Cases and Issues

Changing the law in the public interest

The Centre maintains a mixed portfolio, responding to requests for service from a variety of sources. Some current issues include:

• Are internationally trained medical graduates being denied equality rights under current Manitoba licencing arrangements?
• Is the Manitoba oil patch operating outside the law because provincial environmental officials have not required licensing of oil batteries (pumping and treating stations), to the detriment of area farm families?
• Does unextinguished aboriginal title still exist in Manitoba? If title still exists, is the Province obliged to seek First Nation consent before undertaking activities which infringe on that title?
• Does the decision to build the billion dollar Wuskwatim hydro-electric dam adequately protect the interests of Manitoba consumers and the environment?
• Do provisions of The Employment Insurance Act which provide for compassionate caregiving leave discriminate on the grounds of family status?

Past cases of interest

The Public Interest Law Centre has established numerous legal precedents over the years, enhancing life and law for Manitobans. A few highlights:

• The Manitoba Adoption Act was amended to permit same-sex couples the right to adopt following the commencement of a constitutional challenge to the Act under the equality guarantee of the Charter.
• In Harris v Minister of National Revenue, for the first time in the common law world, a public-spirited taxpayer was allowed to sue the Minister over an alleged failure to properly collect tax from another taxpayer. The Supreme Court of Canada allowed this action - the so-called Afamily trust case@ - to proceed to trial. In December 2001, the Federal Court ruled that despite various deficiencies in the handling of the file by Revenue officials, the controversial advance tax ruling would stand. However, the trial judge commended the plaintiff for pursuing the case and ordered costs against the government.
• Federal prisoners trying to overcome opiate addiction were denied methadone maintenance treatment. An inmate challenged this refusal as a failure to provide essential health care under the legislation governing federal inmates and s. 7 of the Charter. After two years of litigation, Correctional Services of Canada agreed to provide methadone to all federal inmates in need of the treatment.
• After a lengthy constitutional challenge in Queen's Bench, the City of Winnipeg settled with the National Anti-Poverty Organization on the panhandling issue. By agreement, the by-law was repealed and replaced with provisions which regulate defined physical nuisance in public places, but permit free speech by poor persons.
• A new Mental Health Act and the Vulnerable Persons Act were implemented after Charter of Rights challenges to procedures affecting mentally ill and developmentally disabled persons. Accessible taxis and accessible buildings have been required after Human Rights Code challenges by persons with physical disabilities. Discriminatory zoning by-laws affecting family-style group homes for the disabled and the elderly were struck down under the Charter.
• Riverbank parkland in Old St. Boniface and natural elements of Omand's Creek were protected from high-rise development.
• Student aid cutbacks in the ACCESS Program were reversed after a precedent-setting "breach of contract" ruling by the Courts.
• Voting rights of people with disabilities and inmates of correctional facilities, and candidacy rights of bankrupts, were declared.
• City-wide real property re-assessment in Winnipeg was ordered by the Court, replacing antiquated values used in setting municipal taxation.
• The right of mature minors to receive essential income assistance from government was upheld by the Courts.
• Court actions on behalf of northern Manitoba Dene and Cree people resulted in settlement negotiations on various land claim issues which had been unresolved for decades.
• The Supreme Court recognized a Charter right to government-paid legal counsel when low-income parents are faced with apprehension of their children by a child welfare agency.
• Telephone companies were ordered to ensure equal, high-quality access to network services in remote and northern areas of Canada.
• The Manitoba Court of Appeal recently held that an applicant for disability benefits under The Employment and Income Assistance Act does not require proof of a definitive diagnosis in order to be found eligible. This case was brought forward by the Poverty Law Office of Legal Aid Manitoba, together with the Public Interest Law Centre.