In December 2015, ETFO made the case at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that the provincial government violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms when it enacted unprecedented legislation in 2012 (i.e., the Putting Students First Act, more commonly known as Bill 115) that stripped the education sector of its right to bargain collectively.
The decision regarding our court challenge was released this afternoon – and the decision confirms that the Ontario government violated the Charter rights of ETFO and other unions’ members when it stripped collective bargaining rights through Bill 115.
In the words of Justice J. Lederer, “I find that between the fall of 2011 and the passage of the Putting Students First Act, Ontario infringed on the applicants’ right, under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to meaningful collective bargaining. When reviewed in the context of the Charter and the rights it provides, it becomes apparent that the process engaged in was fundamentally flawed. It could not, by design, provide meaningful collective bargaining.” [paragraphs 134-135]