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Education law

  • Image: "Stop school closure OLB" by Backbone Campaign is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
As Mothers’ day 2021 approached, schools closed in Alberta and Ontario and parts of Manitoba. At the time of writing, Alberta’s schools had reopened, but schools in Ontario and parts of Manitoba remained closed. B.C. schools closed briefly in March, 2020,...

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  • Image: "New innovative learning spaces improve Okanagan Mission Secondary school" by BC Gov Photos is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
I have previously written about section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Charter). Section 23 enshrines in our constitution the right of children of Canadian citizens to study French. Depending on the circumstances, this may be by...

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 “One-quarter of Kelowna elementary students 'below expectations',” a headline recently read. As a parent, and as a lawyer, I confess that I am puzzled by the prominence given in the media to these “rankings”, year after year. Would the Fraser Institute’s ranking...

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  • Image: "Study" by Tim Swinson | http://timswinson.com is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Clearly, some members of society are being left behind amid responses to  corona virus. Women, the disabled and the impoverished are particularly affected. Between March and June, schools in B.C. and Alberta abruptly closed. Alberta’s government is closing middle and high schools again...

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  • Photo: "construction zone" by granth is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Demand remains high for French immersion programs in Western Canada. Despite the high demand, many parents remain disappointed with the opportunities afforded to their children.  Constitutional Status The opportunity for children of Canadian citizens to study French, whether by attending a Francophone school...

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  • Photo: "Snapshots of my whiteboard" by nilexuk is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Last week, we looked at the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision in Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique v. British Columbia. That decision confirmed that the Province of British Columbia unjustifiably infringed section 23(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights...

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  • Photo: "The view at random times" by jon_a_ross is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
Have you ever encountered a situation in which you knew an organization was being unfair, but you weren’t sure what to do about it? It is possible that a violation of the administrative law duty of procedural fairness may have occurred.  This is...

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  • Photo: "SA teachers to strike today" by publik16 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Some believe that class sizes in Okanagan schools are rigidly limited to a certain number of students: 20 in kindergarten, 22 in grades 1-3, 28 in intermediate split classes, 30 in certain other classes, and so on. This is not...

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  • Photo: "Learning to read" by montessori toolkit is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Last week, we began looking at the ongoing dispute between the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and the B.C. government.    In 2011 and 2014, two British Columbia Supreme Court decisions sided with the BCTF. Both decisions held that the government’s attempts...

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