Supreme Court of Canada dismisses Nunavut’s bid to toss out school language case

The Supreme Court of Canada (SCOC) and Justice and Confederation Building of Parliament Hill are pictured in Ottawa on Monday, June 3, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA — A lawsuit over the right to Inuit language instruction in the Nunavut public school system is a step closer to being heard following a Supreme Court of Canada decision.

The top court has dismissed the Nunavut government’s latest bid to have the lawsuit thrown out before the parties make full arguments.

Two Inuit mothers with school-aged children and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, a non-profit that represents Inuit interests in the territory, launched the case against the Nunavut government.

Under Nunavut legislation, all schools were to provide fully bilingual instruction — Inuktut and either English or French — from kindergarten to Grade 12 by July 1, 2019.

But the deadline passed with Inuit language instruction available only from kindergarten to grade 3.

In 2019, the legislation was amended and the requirement to provide bilingual education for all students from kindergarten to Grade 12 was postponed by 20 years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2025.