Toronto, May 14, 2025 – On May 15, the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) will appear before the Supreme Court of Canada to argue that refugee claimants with valid work permits cannot be legally excluded from subsidized daycare programs.
On May 14 and 15, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear arguments in Attorney General of Québec v. Kanyinda, a case that could expand migrants’ eligibility for social services in Canada.
Migrants without permanent immigration status, such as refugee claimants, are often excluded from various federal and provincial services based on their immigration status. Ms. Kanyinda, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, entered Quebec with her three young children via Roxham Road in October 2018. She made a refugee claim once arriving and obtained a work permit while her claim was being processed. She sought subsidized daycare but was denied, because s. 3 of the Reduced Contribution Regulation (Regulation) excludes refugee claimants from eligibility for subsidized daycare.
Ms. Kanyinda challenged this exclusion as indirect discrimination based on sex—since the regulation differentially impacts refugee claimant women—and as direct discrimination based on immigration status and citizenship. While the trial judge dismissed her Charter claims, the Quebec Court of Appeal found that the regulation discriminated on the basis of sex, though it declined to consider her immigration status or citizenship claims. Quebec is now appealing this finding of discrimination.
“The relationship between subsidized childcare and women’s social inclusion cannot be ignored. Women are responsible for the lion’s share of childcare, which limits their socioeconomic participation,” says Pam Hrick, LEAF Executive Director & General Counsel. “While providing access to subsidized childcare has significantly improved the participation of many Quebec women in the labour market, refusing access to women seeking asylum undermines their integration into the workforce and Quebec society.”
LEAF will be intervening to argue that a robust intersectional analysis at both stages of the Charter s. 15 test is necessary to realize the promise of substantive equality guaranteed under s. 15. LEAF will also argue that when governments enact legislation to remedy inequality, they still have a constitutional obligation to ensure that such legislation does not leave behind the most marginalized among its targeted population.
“This court has long acknowledged the need for an intersectional approach to equality. It is now vital for the court to apply an intersectional analysis by affirming that a statutory benefit which is intended to improve the circumstances of a protected group cannot exclude the group’s most vulnerable members,” says Hrick.
LEAF is grateful to be represented pro bono by Olga Redko and Vanessa Ntaganda (IMK LLP) in this case.
LEAF’s interventions are guided, informed, and supported by a case committee with expertise in the relevant issues. We are grateful to this intervention’s case committee members (in alphabetical order): Grace Ajele, Jennifer Koshan, Colleen Sheppard, Jonnette Watson Hamilton, and Margot Young.
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About the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF)
The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) is a national not-for-profit and charity that works to advance the equality rights of women, girls, trans, and non-binary people in Canada through litigation, law reform, and public legal education. Since 1985, LEAF has been involved in over 145 cases that have helped shape the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. To find out more, visit www.leaf.ca.
