Minister of Justice v. Borowski
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''Canada (Minister of Justice) v Borowski'', 9812 S.C.R. 575 is a landmark
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 the standard for allowing public interests to gain standing to challenge a law. The Court developed what is known as the Borowski test for public interest standing.


Background

Joseph Borowski Joseph Paul Borowski (December 12, 1932 – September 23, 1996) was a Canadian politician and activist. From 1969 to 1971, he was a cabinet minister in Manitoba Premier Edward Schreyer's New Democratic Party (NDP) government. Subsequently, ...
was a prominent anti-abortion activist in Saskatchewan who wanted to challenge the abortion provisions under section 251(4), (5), and (6) of the Criminal Code as violations to right to life in the Canadian Bill of Rights. In a seven to two decision the Court found that Borowski had standing to challenge the law.


Reasons of the court

Justice Martland, wrote the decision for the majority. Martland's reasoning was largely based on the previous decision of ''
Thorson v. Attorney General of Canada Thorson or Thorsen are Swedish, Norwegian and Danish surnames. Notable people with the surname include: Thorson * Charles Thorson (1890–1966), Canadian political cartoonist, character designer * Celeste Thorson, American actress, model writer, an ...
'', 9751 S.C.R. 138. He stated that a plaintiff seeking a declaration to invalidate a law must show that they are directly affected by it, or have a genuine interest as a citizen and there be no reasonable and effective alternative means to challenge the law. Borowski was found to meet this requirement as it would be difficult to bring such an issue to court without having an interest group make a challenge.


Commentary

The test was later re-articulated more narrowly in the decision of '' Canadian Council of Churches v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration)'', 9921 S.C.R. 236.


See also

* List of Supreme Court of Canada cases (Laskin Court) * '' Borowski v. Canada (Attorney General)'',
989 Year 989 ( CMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Emperor Basil II uses his contingent of 6,000 Varangians to help him defeat ...


External links

* {{italic title Standing (law) Canadian constitutional case law Supreme Court of Canada cases 1981 in Canadian case law