Keywords
Canada. Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; Discrimination--Law and legislation; Canada
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The article examines and appraises conventional methods of interpreting the section 15 equality rights including a comparison of equality rights under the American Constitution. It determines that the most suitable interpretation is one which prohibits "constructive discrimination." Further, the analysis of section 15 finds a built-in limitation - the right against invidious discrimination - making recourse to section 1 unnecessary. But review of constructive discrimination and its justification is constrained by the adjudicative model and the state action doctrine. In the final analysis, the article challenges us to rethink our classic liberal conceptions of equality by looking less at invidious states action and more at the equality of result - yet accepting that the courts are a limited forum.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Citation Information
Moon, Richard.
"Discrimination and Its Justification: Coping with Equality Rights under the Charter."
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
26.4 (1988)
: 673-712.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.60082/2817-5069.1803
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol26/iss4/1