The Mahe decision is the first major decision rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada with respect to education and official language minority communities. It's a case from Alberta that was heard in 1990, and one of the parties was an Edmonton-area school. The case involved section 23 of the charter, and in its decision, the court explained the purpose of that section.
To help you fully grasp the significance of the Mahe decision, I would refer you to point 3 on page 4 of our brief. We've provided a pertinent excerpt of the court's unanimous reasons, written by Chief Justice Dickson. He addresses the “where numbers warrant” concept, stating that it is impossible to determine the relevant figure exactly but that the figure must take into account the potential demand for the service, in other words, what we are trying to ascertain through the census, and the known demand. It is important to know the potential demand. Right now, only one of the three categories is being evaluated.
We are basically recommending that you implement the findings in the Mahe decision, or foster the conditions for implementation.