The union representing Alberta teachers has launched a legal challenge of the provincial government’s back-to-work legislation.
The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) filed an interlocutory injunction Thursday, asking a judge to immediately pause Bill 2 until a full constitutional challenge is heard.
The case is scheduled to be heard Nov. 20 in Edmonton Court of King’s Bench.
The ATA says it’s asking the court to declare the province’s use of the notwithstanding clause was “improper and invalid,” and that Bill 2 “violates the freedom of association and freedom of expression” under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“This legal action is not symbolic; it is necessary,” said ATA president Jason Schilling.
The government in response, says they intend to “vigorously” defend themselves in court.
“We invoked the notwithstanding clause because students and parents deserve full certainty that children could return to the classroom and stay in the classroom,” reads a statement from Justice Minister Mickey Amery. “We remain focused on long-term stability in education, fair compensation for teachers, and protecting the best interests of students.”
If an injunction is granted, Schilling would not specify if teachers would go right back to the picket lines.
“We will analyze what we do at that time because it does put us back into a strike position,” he said. “And we will make sure that we do what is necessary to ensure that the stand that teachers have taken, the position that they’ve taken around funding and class sizes and classroom conditions will still move forward.”
If instead the judge does not grant an injunction to pause the bill, Schilling says the union plans to continue with the constitutional challenge.
“We will pursue every legal avenue to restore what was taken, not only for teachers, but for the integrity of the Charter itself.”
Last week, Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government invoked the notwithstanding clause to fast-track back-to-work legislation and end a provincewide teachers’ strike that began Oct. 6.
The notwithstanding clause allows governments to override certain Charter rights, but it must be renewed every five years. Smith’s law not only invoked the notwithstanding clause, it imposed on 51,000 teachers a collective bargaining agreement they previously rejected. It also imposed severe fines of up to $500 per day per person for refusing to follow the law.
Schilling called it an “abuse of power” that “sets a dangerous precedence that threatens the fundamental freedoms and legal protections afforded to all Albertans.”
“What began as a dispute over class size and funding has become something far more serious, a question of whether this government believes in the rule of law or merely the rule of power,” he said.
“This clause was not used to protect children or to preserve democracy or to address an emergency. It was used to win an argument. It was used to crush lawful, peaceful collective action, the same kind of action that built safer workplaces, fair pay and public education itself.”
Smith’s use of the notwithstanding clause has drawn criticism, including by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
The province has described the notwithstanding clause as a key tool available to governments to ensure there’s a balance of power between courts and democratically elected governments.
–With files from The Canadian Press