Toronto council backs fight against Quebec’s Bill 21, calling it ‘contrary to the values of Torontonians and Canadians’
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In the summer of 2016, an Ontario court struck down Ontario’s sex-ed curriculum, declaring that the provincial government had acted in “bad faith” when it introduced the curriculum without consulting parents and in fact “drew criticism for the lack of parents’ involvement,” according to the National Post. (The court upheld the constitutional right of parents to choose whether their children are taught about issues “in their best interests.”)
In December of 2018, the National Post reported that Toronto Mayor John Tory and city council were planning to introduce a new city resolution calling on the federal government to change the “controversial” Bill 21 into a law. “I don’t think any of this is a done deal,” Tory told the National Post at the time. “We’re all very engaged with the debate.”
Two years later, just weeks before Toronto’s annual Pride parade, the City of Toronto is poised to introduce a new resolution calling on the federal government to amend Bill 21. Tory has repeatedly said he plans to introduce a new city resolution if he doesn’t see movement on Bill 21 from the federal government.
“There are currently no motions at city hall calling on the federal government to amend Bill 21 to respect the Charter,” he told the National Post on Thursday.
It’s a good time to be thinking about this particular issue in Torontonians’ homes and our schools. The first step would be for the City of Toronto to take that first step and introduce a city resolution calling on the federal government to amend Bill 21 to respect the Charter.
But what does the Charter say about freedom of expression and freedom of association, especially when a municipality is trying to protect local schools’ freedom of education?
“The government may not take any unreasonable action that interferes with the freedom of any person to communicate ideas, to assemble,
