What are equality rights?

Equality rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are guaranteed by section 15, which states that 'every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability'. The Supreme Court of Canada has read in additional analogous grounds, most notably sexual orientation in Egan v. Canada (1995) and Vriend v. Alberta (1998).

Section 15 took effect on April 17, 1985, three years after the rest of the Charter, to allow Parliament and the legislatures time to amend statutes to comply. Hundreds of laws were updated, including the Indian Act provisions stripping status from women who married non-status men (changed by Bill C-31 in 1985), pension rules excluding same-sex partners, and many provincial family-law statutes. The current test for a section 15 breach was set out in Andrews v. Law Society of British Columbia (1989) and refined in R. v. Kapp (2008) and Quebec v. A. (2013).

Section 15 has shaped Canadian equality jurisprudence across many areas. M. v. H. (1999) extended spousal-support obligations to same-sex couples. Eldridge v. British Columbia (1997) required the provision of sign-language interpretation in public health services. Reference re Same-Sex Marriage (2004) opened the way for the Civil Marriage Act of 2005. Withler v. Canada (2011) refined the Andrews framework for age-based pension distinctions. R. v. Sharma (2022) addressed Indigenous over-incarceration in conditional-sentence-availability provisions.

Section 15(2) protects ameliorative programmes designed to improve conditions for disadvantaged groups, including affirmative-action initiatives and Indigenous rights protections. The Federal Employment Equity Act of 1995 and provincial pay-equity statutes operate under this constitutional shelter. Section 28 of the Charter additionally guarantees that Charter rights apply equally to male and female persons, providing a separate gender-equality anchor that operates regardless of section 33's notwithstanding clause. The federal Canadian Human Rights Act of 1977 and provincial human rights codes prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and services in their respective jurisdictions.