Event

Rethinking the Charter’s “Interpretive” Clauses: What Dickson means for Women’s Equal Rights

Friday, March 14, 2025 11:30to13:30
Room 101, John W. Durnford Classroom
Price: 
Free
Event flyer

Sponsored by the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, F.R. Scott Chair in Public & Constitutional Law, Constitutional Law Society, and the Feminist Legal Collective.

Dickson v. Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation(2024), the Supreme Court of Canada gave a robust interpretation of section 25 of the Charter, effectively shielding laws made by Indigenous self-governing communities from full scrutiny under section 15. This broad reading of section 25’s power came despite its explicit wording as an interpretive clause and its historically rare application by courts.

Section 28, which guarantees equal rights to male and female persons “notwithstanding anything” in the Charter and was once considered one of its most powerful provisions. Yet, like section 25, it has seen little judicial analysis. That is likely to change when the Supreme Court considers whether section 28 overrides the section 33 notwithstanding clause in the upcoming appeal of Quebec’s Law 21.

Professor Froc’s talk will explore the implications ofDickson, how the decision reshapes our understanding of section 28, and what it means for the future of women’s equal rights under the Charter.

Bio

Kerri Froc is an Associate Professor at UNB Law and is currently the Law Foundation of Saskatchewan H. Robert Arscott Chair at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law.Dr. Froc writes on topics such as constitutional interpretation, access to justice, reproductive rights, women’s rights of political representation, and complex rights violations experienced by working women, poor women and racialized and Indigenous women. She is an expert on section 28 of theCanadian Charter of Rights and Freedomsand is a well-known media commentator on Canadian constitutional issues.

For more information, please write to Chrlp.law [at] mcgill.ca

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