Multidimensional Equality: The 40th Anniversary of the Coming into Force of Section 15

Registration Now Open! This event is free to attend, and meals will be provided. Email katie.richard@usask.ca to register for this event. Please include any dietary restrictions in your email. 

Morning keynote: Vrinda Narain, Faculty of Law, McGill University

Closing keynote: The Honourable Kim Pate, Senator

The Supreme Court of Canada has called section 15 the “broadest of all guarantees” under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in that it applies to and is a “significant influence” on the interpretation of other rights and freedoms. It has also recognized (at least, in principle), that the equality analysis is sufficiently capacious for claims based on intersecting grounds. Section 28 guarantees rights referred to in the Charter equally to “male and female persons,” and section 35(4) of the Constitution Act, 1982 contains a likewise guarantee in relation to aboriginal and treaty rights. Thus, constitutional equality in Canada is multidimensional.  The Court’s recognition of the multidimensional nature of equality resulted in significant decisions concerning the right to legal aid and in upholding protections for sexual assault complainants, among others.

But multidimensional equality has yet to be fully realized. Paradoxically, the Supreme Court has cautioned against “unduly blurring” the distinctions between different rights. There has seldom (if ever) been a fully intersectional analysis under section 15. Courts have excluded economic grounds from equality’s purview, and there is jurisprudential ambivalence about positive rights. Successful discrimination cases based on race or Indigeneity are few, and women’s progress using sex equality rights has been slow. To date, section 28 has been judicially marginalized.

On October 24, 2025, the University of Saskatchewan College of Law will host a one-day conference in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan that will bring together leading scholars to present fresh perspectives on the history and future of multidimensional equality. The focus is not simply critique but rather illuminating a path forward for principled and stable equality frameworks under the Constitution.

 

Event Details

When:
Location:
USask Law, 15 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan