On Dec. 8, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of the Commission scolaire francophone des Territoires du NordSA国际影视传媒慜uest (CSFTNO) in a complex saga dating back roughly five years.
The court found that the GNWT made the wrong decision when it denied six children from five families admission into the French school board in 2018 and 2019.
SA国际影视传媒淚 feel good with the decision,SA国际影视传媒� said Yvonne Careen, CSFTNOSA国际影视传媒檚 superintendent since 2014. SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 going to be very helpful moving forward.SA国际影视传媒�
At the time the children were refused admission, many families had a constitutional right to enrol their children in French first language (FFL) schools, as outlined in Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Families without that right, such as the five in question, could request permission to enrol their children through the NWTSA国际影视传媒檚 education minister, who had the discretion to grant them admission.
Despite having the support of CSFTNO, all five families were denied by then-minister Caroline Cochrane because they did not meet the latest GNWT criteria, which is when the resulting legal proceedings began.
CSFTNOSA国际影视传媒檚 primary concern at the time was that, by rejecting the familiesSA国际影视传媒� applications, the GNWT had weakened the right to education in a minority language as detailed in Section 23 of the Charter.
One of the first major moments of the case occurred in 2020, when NWT Supreme Court Justice Paul Rouleau found that CochraneSA国际影视传媒檚 decision to limit student access to francophone schools was SA国际影视传媒渋rrationalSA国际影视传媒� and SA国际影视传媒渋llogical.SA国际影视传媒�
The GNWT later brought the issue to the Court of Appeal, which ultimately found that Cochrane was justified in her decision to deny the studentsSA国际影视传媒� admissions to FFL schools.
That led to CSFTNO taking the issue to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2022.
SA国际影视传媒淲hen we got the appeal decision, then it was very clear that we had grounds to move further, because one of the judges, Judge [Patricia] Rowbotham of the Court of Appeal, she was not in agreement with the other two judges,SA国际影视传媒� Careen recounted. SA国际影视传媒淲e knew at that point that, with a dissenting judge, we have a good shot of being heard at the Supreme Court of Canada.
SA国际影视传媒淎s we thought, they accepted to hear our appeal on all points that we made. The appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was heard on February 9, 2023, and we ended up with this decision Friday, December 8, 2023.SA国际影视传媒�
In 2020, the GNWT enacted new regulations concerning admissions into the territorySA国际影视传媒檚 FFL schools. The new regulations gave CSFTNO greater say in the students it admits into its schools. As a result, the courtSA国际影视传媒檚 Dec. 8 decision will not have a huge impact on the admission process as it exists today.
However, the decision affirms that SA国际影视传媒榮chool boards know bestSA国际影视传媒� when it comes to who should be admitted into schools, Careen said.
She also noted that SA国际影视传媒渋tSA国际影视传媒檚 not only regarding admissions that the Minister of Education must consider Article 23.SA国际影视传媒�
SA国际影视传媒淚n any decision regarding education of the minority (language in a province or territory), Section 23 must be taken under consideration,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淪o this is true in the Northwest Territories, but this has a pan-Canadian impact in that itSA国际影视传媒檚 jurisprudence that will work in favour of all the Francophone school boards and also the English school board in Quebec.SA国际影视传媒�
Following the courtSA国际影视传媒檚 decision, Careen said she and the CSFTNO board have SA国际影视传媒渘o ill will at allSA国际影视传媒� toward the GNWT, and that she looks forward to SA国际影视传媒渁 new relationship of cooperationSA国际影视传媒� between the two parties.
When asked for comment on the Supreme CourtSA国际影视传媒檚 decision, a spokesperson with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) provided the following statement:
SA国际影视传媒淭he Government of the Northwest Territories has received the decision from the Supreme Court of Canada and will take the time to assess the decision and how our government will implement the decision going forward,SA国际影视传媒� it stated. SA国际影视传媒淭his is an area of the law that was previously unclear, with the Supreme Court of the NWT and the NWT Court of Appeal coming to different decisions. It dealt with important issues that the GNWT now has guidance on from the Supreme Court of Canada.
SA国际影视传媒淚t is important to clarify that the release of this decision does not have any impact on access to the Commission scolaire francophone Territoires du Nord-Ouest schools for the families that participated in the appeal. In October 2021, the minister of education granted the four students that would still have been impacted by the court proceedings admission to CSFTNO schools, recognizing that removal from the school could be disruptive to their education after having been immersed in the schools.
SA国际影视传媒淭he GNWT will continue to work in partnership with CSFTNO surrounding the admission of non-rights holders into the NWTSA国际影视传媒檚 francophone schools. The GNWT is committed to supporting the protection of the French language through the provision of French first language education in the NWT and to providing equitable access to education for all students.SA国际影视传媒�
