We have an exciting update on the Charter Challenge for Fair Voting. On June 16th, we submitted our factum - the written argument of our case provided to the courts in advance of the hearing in September 2023. 

This important work followed our cross-examination of government witnesses over the winter and spring months. We are making tremendous progress on the case - none of which would be possible without the generous support of our Charter Challenge donors. 

Through our evidence package and factum we have produced strong evidence that half of eligible voters do not have effective and meaningful representation. While the factum will not be publicly available until late August, here are a few key highlights:  

• This case is fundamentally about whether Canada’s highly disproportional method of translating votes into seats (“first past the post”) violates ss. 3 and 15 of the Charter, by failing to provide effective representation to all Canadian voters and by discriminating against women and minorities. 
• Our case is based on the fact that Democratic theorists now agree that democracy requires more than simply voting and electing representatives. Representatives need to effectively represent voters and give them a real voice in the deliberations of parliament by actively supporting and promoting their views there . 

As we know, and have illustrated in the factum, our current system results in many negative outcomes, including the significant under-representation of minority perspectives, whether in terms of political views or identity. As such, we are asking the court to strike down the current election law and have the government implement a fair replacement. 

Thank you for your on-going support of the Charter Challenge - you are critical to the success of this case! 

Jesse Hitchcock, Springtide & Antony Hodgson, Fair Voting BC