Help LEAF get to the Supreme Court
Help
LEAF get to the Supreme Court of Canada
to be Heard in these Cases
These cases (copied and pasted below from the LEAF website) are important cases with respect to the specific issues involved in each case, and because the Supreme Court of Canada may well determine the future of equality rights law in Canada, and the value of section 15 of the Charter in its rulings. Right now, LEAF only has money to intervene in Falkiner. LEAF cannot afford to lose this opportunity to participate in the Court's consideration of these key section 15 cases.Please consider helping to ensure that LEAF is at the Supreme Court at this critical juncture! Please send in your cheque, made payable to LEAF to 2 Carlton Street, Suite 1307 Toronto, ON, M5B 1J3 today or visit LEAF's donations page for more information. By giving generously, you'll ensure that LEAF's unique insights continue to be front and centre when legal history is made.
Download the LEAF donation form:as a Word doc click here (28 kb, 1 pg)
as a PDF file click here (22 kb, 1 pg)
Social
Assistance and the "Spouse in the House" Rule
Falkiner v. Ontario
Falkiner is on appeal from the Ontario Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. LEAF intervened at the Ontario Court of Appeal and Ontario Court of Justice in this case. The case concerns the constitutionality of the loss of welfare benefits by persons who co-reside with a member of the opposite sex (the spouse in the house rule). Revoked in the late 1980's, it was re-implemented in 1995. Of the thousands cut off from social assistance, 90% were women - many of them single mothers.
LEAF intends to use this case to develop arguments relating to the equality rights of women, and the injury to dignity test, flowing from the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision in Law v. Canada.
Falkiner is likely to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada in the fall of 2004.
Counsel in the case are Fay Faraday and Kerri Froc.
Read LEAF's
Factum on Falkiner (HTML)
Access to treatment for autistic children
Auton
v. B.C.
This case is on appeal from the BC Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. It concerns the obligation of the BC government to pay for early intensive behavioural treatment for autistic children. LEAF's interest in the case is with respect to its implications for equality theory and the Charter's ability to impose positive obligations on governments.
This is an important case with respect to the advancement of the Courts understanding of disability and of gendered disability discrimination. LEAF is also interested in this case because the government's failure to provide treatment for autistic children increases the challenge of caring for these children, a responsibility that falls primarily on women.
Auton
is currently scheduled to be heard on May 18, 2004
Pay Equity
Newfoundland
Labrador Association of Public Employees v. Newfoundland (NAPE)
NAPE raises the question of whether section 15 Charter equality guarantees are violated when the government repeals measures that enhance women's equality. The government argues that it was not obliged to provide pay equity under section 15, so section 15 cannot be violated by its repealing pay equity payments. LEAF will argue that there is a positive obligation to provide pay equity, that section 15 is violated when the government rolls back equality enhancing programs, and that this violation cannot be justified under section 1 of the Charter.
These are crucial questions in the era of government cutbacks that have been borne, to a large extent, by women and other vulnerable groups. LEAF's position is that the government is obliged to take positive steps necessary for women to achieve equality, including social and economic equality, and that once these steps are taken they cannot be undone.
NAPE
is schedule to be heard by the SCC on May 20, 2004
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Page last updated February 4, 2004