Religious Toronto private school sues Ont. government over closure
Posted May 20, 2021 5:34 pm.
Last Updated May 20, 2021 8:17 pm.
A religious Toronto private school has launched legal action against the Ontario government after being forced to close its facility because of the lockdown.
The North York school says the religious rights of its students are being harmed by the current rules, and the government fails to account for its “unique religious needs and obligations”.
“The current lockdown restrictions, in effect, require children to lose all meaningful access to religious services and observance in order to uphold core teachings and beliefs,” read a statement from the school regarding the legal action.
The statement says the case is expected to be heard within weeks “on an urgent basis.”
Concerned residents had reached out to CityNews, describing hundreds of students and staff going in and around the private schools, crowds of kids walking with backpacks and cars lined up for pickups.
At one school, CityNews crews observed a steady stream of students loading onto a yellow school bus. CityNews has chosen not to identify the schools in question
When contacted, the school said in-person learning had been suspended but they were offering “religious services” within accordance with provincial regulations, in clusters of ten students at a time.
The school was then closed May 10 after Toronto Public Health released an order limiting student attendance as much as possible.
The new section 22 order limited “in-person attendance of school-aged children across all educational settings, not just schools within the meaning of the Education Act” and limited “in-person student attendance as much as possible, regardless of whether they qualify as ‘in-person teaching or instruction’.”
At the time, the school said they were “disappointed by the imposition of a City Order that will curtail the ability of our school-aged children from attending religious services and practices.”
Ontario released a three-step plan for reopening on Thursday, but did not include any new information about when schools would be reopening.
