Adler v. Ontario, [1996] 3 S.C.R. 609;
- Dec 31, 1995
- 1 min read
[1996] 3 S.C.R. 609, 140 D.L.R. (4th) 385, 204 N.R. 81, 95 O.A.C. 1, 40 C.R.R. (2d) 1. Several parents who wished to send their children to private Jewish or Christian schools challenged the lack of public funding for these schools. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Charter rights guarantees cannot be used to challenge section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867. Justice Iacobucci, writing for the majority, said: In my view, any analysis of denominational school rights must take as its starting point the guarantees contained in s. 93(1). If the rights claimed are not found in this subsection, I fail to see how other sections of the Constitution, in particular s. 2(a) of the Charter, can be used to enlarge upon s. 93`s constitutionally blessed scheme for public funding of denominational schools. See also the factum of the intervener, Canadian Civil Liberties Association (note, this intervener is opposed to funding for religiously-based private schools).
