''Lavoie v Canada'',

002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to: Fiction *002, fictional British 00 Agent *''002 Operazione Luna'', *1965 Italian film *Zero Two, a ''Darling in the Franxx'' character Airports *0O2, Baker Airport *O02, Nervino Airport Astronomy *1996 ...

1 SCR 769, 2002 SCC 23 is a leading decision of the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

on whether preference on basis of citizenship infringed equality guarantee under section 15(1) of the ''

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...

''. The Court found that the federal ''Public Service Employment Act'' (PSEA), which gave preference to citizens when referring to departments, was discriminatory. The violation was saved under section 1 of the ''Charter'' as a reasonable limitation on

equality rights Social equality is a state of affairs in which all individuals within a specific society have equal rights, liberties, and status, possibly including civil rights, freedom of expression, autonomy, and equal access to certain public goods and s ...

Background

Several foreign nationals applied to the federal government for employment. Section 16(4)(c) of the PSEA gave preference to Canadian citizens when allocating applicants to different departments. The foreign nationals applied to the

Federal Court of Canada The Federal Court of Canada, which succeeded the Exchequer Court of Canada in 1971, was a national court of Canada that had limited jurisdiction to hear certain types of disputes arising under the federal government's legislative jurisdiction. ...

to strike out the provision. The Federal Court held the provision violated section 15 but was saved by section 1. The

Federal Court of Appeal The Federal Court of Appeal (french: Cour d'appel fédérale) is a Canadian appellate court that hears cases concerning federal matters. History Section 101 of the Constitution Act, 1867 empowers the Parliament of Canada to establish "addit ...

upheld the decision.

Reasons of the court

Bastarache J wrote for the majority in upholding the provision. In his application of the Law test for section 15, he noted that by creating the distinction between citizen and

foreign national A foreign national is any person (including an organization) who is not a national of a specific country. ("The term 'person' means an individual or an organization.") For example, in the United States and in its territories, a foreign national ...

, Parliament was placing an additional burden on already disadvantaged group. He said that it was well settled that foreign nationals are a group that do suffer from stereotypes, marginalization, and historical disadvantage, but the Act does not attempt to compensate for this. Bastarache J spent some time considering the element of "dignity" introduced in ''

Law v Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration) ''Law v Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration)'', 9991 SCR 497 is a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision on section 15 of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms''. The ruling is notable because the court created the ''Law'' te ...

''. The dignity inquiry requires the subjective view of the claimant to be rationally grounded in circumstances that a reasonable would share that experience. He found that denial of

professional development Professional development is learning to earn or maintain professional credentials such as academic degrees to formal coursework, attending conferences, and informal learning Informal learning is characterized "by a low degree of planning and ...

impacted a significant element of the

fundamental right Fundamental rights are a group of rights that have been recognized by a high degree of protection from encroachment. These rights are specifically identified in a constitution, or have been found under due process of law. The United Nations' Sustai ...

of choice. On the section 1 analysis, Bastarache J considered the positive goals of the provision. He saw merit in having a law that encouraged naturalization and increased the value of citizenship. He further observed that the negative impact of the exclusion was sufficiently small to warrant justification by the valuable objective.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lavoie V. Canada Section Fifteen Charter case law Supreme Court of Canada cases 2002 in Canadian case law

Background

Reasons of the court

See also

External links