re Parents Rights
Parents have a right to liberty. And that affords them the liberty to raise their children in accordance with their own values, most notably their religious values. But—and this is important—that doesn’t give them the right to override their children’s own rights under the#Charter, notably their children’s rights to life and security of the person.
The seminal case concerning parents’ rights is the Supreme Court’s decision in#B. (R.) v. Children’s Aid Society of Metropolitan Toronto. In that decision, the Supreme Court held that while parents can raise children how they choose, they are#not#free to do so in a manner that is contrary to their children’s best interests.#
As usual, in constitutional law, whatever rights parents enjoy are subject to reasonable limitations.
But parents’ limited freedoms are not what conservatives are talking about when they talk about “parents’ rights.”
What they mean is parents’ “right” to dictate their children’s gender identity and expression over and against their children’s own right to choose who they are.
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