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In 2006, the Government of West Bengal agreed to let Tata Motors Ltd. (Tata Motors) construct and operate a car manufacturing unit in their state (Small Car Project). Accordingly, the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, Ltd. (WBIDC) acquired approximately 1000 acres of agricultural land for the project pursuant to the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (L.A. Act), affecting the livelihoods of approximately 25,000 people – farmers, sharecroppers, landless laborers, and rickshaw pullers. The claimants in this case were five farmers and small landowners.

In January 2012, up to 53 women underwent a sterilization procedure in Bihar, India, at a sterilization camp managed by an NGO which had been granted accreditation by the District Health Society, apparently without following any formal, transparent process. The women had not been given any counseling regarding the potential dangers and outcomes of the sterilization procedures. They were operated on in a school rather than a hospital, in an unsanitary and unethical manner, all by a single surgeon, under torchlight on top of a school desk, and without running water or sanitary gloves.

Leopoldo Zumaya and Francisco Berumen Lizalde were both injured on the job while working without work authorization in the United States. Each sustained long-term physical damage and were denied access to compensation solely because of their immigration status. Mr. Zumaya filed a workers’ compensation claim but had to settle for a fraction of what he would have received if he had been a U.S. legal permanent resident or citizen. Mr. Lizalde was arrested and deported to Mexico – seemingly in direct response to his workers’ compensation claim – and therefore was unable to pursue it. 

On 10 November 2016, in a decisive victory for workers’ rights, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) upheld the constitutional right to the freedom of association {S. 2 (d)}, delivering a 7-2 decision in favor of the British Columbia Teacher’s Federation (BCTF), the labour union that represents all public school teachers in the province of British Columbia (BC).