REGINA — Amnesty International Canada says it will be an intervenor in the case before the Supreme Court of Canada on Saskatchewan’s Bill 137.
This is the constitutional challenge by UR Pride Centre for Sexuality and Gender Diversity to that bill requiring students under 16 to obtain parental consent for name changes in schools.
The provincial government has attempted to use the notwithstanding clause to enact the changes, but both the King’s Bench and Court of Appeal have sided with the applicants’ court challenge, and the government has now appealed the case to the Supreme Court.
Amnesty International Canada says it is one of 22 organizations to be granted intervenor status in the case.
In a news release, Amnesty says it will file a written submission of up to 10 pages. Intervenors are also invited to make oral submissions of up to five minutes each before the court.
Amnesty says it will be represented by lawyers Gib van Ert and Dahlia Shuhaibar, of the firm Olthuis van Ert, who represented Amnesty at the Court of Appeal on a pro bono basis.
In its written submission to the court, Amnesty says it is arguing the interpretation of the notwithstanding clause must align with Canada’s obligations under international law to uphold the right to an effective remedy.
“We at Amnesty International Canada are pleased to participate in a court case that promises to have major implications for the protection of human rights across Canada, starting with the rights of trans youth in Saskatchewan,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section, in a statement. “We will be clear throughout our intervention and our public advocacy: the notwithstanding clause does not erase people’s Charter rights, nor does it extinguish their right to seek justice when those rights have been violated.”
A date for that Supreme Court appeal hearing is yet to be set, though it is expected to happen in 2026.
