Funding: Equality Rights Cases
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Funding for Equality Rights Cases
Sections which relate to Funding for Equality Rights Cases under the Court Challenges Program are described below:
Eligibility for Funding
The Program's Contribution Agreement with the Department of Canadian Heritage sets out the terms and conditions on which money is given to the Program each year. It defines the Program's mandate, including what types of cases the Program can (and cannot) fund and who is eligible for funding.
What types of cases does the Program fund?
Under our agreement with the Federal Government, the Program is only allowed to fund a case if it challenges a law, policy or practice of the federal government, advances equality rights under section 15 of the Charter and is an important test case.
- Cases we fund must involve a challenge to a federal law, policy or practice. These are laws and actions by the federal government (the Government of Canada). We are not allowed to fund challenges to actions taken by provincial governments.
- Cases which advance equality rights are based on the equality sections - 15 and 28 - of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In some situations, cases involving the fundamental freedoms in section 2 or multiculturalism in section 27 may be eligible for funding, if those sections are used to support equality arguments under section 15. If you want to see what these sections actually say, please refer to the Key Sections.
- A case is a test case only if it deals with a problem or raises an argument that has not already been decided by the courts and has the potential to stop discrimination or improve the way the law works for members of a disadvantaged group or groups in Canada.
Who can receive Program Funding?
The Program is only allowed to give equality rights funding to people who are members of historically disadvantaged groups or to non-profit organizations which represent historically disadvantaged groups and their members. Funding may be granted to a party in the case or to an intervener.
A party is a person or group whose rights are directly affected by the case, often the person or group that started the case. An intervener is an interested outside person or group which has arguments or ideas about the case which are broader or have a different focus than the ones presented by the parties. Interveners may only receive funding from the Program when they raise important equality arguments not made by others.
The Program's funding is not available to for-profit organizations.
What is the Program not allowed to fund?
All of the Program's funding presently comes from the federal government. The government agreed to provide money to the Program only after making a list of things the Program is not allowed to do with it. Under the agreement with the government, we cannot fund any of the following:
- challenges to provincial law, policy or practice
- any case that covers an issue already funded by the Program or that is already before the courts
- complaints under the Canadian Human Rights Act
- public education, community development, lobbying or political advocacy
What is Program Funding?
you are granted funding, the Program will enter into a Funding Agreement with you. In it, the Program will agree to reimburse you for eligible costs you have paid or are responsible for paying. We make our agreement with you and not with your lawyer or other people who work on your case or project. We provide you with money so you can pay them. The Court Challenges Program funding does not always cover the full cost. What we pay is limited to the categories of expenses that are eligible for reimbursement and the maximum amounts allowed by the Program's Funding Guidelines.
More information about what we will expect from you - and what you may expect from the Program if you receive funding - may be found in the Once Funding is Granted section.
Funding Categories and Amounts
Under the Contribution Agreement, there are three (3) categories of funding available for equality rights cases - Case Development Funding, Case Funding, Program Promotion and Accessibility Funding, Negotiation Funding and Impact Study Funding. Each is explained briefly below.
Negotiation Funding
In some situations, it may be possible to resolve a dispute between an individual or group and a government on a constitutional matter covered under the Program's mandate through negotiations or other forms of alternative resolution. Negotiation funding of up to $5,000.00 may be granted to settle a dispute in this matter.
Case Development Funding
If you have an idea for an equality rights test case but have not worked out the details yet, case development funding may be granted to allow you to build your case and meet the requirements for case funding. A maximum of $5,000.00 is available for doing legal research and preparing your equality rights arguments.
In some cases, it may be helpful to talk to other people who will be affected by your case and hear what they think. You may also want to consult with lawyers or others with more experience with the issues in your case. A further $5,000.00 in consultation funding may be available to you to talk with people in the community or with experts about your case idea.
Case Funding
Once your ideas have been fully developed and your equality rights test case is ready to go to court, you may ask for case funding to pay the expenses of the case. Funding is generally used for things like lawyers' fees, photocopying, telephone, fax and other technical costs and taxes on those amounts. With permission from the Program, you may also be able to use the money for witness fees, travel expenses and other special costs.
The maximum amount of funding available for your case will vary depending on what stage the case has reached in court. You may receive up to $60,000.00 for a case which is at the trial level, which is the first time the case goes to court. If a decision has already been made in your case and you (or someone else) has appealed the decision to a higher court, a maximum of $35,000.00 is available for the appeal level. The maximum amount for interveners is $35,000.00, whether the case is at the trial or appeal level.
It is important for you to know that, if you receive case development funding for your case and are later granted case funding, the amount of the case development funding is deducted from the maximum available for the case. For example, if you received $5,000.00 in case development funding to prepare your arguments for a case at the trial level, you could only receive a further $55,000.00 in case funding.
In rare cases, where a case is extremely difficult to work on or where other special circumstances exist, the Program may provide extraordinary funding for a case. Extraordinary funding is generally limited to $25,000.00 for each case in which it is granted.
Impact Study Funding
When a court makes an important decision in a case involving equality rights, the decision may affect the way in which future cases are decided. Impact study funding may be granted to a qualified person or group to do research on the court decision and prepare a paper to discuss the possible effect it will have. The purpose of the paper is to help individuals and groups understand the court decision and prepare for future cases.
Funding Decisions
The Equality Rights Panel makes all decisions about funding for equality cases - including what cases will be funded, who will receive funding, how much will be granted and what the terms and conditions of funding will be. The Panel is part of the Court Challenges Program but is independent from the Board of Directors and from the government. The Equality Rights Panel has the final say on equality rights funding decisions.
There are seven (7) people on the Panel. Panel members are nominated by organizations involved in equality rights work and are chosen for their knowledge and understanding of section 15 of the Charter and equality and human rights more generally. Brief biographies of the Panel members are available from the Program.
The role of the Panel members is to make sure that funding is provided for cases and other activities with the best chance of advancing equality rights in Canada and that the Contribution Agreement and the Program's funding guidelines are respected. The Panel meets in person four (4) times each year to consider funding applications.
The Process
Information on how to apply for funding may be found in How to Apply for Funding.
Once a complete application for funding is received, here is what happens:
- We send you a letter telling you that we have received your application and asking for any further information we need. We look at your application to determine whether it meets the basic requirements for an eligible case. If so, we present it to the Equality Rights Panel for a decision. If not, we will advise you.
- The Equality Rights Panel meets to consider your application.
- Following the meeting, we prepare minutes of the meeting and decision letters for the Panel's approval. We then send you a letter explaining the Panel's decision. If you have been granted funding, we include a Funding Agreement for you to sign.
- If you disagree with a decision, you may write to us to request that the Panel reconsider. You must provide a detailed reason why a different decision ought to be reached
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