REGINA — The Saskatchewan government is disappointed in the ruling that will allow a court challenge to proceed over the law requiring parental consent for children under 16 who want to change their names or pronouns at school.
“We are very disappointed in this decision and concerned about the potential precedent that it may set on the use of the Notwithstanding Clause, which has been an integral piece of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Constitution of Canada since 1982,” said Saskatchewan’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General Bronwyn Eyre Friday in a statement issued by the provincial government.
Justice Michael Megaw has said in his ruling that the applicant, UR Pride, an LGBTQ group in Regina, should still be allowed to make its case surrounding the Charter of Rights and Freedoms even if the Charter's notwithstanding clause has been invoked.
Eyre’s statement said, “We are still reviewing Justice Megaw’s decision. However, we remain committed to using all tools necessary to protect parental rights, including requesting a stay of this decision and an appeal all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary. The Government of Saskatchewan will not hesitate to also use the Notwithstanding Clause to protect the Parents Bill of Rights from the Section 12 argument, an unprecedented Charter argument generally used in penal cases, whose legal threshold is that society would consider the 'punishment' ‘abhorrent’ and ‘intolerable.’ This is not the case with parental rights, which the majority of Canadians support.”
The law in question prevents children under 16 from changing their names or pronouns at school without receiving parental consent. It was passed in October of 2023 after the Saskatchewan Party government recalled the legislature for a special sitting, and invoked the notwithstanding clause to allow it to override sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Saskatchewan's Human Rights Code.
This was after lawyers for UR Pride obtained a court injunction until a constitutional challenge could be heard. They argued the policy violates Charter rights and could cause teachers to out or misgender children.
Friday’s statement said Eyre plans to immediately write to other Attorneys General across the country regarding the potential precedent on the use of the Notwithstanding Clause.
“This is a historic decision for Canadian jurisprudence, as no Superior Court in Canada has ever decided that it may issue a declaration respecting an alleged Charter breach, in the face of a validly invoked Notwithstanding Clause. The importance of this decision for all provincial legislatures cannot be overstated.”
