SGM has been actively in involved in litigation under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms since the early days of the Charter. We have represented parties and interveners in many important Charter cases before a variety of tribunals and at all levels of the courts.
SGM’s labour lawyers have been involved in many of the leading Charter cases in the labour and employment law field, advocating for employees' freedom of expression and freedom of association. These cases include, for example, Lavigne v. OPSEU, UFCW, Local 1518 v. K Mart Canada Ltd. and Dunmore v. Ontario (Attorney General). SGM’s labour lawyers were also among the first to use the Charter to attempt to advance the equality rights of gay and lesbian employees in grievance arbitration cases, such as Carleton University and C.U.P.E., Local 2424.
SGM has also litigated many Charter cases outside the employment and labour law context, including cases involving freedom of expression, freedom of religion and the right to life, liberty and security of the person. Our criminal law litigators have also argued numerous cases involving the Charter rights of accused persons.
SGM’s constitutional law specialists have been at the forefront of many equality rights cases, including the first Supreme Court of Canada decision to deal with the Charter’s equality rights provision, Andrews v. Law Society of British Columbia. Some of our other equality rights cases include Jane Doe v. Metropolitan Toronto (Municipality) Commissioners of Police, Martin v. Nova Scotia Workers' Compensation Board and Lovelace v. Ontario.
SGM has acted in every major case in which the Supreme Court of Canada has dealt with the Charter equality rights of gay men and lesbians including, among others, Egan v. Canada, Vriend v. Alberta, M. v. H., and Little Sisters Book & Art Emporium v. Canada (Minister of Justice). SGM was also counsel in the equal marriage cases in British Columbia (EGALE v. Canada), Ontario (Halpern v. Canada) and in the Equal Marriage Reference before the Supreme Court of Canada. In addition, we have advocated for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in Charter cases before the lower courts, including Rosenberg v. Canada, Kane v. Ontario and Vancouver Rape Relief Society v. Nixon.
