2012 marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms into law by Queen Elizabeth II. As part of the Constitution Act 1982, the Charter replaced the earlier Canadian Bill of Rights (1960) and gave the judiciary greater powers to challenge laws in every jurisdiction of Canada. One of those provisions was that Canadians could not be discriminated against based on “race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability” (Section 15:1).
Under the direction of Dr Mary Ann McColl and in partnership with Dave Shannon, former CEO of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, we set out to discover how the Charter has been used to further equality for people with disabilities in Canada since it became law, and how effective the Charter has been as a tool to increase the policy participation of people with disabilities.
Through qualitative analysis of 14 Supreme Court Charter challenges between 1982 and 2014, the study identifies the disability rights issues that have been considered in Canada’s highest court. Specifically, the following questions are addressed:
- What types of issues has the Supreme Court of Canada chosen to hear under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms relating to disability?
- What models of disability have informed Supreme Court decisions in response to Charter challenges involving people with disabilities?
The textual analysis also illustrates those instances where the Supreme Court of Canada has chosen to clarify a point of human rights law by examining a case involving a person with a disability. It explores the details of cases centred upon a person with a disability, and the particular contribution of the disability context to Canadian Charter-based human rights law.