Chosen Discrimination

Abstract:     
The paper studies the analogous grounds under section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that most raise the concern that the complainant in equality litigation has made a choice, namely citizenship and marital status. The citizenship example comes from Lavoie v. Canada, a 2002 judgment concerning citizenship preferences in federal public employment. The paper argues that a focus on autonomy and zones of privacy – a sense of matters with which government has no business interfering – works better than the unhelpful dichotomy of things chosen and unchosen.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 31

Keywords: discrimination, equality, choice, citizenship, marital status, Canadian Charter, Lavoie

JEL Classification: K19, K10

Accepted Paper Series