2 total
Supreme Court establishes unified three-step BFOR test; reinstates female firefighter dismissed for failing discriminatory fitness standard.
The claimant, a female forest firefighter, was dismissed after failing a newly implemented aerobic fitness test.
The test had a disproportionately negative effect on women.
The arbitrator found adverse effect discrimination and reinstated her, but the Court of Appeal overturned this decision.
The Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal, replacing the conventional bifurcated approach to discrimination with a unified three-step test for bona fide occupational requirements (BFOR).
The Court found the government failed to establish that the aerobic standard was reasonably necessary to identify those able to perform the job safely and efficiently, and failed to show it could not accommodate the claimant without undue hardship.
Governments must provide necessary sign language interpretation for equal access to medical care.
The appellants, deaf patients, challenged the failure of British Columbia’s publicly funded health care scheme to provide sign language interpreters where necessary for effective communication in medical settings.
The Court held that although the impugned statutes were not unconstitutional on their face, the Charter applied to hospitals and the Medical Services Commission when they implemented the statutory medicare program.
The failure to provide interpretation where necessary denied deaf persons the equal benefit of the law under s. 15(1) by creating adverse effects discrimination in access to insured medical services.
The infringement was not justified under s. 1 because the government failed to show that a total denial of medical interpretation minimally impaired equality rights.
A declaration was granted, suspended for six months, directing the province to administer the legislation consistently with s. 15(1).
