School divisions trial concludes

Legal arguments in a trial pitting the local public and Catholic school divisions against each other have finally wrappedup after more than a decade.

Originally scheduled for five weeks last fall, legal teams for Good Spirit School Division (GSSD), Christ the Teacher Catholic Schools (CTTCS) and the Government of Saskatchewan quickly chewed through that time and required two more sessions over the winter and summer for a total of 15 weeks.

At issue is whether Separate School Divisions can receive provincial funding for non-Catholic students.

York School Division (which was later rolled up into GSSD) brought the suit against St. Theodore School in 2004 arguing the creation of a Catholic school division in Theodore was created not to serve the minority Catholic population, but to circumvent the closure of Theodore Public School.

Minority religious education rights are enshrined in the Constitution as a condition of confederation.

The trial was a marathon of constitutional and technical arguments, which wrapped up on Friday morning at Court of Queen’s Bench in Yorkton.

Justice Donald Layh has yet to schedule a date for a decision or even a date to set a date