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A lawsuit against the Quebec government by two former Hasidic Jews can go ahead. The couple, Yohanon Lowen and Clara Wasserstein, say they were abandoned by the government in illegal schools in Boisbriand.

Their claim is that it is against the law to tolerate schools that do not provide children with a basic education, said the couples’ lawyer Clara Poissant-Lespérance. Lowen and Wasserstein do not have elementary or secondary school diplomas.

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The government had tried to get the case thrown out, but a judge ruled in May that the lawsuit can proceed.

Poissant-Lespérance said that the springtime ruling is “a first victory.”

In the ruling, the judge said that what they’re asking is a valid question that has to be decided by the court, she explained. If the allegations are taken for granted, then thousands of children might not receive proper educations, she continued.

If their lawsuit is successful, Poissant-Lespérance said the government will have to take action to ensure that these schools are up to provincial standards.

She said they will spend the fall preparing for trial, which should take place in either fall 2017 or spring 2018.