A Calgary political science professor is criticizing a federal government program that funds constitutionality challenges for minorities, saying he has difficulty explaining to people from other countries why Canada would fund challenges to its own legislation.
University of Calgary political science professor Ian Brodie testified before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on May 2 on the topic of the Court Challenges Program, which funds those seeking to challenge legislation using the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
It’s one thing for the Attorney General of Canada “to intervene in a court case and to bring public interest arguments before the court,” he said. “But to be in the business of effectively subsidizing and encouraging court cases,” including those against provincial or municipal laws, “I think is a violation of the principles of the spending power,” Mr. Brodie said.
When he tries to explain the Court Challenges Program to people from other countries, “they have a hard time understanding why the Canadian government funds its own citizens making legal challenges against the country’s own legislation.”
He noted that “the great advances made on behalf of the black civil rights movement in the United States in court were entirely privately financed by donors” and by charitable trusts established by wealthy donors.
Public interest litigation takes place in most countries with functioning constitutions without a program like Canada’s, he said.
Mr. Brodie argued that to maintain fairness, the program should also cover those making free-speech challenges as well as help traditional religious groups.
Formed in 1978, the Court Challenges Program was created under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and was originally limited to minority language rights. It was expanded in the 1980s by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to include human rights like LGBT issues and others.
Mr. Brodie testified before the House Committee as part of a broader discussion regarding Bill-316, which would amend the Department of Canadian Heritage Act and maintain the Court Challenges Program as well as direct the department to produce an annual report on the impact of the program and its financial performance.
