(St. Theodore School/Facebook)

By CKOM

Theodore case going to Supreme Court of Canada

Apr 9, 2020 | 4:44 PM

Public Schools of Saskatchewan said Thursday it plans to appeal the recent decision on funding for a school in Theodore to the Supreme Court of Canada.

On March 25, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled unanimously in favour of an appeal of the Theodore case. That decision overturned a 2017 ruling that said it was unconstitutional for the provincial government to pay for non-Catholic students to attend Catholic schools.

The successful appeal meant the current system of public and separate schools would remain in Saskatchewan.

On Thursday, Public Schools of Saskatchewan said it would appeal to the Supreme Court on behalf of the Good Spirit School Division.

“For more than 15 years, we have pursued every avenue possible, including mediation with government and the organization representing Catholic school boards, to clarify the mandate of separate schools in this province,” Colleen MacPherson, chair of Public Schools of Saskatchewan, said in a media release.

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“We were forced into the courts and now, with two very different decisions, the Supreme Court of Canada must be the final arbiter.”

MacPherson stressed the case isn’t about whether separate schools have the right to exist in Saskatchewan, but rather whether they should be receiving public funding while admitting students of a minority faith.

The court case stems from a long-standing clash between the public and Catholic school boards around the village of Theodore, about 40 kilometres northwest of Yorkton.

In 2003, Theodore’s public school was set to close, but a group of Catholics in the area successfully petitioned the province to form the Theodore Roman Catholic School Division, which eventually became a part of Christ the Teacher School Division (CTSD).

The group purchased the building and reopened it as a Catholic school.

Whether Catholic or not, parents in the area decided they preferred to send their kids to the local school rather than busing them to the public school in Springside, about 15 minutes away on Highway 16, under the Good Spirit School Division (GSSD).

When it first opened in 2003, St. Theodore Roman Catholic had 42 students enrolled — but only 13 of them were Roman Catholic. That number has fluctuated over the years.

In 2005, the GSSD filed a legal complaint, alleging it was against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for the CTSD to get funding for non-Catholic students when the GSSD was acting as the public board in the area.

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