Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  Thank you. I think equality is a widely endorsed ideal in our country, yet its realization remains to be seen. In many ways, we may be seeing problems of inequality worsening with globalization. There is the rise of precarious jobs and continued systemic violence, so there is still very much a problem with inequality.

Status of Women committee  This is Colleen Sheppard here. I just wanted to add one small point, and that is that I think there is some perception that somehow perhaps the program was biased because it was helping minority-language communities and individuals and groups that were socially or historically disadvantaged.

Status of Women committee  The final point I want to make is that the court challenges program did more than just fund individual test cases. It also funded groups to do research and to engage in conferences and other educational activities around equality rights. Again, the information about the full range of activities of the court challenges program is available.

Status of Women committee  Thank you. Thank you for inviting me here. I teach Canadian constitutional law, discrimination and the law, and feminist legal theory. I also work with the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. In the past I have been involved in working on a volunteer basis with the National Association of Women and the Law on a constitutional challenge, the Gosselin case, with the Legal Education and Action Fund.