''Miron v Trudel'',

995 Year 995 (Roman numerals, CMXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 17 May - Fujiwara no Michitaka (imperial regent) dies. * 3 June: Fujiwara no ...

2 S.C.R. 418 is a famous

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 ...

decision on equality rights under section 15 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 ...

where the Court found "

marital status Civil status, or marital status, are the distinct options that describe a person's relationship with a significant other. ''Married'', ''single'', ''divorced'', and ''widowed'' are examples of civil status. ''Civil status'' and ''marital status ...

" was an analogous ground for

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

(i.e., a characteristic which cannot legally be the basis for discrimination under section 15). The Court held that an insurance benefit provided only to married couples discriminated against common-law couples. John Miron and Jocelyne Valliere were a common law couple. Miron suffered a car accident and attempted to claim the injuries under his partner's insurance policy. However, the Ontario ''Insurance Act'' provided that benefits were only available to spouses who were legally married. Miron sued the insurance company arguing that he was discriminated against and that the ''Insurance Act'' violated section 15. During the hearing before the Supreme Court, the Ontario government intervened specifically to concede that the ''Insurance Act'' violated section 15 and could not be saved by section 1. Chief Justice

Lamer Lamer is a jargon or slang name originally applied in cracker and phreaker culture to someone who did not really understand what they were doing. Today it is also loosely applied by IRC, BBS, demosceners, and online gaming users to anyone perceived ...

criticized Ontario counsel's refusal to defend the legislation and ordered

Ian Binnie William Ian Corneil Binnie (born April 14, 1939) is a former puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, serving from January 8, 1998 to October 27, 2011. Of the justices appointed to the Supreme Court in recent years, he is one of the few app ...

, a future Supreme Court justice to defend the legislation in place of and at the cost of the Ontario government. In a five to four decision the Court found that there was a ''Charter'' violation and that it could not be saved under section 1 of the ''Charter''. The finding that common law marriages are protected by section 15 was repeated in ''

Nova Scotia (Attorney General) v. Walsh ''Nova Scotia (AG) v Walsh'', 0024 S.C.R. 325 was a leading case decided by the Supreme Court of Canada on section 15 of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' and matrimonial property. The Court held that the Nova Scotia ''Matrimonial P ...

'' (2002) and ''

Hodge v. Canada (Minister of Human Resources Development) ''Hodge v Canada (Minister of Human Resources Development)'', 0043 S.C.R. 357 was a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada regarding section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Court found that in considering equality rights, ...

'' (2004). However, both these cases saw section 15 claims lose in the Supreme Court, as the justices decided that differential treatment based on marital status in these cases should not affect

dignity Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. It is of significance in morality, ethics, law and politics as an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable ...

References

External links

* Section Fifteen Charter case law Supreme Court of Canada cases 1995 in Canadian case law Marriage law Marriage, unions and partnerships in Canada Common-law marriage {{canada-law-stub

See also

References

External links