Top Five 2013: Moore v British Columbia (Education)

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.

Moore v British Columbia (Education), 2012 SCC 61, [2012] 3 S.C.R. 360

As a child, Jeffrey Moore was diagnosed with dyslexia and required intensive support in school. When his public school board’s funding was cut, his special education program was eliminated and Jeffrey’s family had to pay for him to attend a private school that would meet his needs. They filed a complaint against the school board alleging that Jeffrey had suffered discrimination because he had been denied a “service customarily available to the public” because of his disability, contrary to the British Columbia Human Rights Code. The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) had to determine whether special education programs are, by law, part of the education that is customarily available to the public in B.C. or an extra benefit that is not included in the basic educational service. The full decision is available here.