Trustees at Toronto’s Catholic school board are attempting to schedule a rogue meeting to get a legal opinion on their constitutional privileges amid an ongoing tug-of-war with the Ford government.
As the province looks at overhauling Ontario’s 72 school boards, Education Minister Paul Calandra said the government could eliminate or severely curtail the elected trustee position and refocus those expenditures into classrooms.
While a final decision has yet to be made, Calandra told Global News that trustees at the province’s 31 English-language public school boards could be eliminated entirely by the end of the year.
The trustee role in French-language school boards, however, would remain untouched, he said, while the position in the Catholic school system would be diminished as a result of constitutional guarantees.
“The Catholic system has a constitutional guarantee with respect to denominational issues within their board,” Calandra told Global News in a sit-down interview.
Calandra added that while Catholic school board trustees would still deal with denominational issues “no matter what we do,” their overall scope could be narrowed to only deal with constitutionally-protected matters.
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“There will still always be some form of a Catholic trustee,” Calandra said.
Markus de Domenico, the Chair of Toronto’s Catholic School Board, suggested the minister’s position is unrealistic.
“Our residents voted for us to advocate for new schools, get buildings fixed, deal with children that are being bullied and deal with special education,” de Domenico said.
The school board trustees — who have been locked out of their emails and are barred from meeting with parents and contacting staff — are now banding together to clarify exactly what the constitution covers.
“This is where the rubber meets the road,” de Domenico said. “We intend to hold our own meeting, to ask for a legal opinion to say this is the role of the trustee.”
While Section 93 of the Canadian Constitution affords legislatures the right to create and amend provincial education laws, those governments are prevented from affecting “any right or privilege with respect to denominational schools.”
In 2001, the Supreme Court of Canada determined that the constitution guarantees a denominational school board several key rights. They are: the right to fair and equitable funding; control over the denominational aspects of their education program; and control over the non-denominational aspects necessary to deliver the denominational elements.
Catholic trustees, de Domenico said, are “eager” to understand how the Ford government interprets the constitution. Trustees are attempting to hold a meeting at the board’s headquarters to table and move a motion asking for a legal opinion to define denominational rights.
Asked whether the Ford government could face a legal challenge, de Dominico said it’s “quite” possible.
“If we get a legal opinion and we present it to the minister and say, ‘Look, in this case, this case, this case, you’re trampling on our basic fundamental rights since confederation,” he said.
“It’s going to be interesting times.”
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