Top court to decide on BCTF appeal
The Supreme Court of Canada will announce Thursday if it will hear an appeal in the long-running B.C. Teachers’ Federation court case.
The announcement will be made at 6:45 a.m. and is expected to say whether the nation’s highest court will hear the teachers’ appeal of a B.C. Supreme Court decision about collective bargaining rights.
The BCTF is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to reconsider the B.C. Court of Appeal decision that overturned Justice Susan Griffin’s decision in 2014 to restore classroom composition rules, class size rules and specialist teacher ratios to the teachers’ contract. The Appeal Court found that teachers’ constitutional rights were not violated by legislation imposed in 2002 that stripped those elements from the contract. Questions at the heart of the case include whether the government can legislate away contract terms, what the term consultation means and whether consultation adequately addresses the constitutional right of association.
If the application to appeal is dismissed, that will be the end of the case and no reasons will be given by the court.
If the application to appeal is granted, the BCTF will have 30 days to file its appeal with the court. The Supreme Court of Canada’s website says it takes about 10 months from the date the decision is made to go ahead with the appeal to the date of the hearing.
Hearings at the court last only a few hours and sometimes a decision is given immediately. That is rare, however, and usually a decision takes about six months.