Lecture: Sources of Equality Rights in Canadian Law

Introduction

• Focus on understanding two sources of equality rights in Canadian law.
• Explored the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the previous class.
• Today's focus is on a different kind of equality rights law.

Two Sources of Equality Rights

Government Application

• Bill of Rights and Charter of Rights and Freedoms
  • Prohibits discriminatory laws.
  • Bill of Rights exists but is rarely used now due to its historical issues and the existence of the more robust Charter.
  • The Charter is part of the Canadian Constitution and was designed to avoid previous issues.

Usage of the Charter

• Applied when a law itself appears discriminatory.
• Example: Andrews Case
  • Mark David Andrews challenged a law regarding who could be a lawyer.
  • Used Section 15 of the Charter for equality rights.
• Charter Application
  • Not used against individuals or private entities.
  • Primarily targets the government when laws seem discriminatory.

Private Actors

• Human Rights Legislation
  • Applies to private actors.
  • Known as anti-discrimination law.
  • Prohibits unjustified discrimination in employment, services, and housing.

Human Rights Legislation

• More likely encountered in daily life than the Charter.
• Every province has its own human rights legislation.
  • Examples: Ontario Human Rights Code, British Columbia Human Rights Code.
• Addresses discrimination by private actors such as employers, service providers, and landlords.

Relation Between Charter and Human Rights Legislation

• Human rights legislation must conform to the standards set by the Charter.
• Charter sets a baseline for equality rights across all related laws.
• Supreme Court cases impact interpretation and application of both Charter and human rights legislation.
  • Andrews Case (1989): Defined equality under the Charter.
  • Mayron Case (1999): Clarified application of human rights law using the Charter standards.

Upcoming Focus

• Examination of the Mayron case explaining its influence on human rights legislation.
• Understanding how the Charter influences subsequent legal interpretations and applications in human rights cases.
• Upcoming topics include equality rights related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Conclusion

• The Charter and human rights legislation, though serving different scopes, are interconnected.
• Future lessons will explore more about how these relationships manifest in various legal contexts, including further details from pivotal cases like Mayron.