Lawyers argue legality of court injunction to protect DEC policy pending Charter case
Chief Justice Tracey DeWare will deliver her decision on one of the legal questions in a case surrounding Policy 713 by June 3, 2024, though the Court of King’s bench judge said she would “do [her] darndest” to have the decision released sooner.
DeWare presided over a hearing on Tuesday looking at whether or not the Anglophone East District Education Council (DEC) can ask the court for temporary injunctions against the Department of Education, while the court decides on the district’s constitutional challenge to provincial policy 713.
The policy was amended by Education Minister Bill Hogan last summer, to require teachers not to use names and pronouns requested by students under 16 unless they first get advance approval from parents.
The DEC launched a constitutional challenge to Hogan’s revised policy in April based on the idea that it asks them to discriminate against students based on their gender identity. At the same time they asked the court to temporarily prevent the enforcement of the policy and the dissolution of the DEC, something Hogan has threatened.
On Tuesday, DeWare told the court she would be considering only the legal question of whether the court ‘can’ impose an injunction, and not whether or not it ‘should’. A second, four day long hearing is scheduled for June to consider the ‘should’ question, if DeWare allows the motion to proceed.
