October 16, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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CALGARY: Many Canadians believe that they have similar constitutional rights to Americans. In some cases, they do, but many will be surprised by the facts about unequal treatment allowed and even encouraged in Canada by governments and the courts.

A new report from the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy explores the differences in how Canada and the United States have interpreted equal treatment under the law, in A Right to Unequal Treatment, by Professor Bruce Pardy.

In summary:

• In June 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States declared race-based admissions at universities to be unconstitutional. Admissions cannot prefer some races and ethnicities over others.
• While the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms says that Canadians have a right to equal protection, too, the Supreme Court of Canada has said otherwise—interpreting legal equality to mean its opposite: equity.
• Equity is a right granted not to individuals as individuals, but to members of groups; meaning, law can treat people differently in the name of equal or comparable group outcomes.
• As a result, equality rights have become politicized “weapons” wielded by preferred groups to demand advantageous outcomes.
• In short, in Canada, some people are more equal than others.

“It is one thing to excuse affirmative action as an exception. It is another to declare it a constitutional requirement,” states author, law professor, and Aristotle Foundation senior fellow Bruce Pardy.

“Rather than a right to equal treatment, we see a requirement that justice not be blind but instead inquire into identities, capacities, and practices. In the name of equity, the Charter has come to now not merely allow discrimination but may require it.”

Link to the study: A Right to Unequal Treatment: In Canada, some people are more equal than others

To arrange for an author interview, note the contact below.

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MEDIA CONTACT TO ARRANGE INTERVIEWS

Danny Randell

Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy

Email: drandell@aristotlefoundation.org