Catholic school funding challenged
Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa
Reva Landau, a retired business systems analyst and non-practicing lawyer living in Toronto, has filed suit against the Ontario government alleging that it is discriminatory for the government to fund Catholic schools beyond the minimum required by their Constitutional "obligation" without extending similar funding to other faiths.
Landau, whose shares our preference for seeing the province move towards one school system, believes that in the interim, if the government goes beyond the mimimum support they are "obliged" to provide Catholic schools under the Constitution, they are doing so voluntarily and cannot claim that the funding in excess of the minimum is non-discriminatory to the members of other faiths.
Landau's Notice of Application can be viewed here (Microsoft Word or Word Viewer required).
This case will be interesting to watch, but win or lose, it will succeed in drawing more attention to the costly and discriminatory makeup of our school system -- and do so at a time when unprecedented austerity will likely result in public sector wage freezes and cuts to truly essential services of far greater importance to Ontarians than segregated Catholic schools.
Landau, whose shares our preference for seeing the province move towards one school system, believes that in the interim, if the government goes beyond the mimimum support they are "obliged" to provide Catholic schools under the Constitution, they are doing so voluntarily and cannot claim that the funding in excess of the minimum is non-discriminatory to the members of other faiths.
Landau's Notice of Application can be viewed here (Microsoft Word or Word Viewer required).
This case will be interesting to watch, but win or lose, it will succeed in drawing more attention to the costly and discriminatory makeup of our school system -- and do so at a time when unprecedented austerity will likely result in public sector wage freezes and cuts to truly essential services of far greater importance to Ontarians than segregated Catholic schools.
The Landau challenge in the news
Andrew Duffy, "Catholic school funding in Charter suit", Ottawa Citizen, 14 Jan 2012.
Postmedia News, "Catholic school funding suit filed", Windsor Star, 14 Jan 2012.
Andrew Duffy, "Ontario woman launches legal challenge to Catholic schools’ taxpayer funding", National Post, 13 Jan 2012.
Kristin Rushowy, "Funding for Ontario's Catholic schools under fire in court challenge", Toronto Star, 13 Jan 2012.
Moira MacDonald, "Catholic school funding challenged", Toronto Sun, 17 Jan 2012.
Postmedia News, "Catholic school funding suit filed", Windsor Star, 14 Jan 2012.
Andrew Duffy, "Ontario woman launches legal challenge to Catholic schools’ taxpayer funding", National Post, 13 Jan 2012.
Kristin Rushowy, "Funding for Ontario's Catholic schools under fire in court challenge", Toronto Star, 13 Jan 2012.
Moira MacDonald, "Catholic school funding challenged", Toronto Sun, 17 Jan 2012.
The Landau challenge discussed on TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paikin
The Agenda with Steve Paikin: Episode on Catholic school funding, 7 Feb 2012 (see the interview and debate).