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Prior to the existence of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which was enacted in 1982, women had to look to the Canadian Bill of Rights to determine their rights in relation to the law. In the Bill of Rights, women and other groups were guaranteed "equality before the law".
However, in the 1970s many court cases proved that the Bill of Rights was limited in protecting women's rights. Two cases before the Supreme Court of Canada highlighted those limitations in rulings that determined that provision only ensured that women be treated the same before the law.

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1973

In one case, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Irene Murdoch, an Alberta rancher, is not entitled to a share of the ranch she and her husband built over 25 years. Women across Canada become mobilized to pressure the provinces to make significant changes in laws affecting matrimonial property.
In another significant court ruling, Lavell and Bedard, two Aboriginal women, went before the Supreme Court of Canada to regain their Indian status. Both women lost their status when they married non-Aboriginal men (however, native men did not lose their status when they married non-native). Despite this inequality in the Indian Act, the Supreme Court found that no discrimination had occurred.
It was irrelevant to the Court that the law itself discriminated between men and women. The decisive point was that all women were treated the same, in effect were given “equality before the law” and that was all that was guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.
What was missing was “equality under the law."

1978

The Supreme Court of Canada considers the Bliss case, a complaint of whether it was discriminatory that pregnant women were subject to more stringent rules than other workers when seeking unemployment insurance benefits. The Court ruled that, discrimination on the basis of pregnancy is not discrimination on the basis of sex because the distinction is not between male and female persons but between pregnant and non-pregnant persons.

1981

An Ad Hoc Committee on the Constitution made up of lawyers,

Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and. In particular, without discrimination based on based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
In addition to the section 15 clause, the Committee added Section 28 to reinforce gender equality:

Notwithstanding anything in this Charter, the rights and freedoms referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.

1982

On April 17, 1982, the Canadian Constitution, along with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, comes into effect with the exception of Section 15, which is put on hold for three years to enable the federal and provincial governments to review their legislation and change any discriminatory laws.
The Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women (CACSW) finances a study of American legal defense funds and how such a fund might work in Canada.

1984

Women and Legal Action, the result of the CACSW study, is published in October. Its authors, Beth Symes, Mary Eberts, and M. Elizabeth Atcheson, make three principal recommendations:

Establish a single, national legal action fund to fight sex-based discrimination cases

Underwrite educational programs to increase public awareness of inequality

Ensure that current legislation, which is discriminatory, is changed and that new laws are free of discrimination

The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) is established.

1985

LEAF holds its founding meetings in Toronto on April 13-14.
Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is enacted on April 17.