Why a challenge?

The Charter guarantees our right to vote and our right to equal treatment. It's up to the Supreme Court to decide when this principle has been violated. 

Prior to serving in her role as the Chief Justice for Canada's Supreme Court, Justice Beverley McLachlin ruled that our right to vote means that we have to be effectively represented:

“Each citizen is entitled to be represented in government. Representation comprehends the idea of having a voice in the deliberations of government”.  

- Justice Beverley McLachlin

That’s each of us, not just some of us. That principle has been upheld in several cases throughout Canadian elections. 

The court has also said that voters should be treated equally, but when only half of us have an MP we support, the system is discriminatory and excludes those voices.

Constitutional lawyers have advised us that we have a worthwhile case to make against our current voting system on these grounds.

Why not change the system through political channels? 

Governments of various stripes have supported electoral reform while in opposition, and on the campaign trail only to back away from the promise of reform once elected.

The present government and parliament have decided not to proceed with electoral reform. It could be years, or decades, and several elections, before electoral reform becomes a possibility again through political channels. Democratic rights are human rights. It's the Court's job to ensure that those rights are protected when parliament neglects to protect them. 


Like and Follow

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Key Events in the Case:

  • We're currently waiting for our appeal to be heard (scheduled for Nov 2024)
  • We submitted our appeal factum in late April 2024.
  • We filed our Notice of Appeal on Dec 29, 2023.
  • Justice Ed Morgan issued his ruling on Nov 30, 2023 and unfortunately dismissed our application.
  • The case was heard September 26-28, 2023 in the Ontario Superior Court.
  • We received the government's affidavits in late Fall 2022.
  • We served the government with our affidavit and evidence package in May 2021.
  • We filed the case with the Ontario Superior Court in October 2019.

How you can help

The main way you can help is to support the case financially. We are now raising $30,000 to support our preparations for filing a leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada (spring 2025). You can support the case for as little as a dollar a month.

What to expect

At each step, we set a donation goal based on our estimate of the costs for the next stage of the process, and invite our supporters to contribute towards that goal to ensure the case can continue to move forward.