The headline above says it all. And cuts very deeply.
A three-member panel of the Divisional Court agreed with the Province of Ontario that GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding should be dismissed. In arriving at this decision, the court set aside Judge Eugenia Papageorgiou’s decision in late 2023, dismissing Ontario’s motion to strike the application, saying that it was not plain and obvious that the application would fail.
Judge Papageorgiou ruled that the SCC’s Adler decision in 1996 might be eligible for review in light of the circumstances and legal developments that have occurred since 1996. She made no ruling regarding the substance of GAJE’s claim. Instead, she decided that there were good reasons to let GAJE’s claim receive a full hearing on its merits. In other words, she dismissed Ontario’s assertion that the application was doomed to fail. Ontario appealed this ruling.
We will offer no comments upon the Divisional Court’s reasoning overturning Judge Papageorgiou’s decision. Suffice to say, GAJE disagrees with the court’s analysis and conclusion.
We do however comment again, how deep is our disappointment that the Government of Ontario, will not even abide a hearing of GAJE’s claim. We do comment again that Ontario is the only province, apart from the Atlantic provinces, that contributes nothing toward the education of its children in independent schools, while paying for the entire K-12 education of the children in Roman Catholic schools.
And so, we ask again: how is this fair in 2024? How does open, though legally-protected discrimination not offend the conscience of the premier and/or of the Minister of Education? How can Ontario truthfully say that it honours and ensures the equal worth of all its children?
It cannot.
GAJE will fight on. We have instructed our counsel to seek leave to appeal. We will pursue every legal avenue, until the end.
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If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding, 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
Am Yisrael Chai
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
September 13, 2024
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 