Summary

Affirmative Action (to promote equal opportunity)

• we have discriminated against in different way either through official government-supported means or through social outcast
  • examples of this are with the Aboriginal people
  • when slavery was abolished discrimination still took place towards those whose past was involved in slavery
  • examples of these groups are; blacks, Japanese, and Chinese
  • Irish were considered unwanted
  • discrimination also takes place with; gender, religion, age, sexual orientation, and physical abilities

• the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms tries to make everyone equal in the eyes of the law
• It also recognizes that in the past people were discriminated against in the past and measures to correct the past
• these corrective measures are called AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
• affirmative action a policy designed to increase the representation of groups that have suffered discrimination

From the Charter:

Equality Rights

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EQUALITY BEFORE AND UNDER LAW AND EQUAL PROTECTION AND BENEFIT OF LAW / Affirmative action programs.
15. (1) 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.
(2) Subsection (1) does not preclude any law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.

http://www.efc.ca/pages/law/charter/charter.text.html

• Although affirmative action programs can't violate the equality in s. 15 (1)
• affirmative action cannot discriminate on the basis of prohibited grounds
• discrimination is permitted, however, if if the program benefits a group that was previously discriminated against.
• Suggestions
  • governments should create policies or laws which treat some individuals and groups more favourably than others
  • building codes could require facilities such as acess ramps and washrooms for wheelchair users, hiring quotas for race, gender etc could be mandatory

• 15 (2) questions the interpretation of equality
• numerical sameness; ex. 50 percent of the population is a particular group then it should represent 50 percent of any particular sector of government
• others say that 15 (2) means equality of opportunity; people should get equal access
• 15 (2) “disadvantage” - most would agree that those who were historically under-represented
• courts have tried to create a degree of discrimination but most cases have ended up empty

Source: Dimensions of Law Textbook