Lawsuit to Reinstate Federal Court Challenges Program

The Osgoode Hall Law School blog The Court has printed an article entitled Coalition Fights to Bring Back Court Challenges about an upcoming Federal Court case against the federal government’s decision to eliminate funding for the Court Challenges Program back in 2006.

The Court Challenges Program provided funding to help minority, women's and other disadvantaged groups so they could launch "test court cases" challenging laws that may violate equality rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

According to The Court, "Last month, a coalition of eight organizations representing equality-seeking communities announced that it will file a motion in Federal Court to intervene in a case challenging the decision of the federal government to cut funding to the Court Challenges Program (...) While operating, the program funded cases dealing with issues such as same-sex marriage, accessibility rights for people with disabilities, sex discrimination, violence against women, criminal law provisions regarding the use of disciplinary force against children, and racial discrimination in the immigration system. "

The hearing is scheduled to be heard in Federal Court in Fredericton, New Brunswick on February 25th and 26th.

I dealt with the cuts to the Court Challenges Program in an earlier Library Boy post entitled Court Challenges Program Challenged? on September 7, 2006.