Toronto, August 27, 2024 – Earlier this month, the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) was granted leave to intervene at the Ontario Court of Appeal in Fair Voting BC v. Canada (Attorney General), a case challenging the constitutionality of Canada’s first past the post electoral system.
Provisions in the Canada Elections Act lay the foundation for Canada’s “first past the post” electoral system. Fair Voting BC and Springtide Collective for Democracy Society are challenging these provisions, alleging they violate section 3 (voting rights) and section 15 (equality rights) of the Charter.
They are arguing that the first past the post system does not meet the requirements for effective representation or meaningful participation guaranteed by section 3. They are also contending that this system leads to the underrepresentation of women and racialized people in Parliament, because it reduces incentives for political parties to nominate balanced slates of candidates compared to proportional representation systems.
Although the lower court judge accepted that the percentage of women in Canada’s Parliament, which is currently 30%, is “too low”, he attributed that underrepresentation to “society’s systemic sexism” rather than the first past the post system.
LEAF will be intervening to highlight the fact that when someone alleges a law – such as the law creating Canada’s first past the post system – violates their Charter-protected equality rights, they should not be required to prove that this law is the only or the dominant cause of underrepresentation. Instead, equality law requires evidence that the law is merely a cause.
“The underrepresentation of women in elected office is a pervasive and persistent problem,” says Pam Hrick, Executive Director and General Counsel of LEAF. “In considering whether Canada’s voting system violates s. 15 of the Charter, it’s important for the Court to properly consider the full context of the group who is making the claim and not to make it unduly hard for them to prove that claim.”
LEAF is grateful to be represented by Tina Lie and Mariam Moktar (Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein 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): Gillian Bourke and Margot Young.
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
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 intervened in more than 130 cases that have helped shape the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. To find out more, visit www.leaf.ca.
