned that these issues are resolved by that time."
DeWare spoke after hearing from lawyers for Anglophone East and Hogan about the injunction hearing dates.
Aggressive patients and lack of security are making nurses feel unsafe in a rural Western Manitoba emergency union, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.