Author Archives: Drew Lafond

About Drew Lafond

Drew Lafond is a partner at the law firm MLT Aikins LLP in Calgary. Drew advises First Nations and Metis communities on corporate commercial matters. He has been a Director of the Indigenous Bar Association (IBA) since 2009, and provided testimony on Bill S-3 at the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples and in the House of Commons on behalf of the IBA. He was raised in Treaty 6 territory on the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation reserve and is also of Shuswap descent from the Swimpcw First Nation in British Columbia.

Barring Claims Against Discriminatory Legislation: Canada v Canada

By: Elysa Darling and Drew Lafond

PDF Version: Barring Claims Against Discriminatory Legislation: Canada v Canada

Case Commented On: Canada (Canadian Human Rights Commission v Canada (Attorney General), 2018 SCC 31 (Can LII)

Two weeks ago, in Canada (Canadian Human Rights Commission v Canada (Attorney General)  (CHRC v AG), the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the decision of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) that direct challenges to legislation cannot be pursued under section 5 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, RSC 1985, c H-6 (the CHRA). The claimants in this case argued that they were discriminated against under section 6 of the Indian Act, RSC 1985, c I-5 and filed a complaint under section 5 of the CHRA asking the CHRT to render inoperative the offending provisions in the Indian Act. The decision of the CHRT, with which the Court agreed, was that a complaint under the CHRA cannot be used to directly challenge legislation on the basis that it is discriminatory.

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