The Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan/Court of Queen’s Bench in downtown Regina. Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal has overturned a lower court decision that found provincial funding for non-Catholic students in Catholic schools unconstitutional. The unanimous decision means the government will not have to invoke the notwithstanding clause — as it had promised to do — to protect that funding and avoid a major cash crunch for Catholic schools across the province. The government and Catholic school boards had both argued that the funding is necessary to ensure “school choice” for non-Catholic parents. Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Donald Layh disagreed in a 2017 decision, declaring that the funding violated “the state’s duty of religious neutrality” and contradicts the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But the appeal court set aside that ruling in a decision released Wednesday. “The trial judge’s declaration of constitutional invalidity is set aside and Good Spirit’s action against the Government and Christ the Teacher is dismissed,” the court wrote. The province’s highest court found that the benefits of government’s funding approach outweighs the harms of any potential infringement to Charter rights. It also found errors in Layh’s interpretation of those Charter rights. It concluded that the […]
