Although both the Human Rights Committee and the Supreme Court of Canada consider Ontario’s policy discriminatory, it appears to be compatible with Article 4 of the 1954 Convention. This is because Ontario’s policy allows stateless persons of the Roman Catholic faith the same freedom in the religious education of their children as Canadian nationals of the Roman Catholic faith. For more information on the ability of stateless persons to attend public schools, see the discussion of Article 22 of the 1954 Convention later in this report. III. Assessment Based on Canada’s legal framework, it appears that stateless persons are not treated any less favourably than Canadian nationals in practising the same religion or in the religious education of their children in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario or Quebec. Furthermore, although policies regarding religious education vary by province, these differences apply not only to stateless persons, but also to Canadian nationals. Therefore, the Canadian legal framework is likely compatible with Article 4 of the 1954 Convention. Considering no gaps were found between the legal framework and the 1954 Convention, no international human rights instruments need to be assessed. CHAPTER II: JURIDICAL STATUS ARTICLE 12: PERSONAL STATUS 1. The personal status of a stateless person shall be governed by the law of the country of his domicile or, if he has no domicile, by the law of the country of his residence. 2. Rights previously acquired by a stateless person and dependent on personal status, more particularly rights attaching to marriage, shall be respected by a Contracting State, subject to compliance, if this be necessary, with the formalities required by the law of that State, provided that the right in question is one which would have been recognized by the law of that State had he not become stateless. I. Background & Commentary “Personal status” of stateless persons concerns their legal capacity, such as the age of majority, their capacity to marry, divorce, adopt, power of parents over their children, the mutual rights of spouses to property, and their rights to succession and inheritance.73 Article 12 deals with the law governing the personal status of stateless persons and not with the law governing the conclusion or dissolution of legal acts. For example, it refers to the capacity to contract a marriage, but does not deal with the celebration or dissolution of marriage, wills, etc. This is left to the law of the country where such acts are performed.74 73 74 19 Robinson Commentary to the 1954 Convention, supra note 11 at 30. Ibid., at 32. 19