Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the committee for the invitation to be here today.
My name is Jennifer Khor. I use the pronouns she/her. I'm the Canadian Bar Association's chair for the access to justice subcommittee.
I'm pleased to be joining you today from the traditional unceded territories of the Mi'kmaq and Wolastoqiyik people in Nova Scotia.
The Canadian Bar Association is the national association of 38,000 lawyers, Quebec notaries, law teachers and students, with a mandate to promote improvements in the law and the administration of justice. The access to justice subcommittee strives to improve and promote access to justice for poor and middle-class people in Canada.
The Court Challenges Program has experienced a series of cancellations and revivals, which underscore the program's inherent instability and emphasize the necessity of an independently administered program. The Canadian Bar Association is a long-time supporter of the program's objectives to advance constitutional rights and freedoms by funding test case litigation and cases of national significance in the areas of equality and official language rights.
In fact, the Canadian Bar Association recommends the expansion of the program's mandate to also include equality challenges with national implications to provincial and territorial laws, policies and practices, claims of discrimination by historically disadvantaged groups under the Canadian Human Rights Act, and dedicated resources for aboriginal and treaty rights and federal responsibilities to indigenous peoples.
Governments have significantly more resources at their disposal, compared to individuals or advocacy groups. This resource asymmetry can manifest in various forms, including access to legal expertise, financial resources for litigation and institutional support. As a result, individuals and smaller organizations face significant barriers when attempting to challenge laws or government policies in court.
In 2006, the Canadian Bar Association passed a resolution with respect to the Court Challenges Program. In that, we asserted that “it is a fundamental premise of the Canadian Constitution and system of justice that, in order to be effective, rights must be able to be exercised”.
The clarification of constitutional rights benefits all Canadians, and the Court Challenges Program has a vital role in increasing access to justice for marginalized and vulnerable groups. The program makes a unique and important contribution to democratic values and citizenship, particularly given the rising costs of charter litigation and the complexity of such litigation.
In the CBA's 2013 “Reaching Equal Justice” report, which sets out a plan to create a more accessible and equitable legal system, the CBA called for a rights culture in which individuals and groups are empowered to know and enforce their rights through strengthening legal capabilities.
In 2016, when the CBA commented on the proposed reinstatement and modernization of the program, we stated that the program “should be run by an organization independent of government.”
Ultimately, a stable, well-funded program is one that can hold the government accountable for its actions by providing a mechanism and a more level playing field through which individuals can challenge laws that may be unconstitutional or infringe on their rights and freedoms. This helps to maintain a healthy balance of power between the government and the people it serves. Enshrining the Court Challenges Program into legislation ensures more equitable access to justice for all.
Thank you.