A landmark ruling Friday by the Supreme Court of Canada is more than a victory for a North Vancouver family; it's a step forward for disadvantaged students across the country.
When the North Vancouver school district told Rick Moore they had cut the program that would help his dyslexic son, Moore decided to fight. Learning to read was a basic right of all students, he argued.
Without the necessary help, the public education guaranteed to all would remain out of reach for his son.
This week, the top legal minds in the country agreed, noting pointedly "adequate special education is not a dispensable luxury."
It's a testament to Moore's tenacity that he kept fighting, despite two lower court rulings against him. He has always maintained the case was never just about his son; it was about all kids with disabilities. And he's right. We often pay lip service to helping our most vulnerable, but when money gets tight, those principles fray.
But while Moore won his case, the Supreme Court did not agree with his claim that discrimination against special needs students is systemic. Rather, it points specifically to the North Shore district, saying it could have made a different decision to balance its budget, cut an outdoor education program instead, for example. The danger here is we end up with numerous worthy programs fighting each other.
Regardless, the ruling underscores the importance of the judicial system in making sure our professed principles of equality have teeth. The highest court is still where the buck stops in insisting that minority rights be respected, despite the 'tyranny of the majority" that can govern political decisions.
