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Justice

Quebec teacher challenges Education Minister’s gender transition policy

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8 minute read

From the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms

The administrators notified the teacher that if she disclosed any information about the child’s in-school gender transition during that spring interview, the teacher would be fired immediately.

MONTREAL, QC: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces the launch of a constitutional challenge in Quebec’s Superior Court against the Ministry of Education. This action is brought on behalf of a teacher who refused to lie to the parents of a 14-year-old student seeking a female-to-male gender transition, as her school administration had ordered her to do.

Following directives in the Education Minister’s Guide and Procedures on trans and non-binary persons’ gender identity, the student’s Montreal high school created a set of procedures to make it illegal to inform parents (or guardians) when their child seeks a gender transition.

At the beginning of October 2023, school administrators advised teachers that they should designate the 14-year-old student with the masculine pronouns “he/him” in class. But when dealing with the student’s parents, teachers were ordered to use the student’s given name and feminine pronouns. They gave this order even though there was no evidence or suspicion of parental abuse.

The teacher informed the administration that while she agreed to observe the student’s pronoun preferences, the teacher objected to the requirement that she lie to parents about their child’s gender change, especially during an upcoming parent/teacher interview.

That interview did not occur. Instead, the school allowed the teacher to submit a written report to the student, copied to the parents, which avoided the use of pronouns. While granting this exception, the school made it clear that the teacher would be obligated to meet with the parents during a parent/teacher interview scheduled for the spring if the parents requested such interview. The administrators notified the teacher that if she disclosed any information about the child’s in-school gender transition during that spring interview, the teacher would be fired immediately.

At that point, the teacher, assisted by the Justice Centre, filed the constitutional challenge to nullify the Minister of Education’s Guide and Procedures because, notably, they “contravene parental rights protected by section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms…in defiance of the principles of fundamental justice and without sufficient justification in a free and democratic society.” The teacher also believes that the Guide and Procedures violate the teacher’s section 2 Charter right to freedom of conscience.

Having to lie to her pupil’s parents was the last straw for the plaintiff teacher. “I couldn’t live with myself if I did that,” the teacher stated. “I won’t look them in the eye and intentionally lie about the fact that we are enabling their child to undergo a significant psychosocial intervention without their knowledge.”

According to the teacher’s lawyer, Olivier Séguin, this would be the first time that a court action raised freedom of conscience without also raising freedom of religion. Section 2(a) of the Charter guarantees both freedom of conscience and religion.

“It’s true that the prohibition on lying is common to all religions, but my client’s conscientious objection is not religious in nature,” Mr. Séguin explains.

The teacher went on to say, “Transparent collaboration with parents is essential to my role as a teacher and critical for the long-term wellbeing of children. Lying to parents about how we are treating their children, or about what is going on with children at school, violates the principles of my vocation.”

While it is true that the law does not expressly mention how schools should handle cases like this one, Mr. Séguin says, the Guide’s authors appear to have issued a ministerial directive on the sly, through a “guidance” intended for schools, in which they make the law say things it simply does not say.

For example, in its section entitled “Legal framework” (page 8), the Guide cites section 60 of the Civil Code of Quebec, which states that a request for a name change may be made on the initiative of a minor aged 14 or over, but the Guide ignores section 62, located right next to it, which states that parents must be notified of the request for a change of name and that they are permitted to object.

The Guide’s authors also cite article 71 of the same Civil Code, which also says, like Section 60, a request for a change of gender may be made on the initiative of a minor aged 14 or over. But again, the authors of the Guide fail to note Article 73, which states that parents must be able to object to any such change.

Mr. Séguin does not consider Minister of Education Bernard Drainville responsible for the omissions. The Quebec newspaper Le Devoir had already pointed out that by opposing mixed-sex toilets in schools, he had placed himself in contradiction with “the recommendations of his own ministry,” i.e. the recommendations set out in the Guide.

In the same article, Le Devoir reported that the Guide was the result of collaboration between (1) the Ministry of Justice and (2) the Ministry of Family, (3) the Office Against Homophobia and Transphobia, (4) the Research Chair in Sexual Diversity and Gender Plurality, Université du Québec à Montréal, and (5) the National Table Against Homophobia & Transphobia in Education Networks.

Mr. Séguin says he doesn’t believe the omissions are unintended incompetence, stating, “The irregularities with which the Guide is riddled are both too obvious and too numerous to see anything other than a desire to mislead readers by falsely claiming to translate the letter of the law. I see it as a form of usurpation of power, a denial of democracy.”

As for his client’s position, he says, “Secrecy towards parents, which in practice amounts to lying to them, is a serious violation of the legal contract that binds the state and its citizens.”

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Justice

Democracy watchdog calls for impartial prosecution of Justin Trudeau

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Democracy Watch asked that an independent prosecutor be appointed to look over evidence it provided to get permission to carry out a private prosecution of Trudeau’s role in the SNC-Lavalin affair.

One of Canada’s most well-respected democratic watchdog groups says the Ontario government should organize for an impartial prosecutor to investigate former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s involvement in the SNC-Lavalin affair.  

In a letter dated March 21 written to Ontario’s Attorney General Doug Downey, watchdog Democracy Watch asked directly that an independent prosecutor be appointed to look over evidence from its recent Ontario Court of Justice application to get approval to go ahead with a private prosecution of Trudeau’s role in the 2019 scandal. 

“The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) did a very superficial investigation into the Trudeau Cabinet’s obstruction of the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin,” wrote lawyer Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, on behalf of the group’s board of directors.

Conacher noted that the RCMP “didn’t even interview many witnesses or try to obtain key secret Cabinet communication records, and buried the investigation with an almost two-year delay, and then made a behind-closed-doors, very questionable decision not to prosecute anyone.” 

SNC-Lavalin, which now goes by the name “AtkinsRéalis,” in 2019 pleaded guilty to fraud in a Québec Provincial Court and was hit with a $280 million fine. Company executives also admitted that they had paid $47.7 million in bribes to get contracts in Libya. 

In October 2023, Canadian Liberal MPs on the ethics committee voted to stop the RCMP from testifying about the SNC-Lavalin bribery scandal. 

In June 2023, LifeSiteNews reported that the RCMP denied it was looking into whether Trudeau and his cabinet committed obstruction of justice concerning the SNC-Lavalin bribery scandal. 

In its letter, Democracy Watch called up Downey to strike a committee comprised of persons without political party ties to choose an impartial lawyer to be an Independent Special Prosecutor. This prosecutor would review all the evidence and then make a public decision about Trudeau’s involvement in the affair.  

“The RCMP lacks independence from the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers who handpick the RCMP Commissioner and deputy commissioners and division heads through a secretive process, and they all serve at the pleasure of the Cabinet so they are vulnerable to political interference, which is likely part of the reason the RCMP rolled over and let Trudeau off,” noted Conacher.

Conacher also stated that a public inquiry was needed to see why the RCMP “tried to cover up its investigation” and chose not to prosecute.  

Retired judge also says Trudeau should be prosecuted  

SNC-Lavalin was faced with charges of corruption and fraud concerning about $48 million in payments made to Libyan government officials between 2001 and 2011. The company had hoped to be spared a trial and have its prosecution deferred.

However, in 2019, then-Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould did not go along with the request and contended that both Trudeau and his top Liberal officials had inappropriately applied pressure on her for four months to directly intervene in the criminal prosecution of the group.

Jen Danch of Swadron Associates law firm will be representing Democracy Watch for its application, with Wayne Crookes, founder of Integrity B.C., being a key supporter of it.  

Of interesting note is that the application includes an opinion from an unnamed retired superior court justice who also supports the prosecution effort.  

“There are reasonable and probable grounds to believe that the Prime Minister committed the offence of Obstruction of Justice under s. 139(2) of the Criminal Code and possibly the offence of Breach of Trust by a Public Official under s. 122 of the Criminal Code,” wrote the judge. 

“The facts outlined by the Ethics Commissioner and the evidence of Ms. Wilson-Raybould at the House Committee on Justice indicate that the Prime Minister and his staff set out to interfere in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin by trying to stop the prosecution and replace an apparently properly founded prosecution with a less onerous process that would avoid the consequences of a conviction for SNC-Lavalin.”  

At this time, there will be a hearing in Ottawa on March 28 where a judge will decide procedural processes regarding how or if the prosecution will be allowed to continue.  

Last year, the RCMP confirmed it never talked with Trudeau or was able to view secret cabinet records before declining to levy charges.

As for the initial investigation concerning SNC-Lavalin, Wilson-Raybould testified in early 2019 to Canada’s justice committee that she believed she was moved from her justice cabinet posting to veterans’ affairs due to the fact she did not grant a request from SNC-Lavalin for a deferred prosecution agreement rather than a criminal trial. 

Of note is that a criminal conviction would have banned the company from landing any government contracts for 10 years. 

Trudeau flat-out denied it was being investigated by the RCMP. 

Less than four years ago, Trudeau was found to have broken the federal ethics laws, or Section 9 of the Conflict of Interest Act, for his role in pressuring Wilson-Raybould. 

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Energy

Jury: Greenpeace liable for hundreds of millions in damages over pipeline project protests

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The scene outside the county courthouse in Mandan, North Dakota, where a jury held Greenpeace liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages over its support of sometimes violent protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

From The Center Square

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A North Dakota jury on Wednesday found environmental activist group Greenpeace liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for its activities related to protests of construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Dallas-based Energy Transfer sued Greenpeace over the sometimes violent protests that delayed construction of the pipeline by five months, costing the company lost profits and shareholder value.

A trial over the civil lawsuit began in February and concluded Wednesday, on the second day of deliberations.

Energy Transfer subsidiary Dakota Access LLC installed the roughly 1,200-mile pipeline running from North Dakota to Illinois in 2016 and 2017. In April 2016, a small group of Sioux set up Sacred Stone Camp, a camp to protest the installation of the pipeline under the river on unceded treaty land for fear that the pipeline could leak and contaminate the river and water supply. They also said the pipeline would disrupt sacred burial grounds and other culturally relevant sites.

With funding and other support from environmental activist group Greenpeace and others, the protest grew and eventually attracted international media attention, especially when clashes with law enforcement became violent. Over 100,000 people descended on rural North Dakota in less than a year, many from other states and possibly some from abroad, according to local residents.

Energy Transfer sued Greenpeace, blaming it for the escalation of the protests that delayed completion of the project by five months. The company says the delay cost them lost profits and shareholder value. It sued Greenpeace for $300 million.

Greenpeace maintained its primary involvement in the protests was sending indigenous nonviolent direct action trainers, camping supplies and a biodiesel-powered solar truck to the site and that the lawsuit against it was an attack on First Amendment rights.

This is a developing story.

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