Section 15 of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides that every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and benefit of the law without discrimination. Aidan Campbell joins to discuss the application of s. 15 of the Charter to Canadian immigration law and the implications recent Supreme Court of Canada decision in Fraser v. Canada. Aidan Campbell is an Associate at Mahon & Company, a progressive firm which practices in Criminal Law, Immigration and Refugee Law, Public Interest & Constitutional Litigation, Sex Worker Rights, Prisoners’ Rights, Professional Discipline. Extradition Law and Tenants’ Rights
- (1) 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, age or mental or physical disability;
(2) Subsection (1) does not preclude any 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.
Kahkewistahaw First Nation v. Taypotat, [2015] 2 S.C.R. 548, at paras. 19‑20) provides that to prove a 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.
Adverse Impact Adverse impact discrimination occurs when a seemingly neutral law has a disproportionate impact on members of groups protected on the basis of an enumerated or analogous ground. Instead of explicitly singling out those who are in the protected groups for differential treatment, the law indirectly places them at a disadvantage. Increased awareness of adverse impact discrimination has been a “central trend in the development of discrimination law”, marking a shift away from a fault based conception of discrimination towards an effects based model which critically examines systems, structures, and their impact on disadvantaged groups. Accompanying this shift was the recognition that discrimination is “frequently a product of continuing to do things ‘the way they have always been done’”, and that governments must be “particularly vigilant about the effects of their own policies” on members of disadvantaged groups.
- s. 6 of the Charter specifically provides for differential treatment of citizens and permanent residents in this regard.
- While permanent residents are given various mobility rights in s. 6(2), only citizens are accorded the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada in s. 6(1). There is therefore no discrimination contrary to s. 15 in a deportation scheme that applies to permanent residents, but not to citizens.
- Discriminatory for the LSBC to restrict practice of law to Canadians
- Discrimination on national origin because of visa post backlogs
- Sidestepped the issue and said lack of evidence.
- Appellants argued that this was unfair because the government had the evidence and did not provide it, but court unmoved.
- The first aspect of the test is satisfied by the very provisions of paragraph 110(2)(d.1) itself inasmuch as it creates two classes of refugee claimants based on national origin: those foreign nationals from a DCO and those who are not from a DCO.
- This is akin to saying that all refugee claimants in Canada are equal, but some – i.e. those from non-DCO countries – are more equal than others. As proficient as the RPD may be, there is no question that access to the RAD is a substantial benefit which is being denied to claimants from DCOs.
- For these reasons, I have concluded that the 2012 IFHP violates section 15 of the Charter inasmuch as it provides a lesser level of health insurance coverage to refugee claimants from DCO countries in comparison to that provided to refugee claimants from non-DCO countries. This distinction is based upon the national origin of the refugee claimants and does not form part of an ameliorative program. It is, moreover, based upon stereotyping, and serves to perpetuate the disadvantage suffered by members of an admittedly vulnerable, poor and disadvantaged group.
- Social assistance not an enumerated ground.