
N.B. judge denies group's request for more information in gender-identity policy lawsuit
CBC
A judge has sided with the New Brunswick government in one decision, and against it in another in the lawsuit against its school gender-identity policy.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has filed a lawsuit alleging that changes to Policy 713 were made after a "flawed and unfair process by a Minister who exhibited a 'closed mind' and a reasonable apprehension of bias."
As a result of the changes, the policy requires parental consent before school staff can use the chosen names and pronouns of students under 16.
In one decision, Justice Richard Petrie dismissed the association's request to force the province to release "a further and better record" of the policy review process.
In another decision, Petrie dismissed the province's request to put Charter issues on pause and only deal with whether the policy goes against the Education Act.
The lawsuit was filed in September, but it is still going through preliminary stages. Part of the delay is a disagreement about what documents the judge should actually be reviewing to decide whether to strike down the policy.
The association argued that documents showing the decision to begin the review should be included. But the province argued the decision to begin the review was a "political" one, and therefore not up for judicial review.
In a decision released this week, Petrie sided with the province.
Petrie said that the process of judicial review limits him to reviewing only the changes to the policy and does not include why the review started.
The association alleged that some documents released show that the process was biased from the beginning, and changes to the policy were decided even before the review officially started.
The judge said the association did not properly prove that.
"I view the Applicants' allegations to largely remain speculative and unsubstantiated," Petrie wrote.
Harini Sivalingam, director of the association's equality program,, said in an interview the decision was disappointing but there is no plan to appeal.
"This would cause further delays in vindicating the very important constitutional rights of trans and gender-diverse students at stake," she said.