Recent Canadian court decisions make it harder for advocacy organizations to participate in legal cases, raising concerns among human rights groups. The Canadian Council for Refugees and the HIV Legal Network were removed from separate cases because they didn’t get court permission to join. These organizations usually assist in important legal processes by offering expert opinions and additional information to help courts make more informed decisions.
Such participation is especially important in cases involving the rights of vulnerable groups. For example, advocates helped in a case where a refugee faced losing permanent resident status for visiting his home country to attend funerals and religious ceremonies. The case was resolved, but the court still removed the organization from the process.
The issue is that these new decisions require advocacy groups to file special motions to participate in cases, creating unnecessary bureaucratic barriers. Previously, such organizations could automatically join legal cases if their participation was in the public interest.
Advocates worry that these new requirements will make it harder for people who already struggle with the legal system to access justice. In the future, this could lead to vulnerable people finding it more difficult to defend their rights in court, as the organizations that usually support them will face additional hurdles.
Material was taken from Toronto Star and resumed by me,
