Beyond the Social and Economic Rights Debate: Substantive Equality Speaks to Poverty

The main premise of this article is that governments are required to take positive steps in order to encourage substantive equality. The article reviews Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms jurisprudence with a particular focus on cases which addressed poverty issues using a social and economic rights framework. The authors argue that the characterization of social and economic rights as distinct and different from civil and political rights is a significant factor which prevents the success of these claims. They conclude by pointing out the extent to which poverty remains a sex equality issue and arguing that to ignore economic and social rights violates the underlying values of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. [Descriptors: Social and Economic Rights, Canada]