Justin Trudeau says he learned this week that Bill 21 isn’t just moot. The question now is what to do with it.
Obviously, Mr. Trudeau was referring to this case of a teacher from the Outaouais who lost her job because she was wearing a hijab.
What complicates his situation a little is the fact that in the main decision on Bill 21, Justice Blanchard said that the notwithstanding clause does not apply to the rights of the English-speaking minority school boards, which remain protected by the section 23 of the Charter. Therefore, the right of Anglophones to control and manage their schools remains intact even if the rest of Bill 21 is sheltered from the eyes of the courts thanks to this notwithstanding clause.
It was not until November that our highest court, the Court of Appeal, finally ruled that Bill 21 will continue to apply until it is tried on the merits.
The piece de resistance
This ping-pong game with already several round trips in the different levels of the courts is only the “pre-game show”.
The showpiece will, of course, be the inevitable Supreme Court of Canada hearing.
In the interest of all, both the apologists of Bill 21 and its detractors, including myself, there is an obvious solution to allow these countless delays to be reduced and the case to be settled once and for all: a direct reference to the law. Supreme Court. And the only person who can do that is Justin Trudeau.
We have heard havoc since the Outaouais teacher’s affair came to light. The conspiracy theory that I read and that made me smile the most is this: she did not have the right to be hired, it is a conspiracy of Anglos and Islamists to make us look bad. ! Ayoye!
Up to the Supreme Court to judge
It is certain that Bill 21 will eventually be judged by the Supreme Court in the light of the Charter which includes the notwithstanding clause used by François Legault. This Supreme Court has nothing to do with those of the past at the constitutional level.
As a lawyer who has worked on numerous constitutional cases over the past decades, I am of the opinion that there is absolutely nothing preordained about his eventual decision on Bill 21. As a lawyer, but of first and foremost as a citizen, I will be more than ready to live with the result. This is our democratic system, and the Supreme Court is one of its key elements.
Lawmakers make laws, government enforces them, and judges interpret them.
Now that Prime Minister Trudeau knows that Bill 21 is not just a theory, that it is a real law that produces real effects in real lives, it is necessary to proceed without further delay to its analysis by our highest court.