Section 15: Equality Rights Flashcards
What are the 2 parts of action 15?
Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex or mental or physical disability.
Subsection (1) does not preclude ant law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
There is substantial equality and formal equality. Which is favoured by the government?
Substantial equality.
What was the significance of Andrews v Law Society of BC [1989]?
The case involved a challenge to the citizenship requirement for admission to the LSBC. The SC held that this violated s.15 and was not justified under s.1 of the Charter. The court rejected exclusive reliance on formal equality and the similarly situated test, which the court said ‘cannot be accepted as a fixed rule of formula for the resolution of equality questions arising under the Charter’; as the purpose of s.15 was to protect vulnerable groups from discrimination:
T/F all distinctions between peoples are discriminatory.
False. Only distinctions upon analogue grounds are considered discriminatory
What 2 things must a claimant prove under a sec15 claim?
1) there had been a denial of one of the four equality provisions in s.15—equality before or under the law or equal benefit or protection of the law—and 2) this differential treatment was discriminatory on the basis of a personal characteristic constituting an enumerated or analogous ground within section 15.
What are the 2 steps of the Andrews test?
1) Does the law create a distinction based on an enumerated or analogous ground? And 2) Does the distinction create a disadvantage by perpetuating prejudice or stereotyping? The second question has been reformulated to focus on the imposition of burdens or the denials of benefits ‘in a manner that has the effect of reinforcing, perpetuating or exacerbating…disadvantage.’
What was the significance of Law v Canada?
The court held that even though the law imposed a formal and unequal distinction on the basis of enumerated ground of age, it did not violate s.15 of the Charter because it did not violate the human dignity of those under 45 and accordingly did not amount to substantive discrimination
What was the significance of Fraser v Canada?
s15(1): to prove prima facie violation of s.15(1), a claimant must demonstrate that the impugned law or state action:
on its face or in its impact, creates a distinction based on enumerated or analogous grounds; and
imposes burdens or denies a benefit in a manner that has the effect of reinforcing, perpetuating or exacerbating disadvantage.
Moving to the second step of the s.15 test: does the law have the effect of reinforcing, perpetuating or exacerbating disadvantage. There is no rigid template of factors in this inquiry. The goal is to examine the impact of he harm caused to the affected group.
The two steps above should be kept distinct, although there is a potential of overlap in adverse effects cases as there is an ‘impossibility of rigid categorization’.
