Submission on the Reinstatement of the Court Challenges Program

In May 2016, LEAF provided the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights with a submission on the reinstatement of the Court Challenges Program of Canada (CCPC).

In its submission, LEAF argued that:

1. The equality rights program of the CCPC needed to be fully reinstated, in order to facilitate compliance with Canada’s constitutional
   and international obligations.
2. The equality rights program needed to be properly resourced. The
   Charter guarantees equality rights, and those rights cannot be realized
   for those disadvantaged groups intended to be the beneficiaries of that
   guarantee unless they have access to the resources necessary to
   enforce and protect them.
3. A modernized CCPC would benefit from expanding its criteria to
   include cases in provincial and territorial jurisdiction, and cases which
   implicate sections of the Charter not covered by the previous program.

Dianne O’Reggio and Elizabeth Shilton appeared as witnesses during the April 14, 2016 meeting of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. Access a transcript of that meeting here.

Read and download the submission below.