Charter challenges program gets new life at University of Ottawa

The University of Ottawa has been picked to host a revived program that helps Canadians pursue their constitutional rights in court.

The Court Challenges Program was scrapped by the federal Conservatives in 2006, but in February, the Liberals announced a plan to bring itback. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould saidthe program gave vulnerable groups and official-language-minority communities "a voice in defining what their constitutional rights mean."

The program is also being expanded to include human rights cases such as those based on freedom of religion and expression, freedom of democratic rights, and the right to liberty and security.

University to assistexperts who selectcases

"The University of Ottawa is proud to have been chosen to administer the new Court Challenges Program," said JacquesFrmont, the university's president and vice-chancellor in a news release.

"This Program will allow Canadians to advance issues of national interest before the courts in matters of rights and freedoms and of official language. These values are at the heart of Canadian democracy, and define us as a society."

The university will create a newCanadian Centre for the Court Challenges Program, which will be independent of the school aside from administrative support.

Itsrole will be to assist the two expert panels who decide which cases to fund:one devoted to official-language cases and the other to human rights.

Richard Clment, a University of Ottawa professor and the chair of the centre's new administration committee, saidthe university is well-equipped to house the program.

"The issue of language rights and the issue of equality rights are well-represented, particularly since this is a program that would be handled jointly by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute and the Faculty of Law."

Desire for openness

Clment said the centre will soon hire a small staff, including two lawyers to receive and analyze requests. The lawyers willpresent each case to the relevant expert panel, who will decide independently whether to provide funding.

In the case of successful applications, the centre's lawyerswill interact with the party's lawyersand monitor their work.

He added the centre's contract with the federal government has yet to be negotiated, but he's hoping it will allow for openness about the cases the program funds.

"It's public money and there should be transparency," he said, noting the previous program had been criticized for being opaque about spending.

Government to spend $5M per year on program

The federal government said Friday that having a third-party institution host the program will ensure that it will "operate independently to advance the rights and freedoms of all Canadians."

The government has committed to spend $5 million per year on the Court Challenges Program, with a minimum of $1.5 million on cases related to official-language rights.

The expert panels who will allocate the funds have yet to be named.

A five-person selection committee, which includes the chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, will assess candidates.