Happy Birthday, Charter!

Today being the 25th anniversary of the creation of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, I'll celebrate with a list of the great Charter cases that defined women's rights in this country*:

1. R. v. Morgantaler: the seminal case in 1988 that legalized abortion in Canada. Dr. Morgantaler, convicted under the Criminal Code provisions which restricted access to abortion, successfully argued that those limitations violated women's s. 7 right to security of the person. The offending provisions were struck down and Dr. Morgantaler's conviction overturned.
   
   
2. Symes v. Canada: a 1993 case in which a full-time lawyer (and founding member of the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund) maintained that her nanny expenses should be tax deductible. In an interesting male/female split among the Justices, Ms. Symes' appeal was dismissed. Justice L'Heureux-Dubé's dissent provides an incisive commentary on the "double shift." I remember an intense debate in my feminist legal theory class about whether Charter cases such as Symes merely reinforce white, middle-class privilege at the expense of legitimate uses of s.15.
   
   
3. M. v. H.: in 1999, the SCC held 8-1 that the Ontario Family Law Act discriminated against same-sex partners, contrary to s.15(1) of the Charter. M. was thereby permitted to bring a claim for spousal support against H. following the break-down of their relationship.
   

And some not-so-great cases:

1. Newfoundland Labrador Association of Public Employees v. Newfoundland: in 2004 the SCC unanimously held that although the government reneged on pay equity agreements with its female employees, this violation of the Charter's equality provisions was justifiable under s.1 given the province's fiscal crisis. The debate over in which cases financial limitations are appropriate justification for rights violations continues to work itself out in the courts.
   
   
2. Attorney General of Canada v. Lesiuk: in 2003 the SCC denied leave to appeal a Federal Court of Appeal decision against Kelly Lesiuk, a registered nurse who argued that the Employment Insurance Act violated s.15 of the Charter because it is primarily female workers who do not meet its minimum hourly requirements for EI.
   

So many important equality rights cases were aided by the Court Challenges Programme, a recent victim of Stephen Harper's apparent disregard for access to justice. It's so, so important that claimants of all income levels are able to take advantage of our constitutional protections. Apparently Stephane Dion has pledged to reinstate the CCP so let's keep our fingers crossed.

*Caveat: I'm no ConLaw expert, just an SCC fangirl.

Edited to add: I see that the Globe has a very instructive list of the most important Charter cases as seen by a handful of constitutional experts.