Court Challenges Program of Canada

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The Court Challenges Program of Canada (CCP) is a non-profit organization whose stated purpose is "to provide financial support to Canadians to bring before the courts test cases of national significance that aim to clarify and assert certain constitutional and quasi-constitutional official language rights and human rights".

Court Challenges Program
AbbreviationCCP - PCJ
TypeNonprofit organization
HeadquartersOttawa
Location
  • Canada
Website https://pcj-ccp.ca/

Its history can be traced to 1978, when the federal government of Canada began providing assistance for minority language cases. The government of Brian Mulroney created an expanded Court Challenges Program in 1985, after the equality section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms became law. [1] However, the Mulroney government later withdrew financial support for the program in 1992. [2] This was a controversial decision, and was opposed by some people. [3] The government of Jean Chrétien re-established the program in 1994, and the current CCP traces its origins to this period. [4]

The government of Stephen Harper abolished the $5.5 million in funding for the program in 2006. [5] [6] [7] This was again a controversial decision, and was strongly criticized by some civic society groups. [8] [9] For a time the CCP stopped accepting new applications for funding, although it honoured pre-existing grants and continued to process requests for reimbursement for these grants. The program was partially restored in June 2008 for the official languages minority component of the program, under the name Language Rights Support Program. [10] [11]

As of February 2017, the Court Challenges Program has been reinstated with an annual budget of $5 million. [12] Since then up to May 2022, the program has received 115 applications for the official languages rights branch and 292 for the human rights branch. Of those, the CCP funded 74 and 127 respectively. [13] The information as to which cases are funded is not disclosed in the interest of preserving the right of program applicants to keep their information confidential, just as any other person or group seeking legal action. [14]

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References

  1. ↑ David Vienneau, "Expand Aid for Challenges of Unfair Laws, MPs Urge", Toronto Star, 11 December 1989, A20.
  2. ↑ "Ottawa Ends Aid for Charter Cases", The Globe and Mail, 28 February 1992, A6.
  3. ↑ David Vienneau, "Charter Birthday 'a Day of Mourning'", Toronto Star, 16 April 1992, A16; Sean Fine, "Court Challenges Why Program Died Was Never Clear", The Globe and Mail, 1 September 1993, A7.
  4. ↑ "Court-Challenges Program Reinstated", The Globe and Mail, 25 October 1994, A4.
  5. ↑ CTV.ca
  6. ↑ "The axe falls on minority rights in Canada". 10 October 2008.
  7. ↑ Jacobs, John (6 November 2006). "Conservative ideology dressed in rhetoric of fiscal responsibility". Canadian Center of Policy Alternatives.
  8. ↑ Lorne Sossin, "An Axe That Harms Democracy", Toronto Star, 28 September 2006, A23.
  9. ↑ CTV.ca
  10. ↑ "Partial Restoration of Court Challenges Program". 20 June 2008.
  11. ↑ "Tories restore parts of scrapped court challenges program". Archived from the original on 22 January 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
  12. ↑ "Backgrounder – Court Challenges Program - Canada.ca". Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  13. ↑ CCP. "Annual Report". PCJ CCP. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  14. ↑ Crête, Mylène (23 May 2023). "Contestation judiciaire: Un projet de loi privé pour pérenniser le programme". La Presse (in Canadian French). Retrieved 20 June 2023.
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