For Immediate Release
October 16, 2006
OTTAWA – The Canadian Bar Association wants the federal government to reinstate the Court Challenges Program (CCP) and restore its budget so that the constitutional rights of all Canadians – not just those with deep pockets – can be protected.
“The Court Challenges Program is critical in a society that prides itself on adhering to the rule of law and promoting unimpeded access to the justice system,” says CBA President J. Parker MacCarthy, Q.C., of Duncan, B.C., in an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
“Without the Court Challenges Program, equality rights and language rights guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms would have remained simply rights on paper,” the letter continues.
Following the announcement of the elimination of the CCP, the CBA immediately decried the cuts. “Canadians have a Charter of Rights, and the Court Challenges Program gives them a voice to exercise their rights under the Charter in the areas of language and equality,” said Parker MacCarthy on Sept. 26.
People who have benefited from the CCP include disabled children and their families, French-speaking minority groups, women who have experienced sexual assault, Aboriginal groups and gay men and lesbians. “All of us have a gender, a first language, a race, a nationality, a sexual orientation, and certain physical and mental abilities. Striking down discriminatory laws alleviates the historical disadvantage experienced by vulnerable groups. A more egalitarian society benefits us all,” says the CBA letter.
The CBA reaffirmed its support for the program in August at its Canadian Legal Conference in St. John’s, NL. It called on the federal government to not only increase funding, but also to ensure the program’s long-term financial stability.
The full text of the letter to Prime Minister Harper is available on-line at:
http://www.cba.org/CBA/submissions/pdf/06-39-02-eng.pdf
The CBA’s August 2006 resolution on the CCP:
http://www.cba.org/CBA/resolutions/pdf/06-01-AC.pdf
The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 36,000 lawyers, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.
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CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, Tel: (613) 237-2925, ext. 146; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org.
