Last week we reported that Judge Eugenia Papageorgiou of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice decided that GAJE should be allowed to plead its case for fairness in educational funding.
Judge Papageorgiou did not decide upon the merits of our case. That was not her role. Her role, rather, was to decide whether the government was right to try to prevent GAJE’s application from being heard at all on its merits.
In 46 pages, Judge Papageorgiou explained why she agreed that our case deserves to be heard in court. We reproduced the essence of her ruling in our update last week.
“There is a reasonable chance that the Grassroots Applicants will be able to satisfy the test in Bedford and Carter (the rules for reassessing Supreme Court decisions). In that regard, there is a reasonable chance that an application judge may find that the Grassroots Applicants have raised: i) new circumstances or evidence which has fundamentally shifted the parameters of the debate; and/or ii) new legal issues as a result of significant developments in the law which support the revisitation of binding precedent.
“My finding in this regard is not based upon one single argument raised by the Grassroots Applicants; it is based upon the combined effect and totality of the new circumstances (social, political and legislative) and developments in the law they have raised.”
It seems clear from the depth of Judge Papageorgiou’s reasoning and from her comprehensive marshalling of the arguments, she believes the underlying issue in the case is of sufficient public policy importance to warrant a hearing.
But the Government of Ontario believes otherwise. The government does not want a hearing on the merits of GAJE’s application. Ontario has advised us that it will seek leave to appeal Judge Papageorgiou’s decision.
Ontario has 30 days from the date of the decision of August 21, 2023 to file its notice of leave to appeal. Of course, GAJE must and will respond to the material in that Notice.
The decision by the Government of Ontario is disappointing. Given the extensive and even exhaustive canvas of the past and present legal terrain by Judge Papageorgiou in her Reasons for Judgement, the decision by the government is almost surreally vindictive as well. The effect of the government’s desire to appeal the ruling will be to delay further an ultimate decision on the merits of the Application. And alas, it will also increase the expense for GAJE in trying to present our case in court.
We urge supporters of our cause to express their disappointment to their elected Members of the Legislature. The government’s tactics are aggressive and unwarranted in a society that aspires to live by a rule of law that pays more than cliched lip service to a foundational respect for human rights and an equally foundational abjuring of unfairness and injustice within the law.
GAJE is seeking the opportunity merely to plead our case in court. Ontario is trying to deprive us of even this fundamental right.
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If you wish to support GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here.
For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com
Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.
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Shabbat shalom.
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
September 1, 2023
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 