School division, province appeal legal costs

The Christ the Teacher Catholic school division and provincial government are seeking an appeal of a Saskatchewan judge’s decision that they pay almost $1 million in costs associated with a long-running court case.

Justice Donald Layh issued a decision on Jan. 24, ordering that $960,077 be paid to Good Spirit School Division to cover legal fees and other costs incurred in the battle over a school in the village of Theodore, 200 kilometres northeast of Regina.

The school board should cover 30 per cent of those costs, and the government 70 per cent, pending the results of an appeal, Layh concluded.

The decision is related to Layh’s April 20, 2017, decision that non-minorityfaith students should not receive provincial government funding to attend minority-faith schools.

A notice of appeal of that decision was filed in May. The most recent notice of appeal over the fees was filed Wednesday. Lawyer Collin Hirschfeld, representing the Catholic school division, said it is common for related appeals to be heard at the same time.

An appeal date has not been scheduled.

This continues more than a decade of legal action between the Yorkton-area public and separate school divisions.

In 2003, when its public school was slated for closure, a separate school division was created. The new St. Theodore Roman Catholic School was able to remain open given constitutional protection, even though the majority of students are not Catholic. At the time, 13 of 42 students were Catholic, or 31 per cent. The ratio has climbed to 39 per cent in years since.

A trial was held in summer 2016.

Layh found that, by funding non-Catholic students to attend Catholic schools, the province is violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The province in November invoked the notwithstanding clause to effectively nullify the court decision.

Saskatchewan’s Catholic school divisions have worked together in the past months to fundraise $300,000 in anticipation of an appeal.

The notice of appeal argues, among other issues, that “the trial judge erred in failing to exercise his discretion as to costs judiciously.”

It also argues that Layh found “the respondent was a public interest litigant but disregard(ed) the similar status of the appellant…”

School divisions receive their funding from the provincial government. As of July, the province had spent an estimated $5 million on the case.