The Canadian Union of Public Employees wants to be heard by the King's bench. The union joins the fight against a bill they believe "infringes on workers' rights."
This is one of the main concerns of CUPE Saskatchewan President Kent Peterson. He explained to the Meridian Source why they chose to get involved and hope to be heard.
"Bill 137 is really a historic piece of legislation, and it's unprecedented in a lot of ways." said Peterson. "Chief among them is that it invokes the notwithstanding clause preemptively to suspend Charter rights."
"CUPE Saskatchewan determined with its coalition partners, in this case, the Canadian Teachers Federation and the Saskatchewan Federation of Labor, that we actually have a unique perspective to offer on this case, that has not yet been covered."
Last Fall the Saskatchewan Government passed a bill after 40 hours of debate. The bill requires children who are under the age of 16 to get parental consent before changing their name and or pronouns at school. Peterson sees three issues with the current process.
1. It inflicts harm on Saskatchewan's young people
2. It compels education workers to inflict harm and infringes on their rights
3. To preemptively suspend charter rights,
"In our opinion, Bill 137, including its use of the notwithstanding clause, it's a dangerous precedent, to preemptively suspend Charter rights in the future, whether it be the Saskatchewan provincial government that might be more apt to do that, or other provincial governments across the country," said Peterson.
They are hoping the court will grant their application to be heard for these reasons. In the end, they hope the original ruling is upheld which would allow the court to determine if the legislation is constitutional or not.
The Court of Appeal will make its decision on if the unions can be heard on September 21, 2024.
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