povertyandhumanrights.org » Charter http://povertyandhumanrights.org Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:39:27 +0000 en hourly 1 Gosselin v. Attorney General (Quebec): Autonomy with a Vengeance (2004) http://povertyandhumanrights.org/2004/08/gosselin-v-attorney-general-quebec-autonomy-with-a-vengeance-2004/ http://povertyandhumanrights.org/2004/08/gosselin-v-attorney-general-quebec-autonomy-with-a-vengeance-2004/#comments Sun, 01 Aug 2004 16:22:41 +0000 phrc http://povertyandhumanrights.org/wp/?p=101 In Gosselin v. Quebec (Attorney General), the first poverty case under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to reach the Supreme Court of Canada, the Court ruled against the applicant, Louise Gosselin and the class of social assistance recipients she represented. The decision is deeply divided, and the majority decision turns on a finding that the evidence was insufficient. Therefore, as precedent, the outcome of the Gosselin case may not be particularly significant. However, the majority’s assessment of the evidence is unpersuasive. The challenged social assistance regulation embodied a negative stereotype of young men and women who are reliant on social assistance, which, sadly, the majority of the Court embraced.

The majority decision contrasts sharply with powerful dissents of other judges who found that reducing social assistance for young adults in need to a below subsistence level violated ss. 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter as well as s. 45 of the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Gosselin v. Attorney General (Quebec): Autonomy with a Vengeance (2004)

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]]> http://povertyandhumanrights.org/2004/08/gosselin-v-attorney-general-quebec-autonomy-with-a-vengeance-2004/feed/ 0 Beyond the Social and Economic Rights Debate: Substantive Equality Speaks to Poverty (2002) http://povertyandhumanrights.org/2002/08/beyond-the-social-and-economic-rights-debate-substantive-equality-speaks-to-poverty-2002/ http://povertyandhumanrights.org/2002/08/beyond-the-social-and-economic-rights-debate-substantive-equality-speaks-to-poverty-2002/#comments Thu, 01 Aug 2002 15:54:33 +0000 phrc http://povertyandhumanrights.org/wp/?p=89 An emerging issue in Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms1 jurisprudence is the defeat of poverty-related challenges based on their characterization as ‘social and economic’ rights claims. In a variety of cases, governments have argued, with some success in lower courts, that the Charter is a negative rights instrument—a document of civil and political rights rather than of social and economic rights— which does not impose positive obligations on governments to assume a redistributive role. Tension about this issue is increasing as governments in Canada pursue cost-cutting agendas that diminish protections from poverty, and people are turning to the courts because they have no place else to go.

Beyond the Social and Economic Rights Debate: Substantive Equality Speaks to Poverty (2002)

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