A judge has ruled a court challenge can proceed over the Saskatchewan government’s law requiring parental consent for children under 16 who want to change their names or pronouns at school.

Justice Michael Megaw says court can hear the challenge surrounding the Charter of Rights and Freedoms even if the Charter’s notwithstanding clause has been invoked.

Lawyers for UR Pride, an LGBTQ group in Regina, urged Megaw last month to allow the challenge, arguing the law limits the rights of gender-diverse youth who are entitled to a safe educational environment.

Lawyers for the Saskatchewan government urged the judge to dismiss the challenge on the grounds the law doesn’t breach the Charter and is in the best interest of gender-diverse children.

The province says the Charter wasn’t breached because Premier Scott Moe’s government used the notwithstanding clause to enact the law.

The notwithstanding clause is a rarely used measure that lets governments override certain Charter rights for five years.

The Sask. Party is condemning Justice Megaw’s ruling.

In a government news release, Bronwyn Eyre, Saskatchewan Minister of Justice & Attorney General, stated that the government will “remain committed to using all tools necessary to protect parental rights, including requesting a stay of this decision and an appeal all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary.”

She stated that the government is very disappointed in the decision and concerned about the precedent that it may set on the use of the Notwithstanding Clause. Eyre plans to immediately write to other Attorneys General across the country regarding this potential precedent.

The release states that this is a “historic decision for Canadian jurisprudence, as no Superior Court in Canada has ever decided that it may issue a declaration respecting an alleged Charter breach, in the face of a validly invoked Notwithstanding Clause.”