The Charter, Equality Rights, and Women: Equivocation and Celebration

In this article, the author examines some of the critiques made and some of the aspirations raised in the early days of the Charter by left/feminist/marginalized groups about the Charter, the equality guarantee, and the judicial decision makers. The author explores how these fears and hopes have played out with respect to Charter equality rights for women by looking at some of the sex equality decisions that have been made by the Supreme Court of Canada. The cases are discussed under the headings of reproduction, violence against women, family, employment, and socio-economic claims to explore how the sex equality analysis has fared in these different contexts. As the title of this article reflects, the author\u27s assessment is one of equivocal celebration and celebratory equivocation

Response to the Consultation Paper of the Task Force on the Canadian Common Law Degree of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, Canadian Association of Law Teachers/Canadian Law and Society Association

This Response to the Consultation Paper of the Task Force on the Canadian Common Law Degree (the Task Force) of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada was prepared by a joint Committee of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) and the Canadian Law and Society Association (CLSA)

The Power of Feminist Judgments?

Recent years have seen the advent of two feminist judgment-writing projects, the Women’s Court of Canada, and the Feminist Judgments Project in England. This article analyses these projects in light of Carol Smart’s feminist critique of law and legal reform and her proposed feminist strategies in Feminism and the Power of Law (1989). At the same time, it reflects on Smart’s arguments 20 years after their first publication and considers the extent to which feminist judgment-writing projects may reinforce or trouble her conclusions. It argues that both of these results are discernible—that while some of Smart’s contentions have proved to be unsustainable, others remain salient and have both inspired and hold important cautions for feminist judgment-writing projects

Equality Kapped; Media Unleashed

In this paper, Diana Majury looks at the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent s.15 decision, R. v. Kapp, in a preliminary exploration of the different understandings of equality she sees operating in three different sites (the Supreme Court, equality advocates, and the general public). She looks at the first two sites simultaneously by offering her equality advocate’s critique of the Kapp decision, outlining where the decision falls short of the substantive equality that equality advocates have been theorizing and promoting. She then looks at media responses to the decision, responses that almost unanimously present a formal equality understanding of equality. Recognizing that media coverage provides only a very limited and partial window on public perceptions, the media coverage of Kapp nonetheless raises the spectre that the general public understands equality only to mean formal equality. This conclusion highlights the importance of Rose Vyovodic’s work in combining equality and public education and the need for that work to be continued and expanded. Dans cet article, Diana Majury examine le récent jugement R. c. Kapp de la Cour Suprême du Canada en rapport avec l’article 15 pour faire une exploration préliminaire des compréhensions diverses de l’égalité qu’elle constate être en jeu dans trois lieux différents (la Cour Suprême, chez les défenseurs de l’égalité et chez le grand public). Elle examine les deux premiers lieux simultanément en présentant sa critique du jugement Kapp en tant que défenseure de l’égalité, exposant en quoi le jugement n’atteint pas l’égalité de fond au sujet de laquelle théorisent et que préconisent les défenseurs de l’égalité. Puis elle examine les réactions médiatiques au jugement, réactions qui présentent presque unanimement une compréhension d’égalité comme égalité formelle. Tout en reconnaissant que la couverture médiatique ne présente qu’une fenêtre très limitée et partielle sur les perceptions du public, la couverture médiatique de Kapp laisse tout de même pressentir que le grand public ne conçoit l’égalité que dans le sens d’égalité formelle. Cette conclusion fait ressortir l’importance de l’oeuvre de Rose Vyovodic qui combinait égalité et éducation du public et le besoin que cette oeuvre se poursuive et grandisse

Is Care Enough? Proceed with Care: Final Report of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies

Having just finished reading Proceed with Care: Final Report of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies, I find that the questions I am left with pertain less to the technologies themselves, although I certainly do have those, and more to the role and effectiveness of royal commissions generally, and this Royal Commission specifically. I am left wondering, Was it worth it? What really was the point of it all? How could we expect any group of seven-or was it nine? well, ultimately five people-to respond with depth and substance to a mandate that required them to inquire into and report on current and potential medical and scientific developments related to new reproductive technologies, considering in particular their social, ethical, health, research, legal and economic implications and the public interest, recommending what polices and safeguards should be applied ? At bottom, this was somewhat akin to asking the Commissioners to report back on the meaning of life. The technologies under examination involve assisted conception, prenatal diagnosis, embryo research and genetic technologies. These technologies deal with the creation of life. The values, ideologies and interests involved flow from our definitions of life, from what we see as important in and about life