|
The “comparator group” is an element that has been used in Canadian jurisprudence to analyze statutory human rights complaints and claims pursuant to section 15 of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms''. Section 15 guarantees equality rights and the right to be free from discrimination on certain enumerated grounds. The analysis requires the claimant to prove that she or he has been discriminated against in comparison to another group identified by the claimant or by the Court. The appropriate comparator group was described by the Supreme Court of Canada as a group with whom “the claimant shares the characteristics relevant to qualification for the benefit or burden in question, except for the personal characteristic that is said to be the ground of wrongful discrimination.”〔''Hodge v Canada (Minister of Human Resources Development)'', 2004 SCC 65.〕 ==Background and origins== The 1989 case ''Andrews v. Law Society of British Columbia''〔''Andrews v Law Society of British Columbia'', () 1 SCR 143.〕 was the first Supreme Court of Canada judgment to articulate the framework for analysis of ''Charter'' equality claims. The Court formulated a test requiring that the claimant prove that differential treatment on a ground enumerated in section 15 or on an “analogous” ground had occurred and the treatment had caused harm or stereotyping.〔 The Court described equality as a comparative concept, stating that the condition of discrimination “may only be attained or discerned by comparison with the condition of others in the social and political setting in which the question arises.”〔 Ten years later, the Supreme Court expanded on the section 15 equality analysis in ''Law v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration)'',〔''Law v Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration)'' () 1 SCR 497.〕 stating that identification of a comparator group was necessary to determine whether the claimant had experienced discrimination.〔 The Court is not bound by the group chosen by the claimant but can redefine the group based on “biological, historical, and sociological similarities or dissimilarities” between the claimant and others.〔 The Supreme Court maintained in later cases that the identification of a comparator group was crucial to being able to assess the differential treatment claimed by the claimant.〔''Granovsky v Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration)'', 2000 SCC 28; ''Lovelace v Ontario'', 2000 SCC 37〕 In ''Hodge v. Canada (Minister of Human Resources Development)'' in 2004, the Supreme Court reiterated that comparator groups were not a “threshold issue” and that the entire Law test was to be applied on the basis of comparing the claimant and his or her treatment to other groups.〔 In ''R. v. Kapp''〔''R v Kapp'', 2008 SCC 41.〕 in 2008, however, the Court recognized that the comparator group analysis could resurface in the shape of a formal analysis “focussed on treating likes alike.”〔 This decision marked the beginning of a shift of the Supreme Court away from the comparator group analysis. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Comparator groups analysis in Canadian equality law」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|