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By Andrew Duffy

OTTAWA — A Toronto woman has filed suit against the Ontario government in a bid to turn back the clock on funding for Catholic schools to 1867, when the right to a separate system was enshrined in law.

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Reva Landau, a retired business systems analyst, concedes in her application that the Constitution protects Catholic school funding in Ontario.

But Landau argues that giving Catholic schools more money than is strictly required by law offends the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ equality provisions.

“In an ideal world, I’d like to see one public school system,” said Landau, who holds a law degree from the University of Toronto.

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“But we do have the constitution. So I’m saying OK, if you insist we have to have Catholic schools, they should not get one penny more than they were entitled to in 1867.”

Canadian courts, she argued, have consistently said that legal decisions that limit charter rights must be interpreted narrowly.