Alberta teachers weren't denied their fundamental human rights when the provincial government barred them from serving on local school boards, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday.
In an eight-to-one ruling, the court rejected the claim by four teachers, backed by the Alberta Teachers' Association, that their freedom of expression, right to serve in government and equality before the law were being restricted.
In 2004, a provincial law came into effect making school board employees ineligible to serve as school trustees. It was intended to prevent conflicts of interest on matters like school budget votes.
Under the new legislation, teachers who wanted to run for the school board had to take unpaid leave for the campaign and resign if elected. The annual board member salary of $12,000 meant that teachers could not afford to sit without their day jobs.
Before the amendments, which originated with a private member's bill in 2002, school board employees were only restricted from running for election in the jurisdiction where they were employed.
Appealing teachers Ronald David Baier, George Ollenberger and Liam McNiff were serving as school trustees when the amendment came into effect. Keith intended to seek election.
Justice Marshal Rothstein, writing the opinion for the court, agreed that the law interfered with the ability of teachers to run for office. However, he concluded that running for a school board position is not a constitutionally protected freedom.
The Charter of Rights does guarantee the freedom to run for Parliament or the legislatures, but local school boards are created and governed by provincial law, Rothstein said.
"It is not for this court to create constitutional rights in respect of a third order of government where the words of the Constitution, read in context, do not do so," he wrote.
The court also ruled the amendments don't interfere with freedom of expression, since teachers can still express their opinions by presentations, lobbying or letter writing.
A claim that the legislation undermined the principle of equal treatment before the law was also rejected. Rothstein said that teachers are not historically a deprived or disadvantaged group — the usual legal basis for claims of discriminatory treatment.
The sole dissenter was Justice Morris Fish, who said that denying teachers the chance to run for school boards deprived them of an effective platform to participate in democratic discussion of education policy.
"The impugned legislation restricts the appellants' freedom to express themselves politically — a form of expression that is manifestly entitled to the highest degree of constitutional protection," he wrote.
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