Since its revival in 2017, Canada’s Court Challenges Program has spent nearly $25 million funding test cases that challenge Charter rights, yet it has kept details about these cases confidential, according to a report from the Court Challenges Program. Blacklock's Reporter says the department has withheld information on which lawsuits received funding and the reasons behind those decisions.The report describes the scope of issues tackled, including “economic insecurity, the environment and climate change, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, immigration, racism, and the emergence of artificial intelligence.” Selected cases are intended to address “test cases,” defined as issues either unaddressed by courts or open to appeal.The current cabinet plans to release, for the first time, a “list of closed cases funded by the Program” this fall. In 2006, the previous Conservative government disbanded the program amid transparency concerns. Then-Attorney General Vic Toews criticized it for secrecy: “No one is able to tell me who got the money,” he testified in 2007, adding that he was told revealing recipients would “violate solicitor-client privilege,” which he called “the grossest abuse of solicitor-client privilege I had ever heard.”Since its re-establishment, the program has received 529 applications and approved 275 litigants, each eligible for up to $280,000. The cases, selected by a University of Ottawa “panel of experts,” are intended to make legal challenges accessible to individuals and groups, often unable to afford complex and prolonged litigation.The department’s evaluation report noted differing views on the program’s role: “Some perceive the program as being strictly limited to clarifying the rights covered, thus allowing case law to evolve,” while others see it as a means “to push where necessary public authorities to respect these rights.”For the first time, a comprehensive list of closed cases funded by the program will be published in the next annual report, due in November.
Since its revival in 2017, Canada’s Court Challenges Program has spent nearly $25 million funding test cases that challenge Charter rights, yet it has kept details about these cases confidential, according to a report from the Court Challenges Program. Blacklock's Reporter says the department has withheld information on which lawsuits received funding and the reasons behind those decisions.The report describes the scope of issues tackled, including “economic insecurity, the environment and climate change, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, immigration, racism, and the emergence of artificial intelligence.” Selected cases are intended to address “test cases,” defined as issues either unaddressed by courts or open to appeal.The current cabinet plans to release, for the first time, a “list of closed cases funded by the Program” this fall. In 2006, the previous Conservative government disbanded the program amid transparency concerns. Then-Attorney General Vic Toews criticized it for secrecy: “No one is able to tell me who got the money,” he testified in 2007, adding that he was told revealing recipients would “violate solicitor-client privilege,” which he called “the grossest abuse of solicitor-client privilege I had ever heard.”Since its re-establishment, the program has received 529 applications and approved 275 litigants, each eligible for up to $280,000. The cases, selected by a University of Ottawa “panel of experts,” are intended to make legal challenges accessible to individuals and groups, often unable to afford complex and prolonged litigation.The department’s evaluation report noted differing views on the program’s role: “Some perceive the program as being strictly limited to clarifying the rights covered, thus allowing case law to evolve,” while others see it as a means “to push where necessary public authorities to respect these rights.”For the first time, a comprehensive list of closed cases funded by the program will be published in the next annual report, due in November.
