Application under Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom section 15 (equality rights) by deaf patients challenging failure to provide sign language interpretation in the provision of healthcare. Positive obligations to allocate resources reasonably. Substantive equality and right to healthcare. Discretionary decision-making.
In response to the Court’s decision, a new program was established with consultation with the Deaf, Deaf/Blind and Hard of Hearing communities in the program design. There were initially concerns about delays in implementing the program, and other provinces in Canada have been slow to ensure compliance. The decision has been used in support of a number of advocacy initiatives for improved programs and services for people with disabilities.
This decision provides a basis for embracing many social and economic rights of vulnerable groups under the framework of equality rights. The Court recognized positive obligations to allocate resources, to maintain or implement the necessary service and applied a reasonableness test to resource allocation decisions. Unfortunately, more recent jurisprudence from the Supreme Court of Canada has put this substantive equality framework into question.
Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, www.leaf.ca
Disabled Women’s Network Canada, www.dawncanada.net
The Charter Committee on Poverty Issues, www.povertyissues.org
The Canadian Association of the Deaf, www.cad.ca
The Canadian Hearing Society, www.chs.ca
The Council of Canadians with Disabilities, www.ccdonline.ca