Transcript How does the Charter affect law making in Canada?

How does the Charter affect
law making in Canada?
Let’s Start with an Example:
 Imagine you’re in a hospital, and none of the doctors
or nurses speak your language
 What would you do? Do you think that would be
unfair to you, the patient?
 Up until 1990, Robin Eldridge and John and Linda
Warren (all from BC) could go to a hospital and have
someone who could translate the doctor’s advice to
them in sign language , as they had all been born
deaf
 However, in 1990, cutback on hospital funds took
away this service and when Linda went to the
hospital to give birth, she could not understand
anything she was told by the healthcare staff
What rights were being
violated in the case of
Linda Warren?
 She took her case all the way to the
Supreme Court of Canada, stating
that by failing to provide interpreters,
the BC provincial government was
violating their equality rights under
the Charter
 She won her case
How the Charter has changed
laws in Canada
 Have you ever spent a Sunday afternoon
shopping?
 For many of your parents and grandparents, this
was not an option as businesses were required to
be closed on Sundays due to the “Lord’s Day Act”
 The “Lord’s Day Act” was a law that upheld the
Christian Sabbath or day of rest*
 Could the “Lord’s Day Act” be considered a
violation by itself?
Continued....
 Three months after the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms became part of Canada’s constitution
in 1982, Calgary’s Big M Drug Mart deliberately
broke the law and opened on a Sunday in order
to make a point
 When the challenge came before the Supreme
Court, it overturned the Lord’s Day Act because
it was felt it violated Canadians’ fundamental
right to freedom of conscience and religion
 Do you agree with the Supreme Court’s decision?
Flying Restrictions
 In June 2007, Canada’s government
banned certain people from travelling by
air for security reasons
 http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/ID=133443670
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 Read article on pg. 107
 Why do people disagree with this no-fly
list? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
How does the Charter affect
the workplace?
 In 2001, four Ontario women and five labour unions
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launched a “Charter Challenge”, arguing that the
province was discriminating against them based on
gender
They argued that the province was not paying men
and women equally for performing the same jobs
This issue is called “pay equity”
They claimed that they and their female co-workers
were owed millions of dollars in lost wages, and
eventually won their case, receiving $414 million
paid to them by the Ontario government
Based on what you know about the Charter and the
rights of Canadians, why did they win their case?
Do people have the right to work
without facing discrimination based
on their age?
 In the early 1990s, Professor Olive Dickason challenged whether
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the University of Alberta could force her to retire at age 65
The Charter entitles everyone to “equal protection and equal
benefit of the law without discrimination”
Dickason argued that forced retirement was discrimination based
on age
However, the Supreme Court disagreed with her, because she
had agreed to retire at age 65 before she took her position at the
University of Alberta
Another example: http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/ID=1372184780
Do you think a required age of retirement for Canadians is
necessary and fair? Or do you agree with Olive Dickason?