Category Archives: Equality Rights

Québec’s Religious Neutrality Act – Neither Neutral Nor Accommodating

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Last week, the Québec National Assembly passed the Religious Neutrality Act, also known as Bill 62. Aside from the Indian Act which I
continue to believe is Canada’s most discriminatory legislation (it is pretty hard to argue that the Indian Act’s legislative purpose was anything other than to contain and control the Indian peoples of Canada – of course, this is a conversation for a different day), I can think of no other provincial or federal legislation that is as overtly discriminatory as Bill 62.

While the Act proclaims the secular nature of the organs of state of the Québec government, its central provisions deal with, of all things, face covering. And not just for the personnel of the Québec government. For anyone receiving services from the Québec government. So to be clear, the rule is that to provide or receive services, one’s face must be covered.

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Medical assistance in dying – the Liberal government responds to the Supreme Court

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More than 14 months after the Supreme Court first held that the Criminal Code provisions forbidding physician-assisted death were unconstitutional in Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 5, and almost three months to the day from the date that the Supreme Court gave a four month extension to its suspension of the declaration of unconstitutionality (see Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), 2016 SCC 4), the Liberal government has introduced its legislative response with a bill, Bill C-14, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other Acts (medical assistance in dying).

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Trinity Western University v. The law societies – an update as to where things stand

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TWU law

For those of you who follow this issue, the current score is 2 to 1 for Trinity Western University as against the Law Societies. TWU has won two of the three trial court decisions – namely, those in British Columbia and Nova Scotia. It lost its inaugural round in Ontario. All three decisions are being appealed. As we all know, this one is going all the way to the Big House.

Where do things stand right now in the three provinces?
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BC Supreme Court quashes Law Society’s decision not to accredit Trinity Western University’s law school: Trinity Western University v. Law Society of British Columbia, 2015 BCSC 2326

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TWU law

Today Chief Justice Hinkson quashed the decision of the Benchers of the Law Society of British Columbia to submit the question as to whether to accredit Trinity Western University’s proposed law school or not to a referendum of the members after previously having decided to accredit the proposed law school. He found that the Benchers’ later decision was improper, was an improper fettering of the Benchers’ discretion and did not involve a proper balancing of the Charter interests as had been done by the Benchers in their earlier decision. He restored their earlier decision to accredit the proposed law school. His ruling can be found at Trinity Western University v. Law Society of British Columbia, 2015 BCSC 2326.  I will not go through the legal analysis in this post, at least not today. I will say, however, that this is obviously yet just one more step in the multi-province, multi-action process that will eventually culminate in the Supreme Court of Canada having to review its earlier decision in Trinity Western University v. British Columbia College of Teachers, 2001 SCC 31.

I remain

Constitutionally yours

 

Arthur Grant

Section 28 of the Charter – the forgotten provision – putting feminism back into gender equality

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This last week, lawyer and Ph.D. candidate and Vanier and Trudeau scholar, Kerri Froc, was interviewed by Jim Brown on the CBC program, The 180, about gender equality and the rationale behind s. 28 of the Charter. Section 28 states:

Rights guaranteed equally to both sexes

28. Notwithstanding anything in this Charter, the rights and freedoms referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.

Ms. Froc’s interview can be found at The 180 website and is well worth listening to.

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The niqab can stay – Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) v. Ishaq, 2015 FCA 194

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On September 15, 2015, the Federal Court of Appeal issued a short ruling from the bench in the appeal of Zunera Ishaq’s case respecting the Department of Citizenship and Immigration’s policy that requires women who wear a niqab to unveil in order to take the oath of citizenship. In Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) v. Ishaq, 2015 FCA 194, Madam Justice Mary Gleason rendered a short six paragraph oral set of reasons, issued in this manner so that Ms. Ishaq might still be able to take the oath of citizenship and vote in the upcoming election.
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Secularism and the Canadian State – Where do we go from here? Mouvement Laique Quebecois v. Saguenay (City), 2015 SCC 16

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The Supreme Court of Canada recently pronounced on the appropriateness of a municipal council insisting on a prayer before holding its meetings. In Mouvement Laique Quebecois v. Saguenuay (City), 2015 SCC 16, Justice Gascon for the majority (Abella J dissenting on the question of the variable test for judicial review of administrative tribunals) held that City of Saguenay’s bylaw which provided for the use of such a prayer, even if it did not derive from any particular denomination, nonetheless offended the freedom of religion of atheists and agnostics (the freedom not to believe) and was therefore inoperative.

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For the record… the Supreme Court underscores the need for evidence in s. 15 discrimination claims: Kahkewistahaw First Nation v. Taypotat

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The Supreme Court of Canada has made it clear – if you are going to raise a s. 15 Charter discrimination claim, make sure that you have the evidence to substantiate your claim. Making claims on the basis of intuition, presumed facts or innuendo will not suffice. In Kahkewistahaw First Nation v. Taypotat, 2015 SCC 30, released on Thursday, May 28, 2015, Justice Abella, speaking for the Court, reinstated the judgment of the trial judge, Mr. Justice de Montigny of the Federal Court, Trial Division. She rejected the claim of former Chief Taypotat of the Kahkewistahaw First Nation that the First Nation’s Election Code’s education requirement that candidates for office hold a Grade 12 diploma or equivalent discriminated against him on the basis of his age and residence on the reserve. Her judgment focussed principally on the utter lack of evidence of the alleged discrimination as well as the fact that the grounds had not been expressly pled, at least not in the manner developed by the Federal Court of Appeal on its own initiative.

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The legal profession’s ability to advocate in the public interest is upheld: Canada (Procureur general) v. Barreau du Quebec, 2014 QCCA 2234

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In a decision made in late 2014, the Quebec Court of Appeal affirmed the legal profession’s unique role in undertaking constitutional challenges. In a unanimous decision (Vezina, Savard, and Vauclair JJA), the Court upheld Justice Roy’s decision to reject the Government of Canada’s application to strike the claim of the Barreau du Quebec for want of standing. The relatively short decision, Canada (Procureur general) v. Barreau du Quebec, 2014 QCCA 2234, was released on December 4, 2014 and was a judgment “par la Cour”.

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Nova Scotia Supreme Court slams Barristers’ Society for its decision on Trinity Western University Law School

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TWU
(Photograph from trunews.com)

Last week, Justice Jamie Campbell of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court delivered a scathing indictment of the decision of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society (the “Society”) to recognize law degrees for the proposed law school at Trinity Western University (“TWU”) only if TWU changes its “community covenant” against sex outside the confines of a legal marriage between a man and woman. The focus of the Society’s concerns is that the Community Covenant would have the effect of discriminating against members of the LGBT community. His judgment (Trinity Western University v. Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, 2015 NSSC 25) is the first of what will no doubt be a series of judicial pronouncements on the various provincial law societies’ decision to accredit or not to accredit TWU’s proposed law school. Challenges in British Columbia and Ontario are also well on their way to being heard. Yet again, the collision between equality rights and freedom of religion finds itself on the center stage of Canada’s judicial arenas. The last time this issue went to the Supreme Court of Canada was in 2001 in yet another TWU case, Trinity Western University v. British Columbia College of Teachers, 2001 SCC 31. While the Court held that the Charter was not directly applicable in that case, it did determine that any concerns of the College of Teachers respecting the discriminatory effects against homosexuals were to be subject to the respect for the principles of the religious faith professed by TWU. Justice Campbell does not consider that the time is nigh for that 2001 judicial determination to change.

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