The Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Friday that the Minister of Education in the Northwest Territories erred in refusing to allow students from five families to enroll in a French-language school.

The children did not have a constitutional right to attend French-speaking schools in the territory because they did not meet certain criteria, such as French being their mother tongue or the language of previous education.

However, the French-language school board recommended accepting them anyway to help promote the language.

The unanimous Supreme Court decision stated that the territorial government should have considered preserving and developing linguistic minority communities.

Judge Susan Côté wrote in the decision that “population growth in linguistic minority communities helps ensure their development and prevent their decline.”

She said that accepting the children in the school would help prevent “cultural erosion.”

The court found that the minister focused too much on the cost of accepting the students in the schools.

The decision also said that the minister failed to take into account that the involved children already had good knowledge of the French language and had important connections with the French-speaking community.

While the Supreme Court in the Northwest Territories sided with the parents and the school board and overturned the minister's decision, the territorial Court of Appeal reinstated it.

The final decision issued on Friday overturns this appeal decision. The children concerned have since either been admitted to the schools or no longer live in the territory.

The Northwest Territories government also said that it accepted the four students who “could have been affected by the court proceedings” in French-language schools in October 2021.

It added in a statement sent by email that it is “committed to supporting the protection of the French language by providing French language education in the Northwest and ensuring fair access to education for all students.”