Top Five 2002: Adler v Ontario

Each year at OJEN’s Toronto Summer Law Institute, a judge from the Court of Appeal for Ontario identifies five cases that are of significance in the educational setting. This summary, based on these comments and observations, is appropriate for discussion and debate in the classroom setting.

Adler v Ontario, [1996] 3 RCS 609

Ontario publically funds Roman Catholic schools, but denies funding for schools of other religious denominations. The Supreme Court of Canada was asked to determine whether, by funding only Roman Catholic schools, Ontario discriminated against those with other religious beliefs, contrary to the equality and freedom of religion guarantees in the Charter.  The majority of the court found that this funding scheme did not violate the Charter guarantees because public funding for Roman Catholic Schools was an essential component of Canada’s original constitutional arrangement. The full decision is available here.