Andrews v. The Law Society of British Columbia (1989)

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This was the Supreme Court of Canada's first decision on the meaning of Section 15 of the Charter. Mr. Andrews, a British lawyer, argued that the B.C. rule restricting the practice of law to Canadian citizens violated his equality rights under the Charter on the basis of citizenship. LEAF intervened in this case to present its view of substantive equality to the Court.

The Supreme Court ruled that the purpose of the equality provision is to benefit those who have been historically disadvantaged. It rejected the similarly situated test to equality, which had governed legal thinking in the western world for years and had been used with extremely discriminatory results for women. LEAF had a major influence on the Court's interpretation of the meaning of the equality clause. This remains one of the most important decisions on equality to date.

Supporting documents
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Supreme Court of Canada Decision (1990)