Supreme Court to weigh in on Saskatchewan’s school pronoun case

The Supreme Court will review a challenge to Saskatchewan's law limiting students under 16 from changing names or pronouns at school without parental consent.

The Supreme Court of Canada granted leave Thursday to hear appeals in a challenge of Saskatchewan’s school pronoun law.

No date has been set for the court to hear the cross appeals from the provincial government and UR Pride, an LGBTQ+ group in Regina.

Speaking with reporters on Thursday following question period, Premier Scott Moe said his government was pleased to hear the development.

“It’s good, we asked for them to hear the appeal. They’re going to hear it. So, we’ll see what the result of that is,” he said.

The law prevents children under 16 from changing their names or pronouns at school without parental consent.

Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government introduced it as a policy in 2023, arguing parents should be involved in decisions their children make at school.

Lawyers for UR Pride challenged the rule in court, arguing it violates Charter rights and causes irreparable harm to gender diverse youth.

A judge granted an injunction to halt the rule. But a month later, the province put it into law and invoked the notwithstanding clause, allowing it to override certain Charter rights for five years.

RELATED STORY: Saskatchewan requests Supreme Court of Canada hear its appeal to pronoun law quickly

The province argued the challenge should be thrown out because it invoked the clause, but Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal ruled earlier this year it can continue.

It said the court can’t strike down the legislation because of the notwithstanding clause, but it can issue a declaratory judgment on whether the law violates constitutional rights.

It also ruled UR Pride can still argue the law be struck down, because the clause wasn’t applied to Section 12 of the Charter — the right to be free from cruel and unusual treatment. The province cited other sections when it invoked the clause.

The group and the province both appealed and asked Canada’s highest court to expedite the case to be heard alongside a challenge of a Quebec law that prevents public sector workers from wearing religious symbols on the job.

Quebec also invoked the notwithstanding clause in its law.

“This is a space where Quebec has a lot more experience than us, and not only the use of the notwithstanding clauses, and they’ve used it more than all other provinces added up,” Moe added. “And they’ve been to Supreme Court in this type of an instance, more than most provinces as well.”

The premier noted that he hasn’t been briefed on what the government’s arguments will consist of during the upcoming proceedings.

Tim McLeod, Saskatchewan’s minister of justice and attorney general, broadly outlined the government’s stance on the issue, defending the province’s use of Section 33 of the Charter, more commonly known as the notwithstanding clause, and the separation between legislative and judicial matters.

“We’ve always contended that Section 33 doesn’t trample on rights. It is one of the Charter rights, and it’s there as a democratic right,” McLeod argued. “Section 33 is there for that elected government to exercise, with their discretion to allow them to pass laws that may otherwise be in contravention of Charter rights. It’s not there for judicial interpretation. It’s there for democratic use.”

Early last month, Premier Moe joined other provincial leaders to urge Prime Minister Mark Carney to withdraw the federal government’s court submission in the case of Quebec’s secularism law.

The leaders, including Moe, called Ottawa’s arguments in the case a “complete disavowal of the constitutional bargain.”

RELATED STORY: Moe joins other premiers in urging Carney to withdraw court submission on notwithstanding clause

Late Thursday afternoon, UR Pride provided a statement regarding the Supreme Court’s announcement.

“Today marks the beginning of a National conversation, one which will make history,” the statement read.

“As always, we will be a voice for the silenced and defend queer and trans youth who have been marked by Scott Moe and his Sask. Party Government.”

-With files from The Canadian Press.