Mr. Speaker, I have a question that relates to the court challenges program. The Conservative government eliminated a program which basically strived for justice to make us a more equal society.
We had a situation just a little while ago where a child of one of the war brides was given citizenship by an order in cabinet back in 1948 and the government denied him his citizenship on very questionable grounds. When it went before Federal Court Justice Luc Martineau, he ruled that the actions of the government were contrary to the legal section of the charter, section 7, and the equality section of the charter, section 15. The government has appealed that decision.
The reason I raise this is because it raises a fundamental question that very much impacts on the life of an individual in this country. An individual challenged the government on a question relating to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, he won the case in the first instance, and now must face a government appeal and perhaps take it to the Supreme Court. An average individual does not have the resources.
In terms of public policy and pursuing a just society, we must have something like the court challenges program to ensure that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to everybody, not just to people who can afford it.
Could my friend comment on the importance of the court challenges program because these things happen to real people and they very much impact on people's equality and the justice that they can receive in this country?