A bold initiative in pursuit of equality rights, the Women's Court of Canada (WCC), was launched on March 6, 2008.
The Women's Court of Canada is a group of academics, activists, and litigators who have undertaken to rewrite Supreme Court of Canada equality judgments in order to challenge conventional thinking about equality. They have started with six significant cases that deal with child care, equal pay, pension rights, social assistance, participation in constitutional negotiations, and integration of children with disabilities in public schools.
The Women's Court of Canada celebrated the publication of its judgments in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law during International Women's Week at a "Rewriting Equality" reception and symposium at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School and the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto.
The symposium brought together law students, community activists, and lawyers from across the country to discuss the WCC decisions, examine current challenges, and continue the process of "rewriting equality".
The WCC takes as its motto Oscar Wilde's injunction: "The only duty we owe to history is to rewrite it."
The goal of the WCC in rewriting equality is to encourage debate about important issues and to inspire others committed to equality to engage in similar exercises, exploring the limits and opportunities of our laws. The WCC aims to show how equality rights can be used to deliver genuine, substantive equality, rather than further entrench existing social and economic inequities.
- See the "Rewriting Equality" symposium web page
- Read the press release
- "Your honour, we respectfully disagree," Toronto Star, March 8, 2008 (samples from 4 WCC judgements)
- Discussion with members of the WCC on CBC Radio's The Sunday Edition, March 9, 2008 (MP3).
- Story about the WCC in Eye Magazine, March 6, 2008 (scroll down to second part of story)
- "Women’s Court hopes to end equality rights neglect," Law Times, March 17, 2008.
