Alberta passes back-to-work law using the notwithstanding clause

The Alberta legislature early Tuesday approved back-to-work legislation that invoked the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to order roughly 51,000 striking teachers back to classrooms, with the government saying students should return as soon as Wednesday. The measure, passed by the governing party’s majority, also enshrines a collective agreement and includes financial and staffing commitments the province says are intended to restore classroom stability.

The Back to School Act was fast-tracked through debate and received third reading in the early hours of Tuesday before awaiting royal assent. Premier Danielle Smith and Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides framed the move as necessary to halt what they described as mounting educational and social harms to students after more than three weeks without classes. “We must get our students back in class, where they belong,” Smith wrote in a letter to parents, and Nicolaides told the legislature the government faced a “moral imperative” to end the strike.

The bill imposes a collective agreement retroactive to Sept. 1, 2024, that includes a roughly 12 percent wage increase over four years and commitments to hire 3,000 teachers and...