Court decision expected on Saskatchewan pronoun policy appeal

On Monday morning, a decision is expected from Saskatchewan’s highest court, the Sask. Court of Appeals, on a lower court decision around the provincial government’s controversial pronoun policy.

UR Pride is at the forefront of a lawsuit over the pronoun policy that requires people 16 and younger to get the consent of a parent of guardian before they can officially change their name and gender in the province’s schools.

In its filing, UR Pride argues the law violates students’ constitutional rights.

Before that suit could be heard, the Government of Saskatchewan argued that the court shouldn’t hear any such lawsuit because the province invoked the notwithstanding clause in the law, which would allow it to continue whether it’s found to violate the constitution or not.

In February last year, a Court of King’s Bench justice found the courts should still be able to hear the case, despite the use of the clause.

The decision set to come down on Monday is the decision on the government’s appeal of the King’s Bench ruling.

The two sides gave their arguments in the appeal last fall.

A decision overturning the lower court finding could stop the case in its tracks and a decision affirming the King’s Bench decision could end up at an even higher court — last year, then-Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre said she would take the issue all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada if she had to.

The pronoun policy was implemented in 2023 and then enshrined into law that fall, despite a large uproar from many in the LGBTQ2S+ community across the country.

Saskatchewan’s Advocate for Children and Youth weighed in, saying the policy is discriminatory and has the potential to harm children.