Patrice Claude

On a constitutional appeal concerning Quebec pay equity legislation, the appellants challenged a six-year delay in access to pay equity adjustments for predominantly female workplaces without male comparators under s. 38 of the Pay Equity Act.

The Court split on whether the delay infringed s. 15(1) of the Charter, with one set of reasons finding an infringement and another finding no discriminatory distinction or impact.

A majority result nonetheless upheld the provision because the appeal failed overall, and the challenged section remained valid.

The reasons address substantive equality, comparator methodology, and whether implementation delay in a complex remedial regime can be justified under s. 1.

This appeal considered judicial review of an arbitration award under Quebec's specialized health insurance collective bargaining scheme.

The majority held the arbitrator reasonably concluded the dispute was not arbitrable under the Framework Agreement and that only the federation had standing to submit this type of dispute.

Concurring reasons agreed in the result while treating jurisdiction and standing analysis differently on standard of review.

Dissenting reasons would have found jurisdiction and standing errors and would have dismissed the appeal.

The appeal was allowed and the arbitration award was restored.