The government bringing on new lawyers preceded dates for substantive argument being moved ahead by months.
Published Oct 17, 2023 • Last updated 14 hours ago • 2 minute read
Lawyers Adam Goldenberg, of Toronto-based firm McCarthy Tétrault LLP, left, and Bennett Jensen, legal director at LGBTQ+ lobby group Egale Canada, right, walk out of the Court of Kings Bench after meeting with a judge regarding legal action against Saskatchewan’s preferred pronoun policy on Monday, September 18, 2023 in Regina. Photo by KAYLE NEIS /Regina Leader-Post
The Saskatchewan government has solicited the services of a private law firm to help with the court case brought against its pronouns policy.
A spokesperson for the provincial Ministry of Justice confirmed this through an email to the Leader-Post, noting that in-house government lawyers will “support and collaborate with” private lawyers from the firm MLT Aikins.
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“The Ministry of Justice and Attorney General regularly consults with and contracts private legal representation, as necessary, based on workload and the circumstances of the case,” Noel Busse wrote.
The case involves a government policy, which would’ve required school staff to obtain parental consent before using a preferred name and pronoun requested by a student under age 16, being challenged as unconstitutional by non-profit LGBTQ+ support organization UR Pride.
A judge granted an injunction, temporarily halting the implementation of the policy on the basis that it could cause irreparable harm. However, before further arguments could be made in court, the government introduced legislation putting the policy into a proposed law, and used the notwithstanding clause to shield it from constitutional scrutiny.
This raised questions about the future of the UR Pride legal action, but all signs now point to it going ahead, nonetheless.
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MLT Aikins, a large law firm with offices across Western Canada, was used by the province as it sought to challenge the federal government’s carbon tax at the Supreme Court of Canada.
When the firm was retained in November of 2019, the government estimated the firm’s help on that matter would cost $400,000 to $500,000.
In the case at hand, Busse stated it is too early in the proceedings to provide a proper estimate on costs, but he noted the government will be working to ensure “proper oversight of costs is in place.”
Bennett Jensen, who is the legal department director for Egale Canada, and co-counsel for UR Pride on its legal action against the government policy, told the Leader-Post that the province bringing on new lawyers resulted in a delay in the case.
Early this month, he said there was a conference with the judge.
“And as is typical when new council comes on, they asked for additional time to get up to speed,” he said.
“They asked for dates quite far in the future.”
He said UR Pride opposed this, urging the judge to speed things along.
The judge decided on what amounted to something of a compromise. Hearing dates originally scheduled in November for what’s being referred to as the “substantive arguments,” which should make clear the parties’ positions on constitutionality, have now been moved to February.
According to the Court of King’s Bench, the last week of February 2024 has been set aside for the case.
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