Equality in Canada

A tale of non-normative groups struggling with grounds of discrimination

Bibliographic Data

ID23030561
AuthorsNausica Palazzo (0000-0002-0898-0037, University of Trento, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume10
Issue1
Pages88-122
Publication date2020-02-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueOñati Socio-legal Series (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2079-5971 • E-ISSN: 2079-5971
PublisherOnati International Institute for the Sociology of Law (PUBLISHER • ES)
DOI10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1066
OpenAlexW2963567466
LanguageEN
References cited22

This article intends to address the limits associated with a rigid grounds-based approach to equality, requiring claimants to categorize their identity within an enumerated ground to “deserve” the protection of the equality guarantee. To this end, I first shed light on the irreconcilability of rigid grounds with post-structuralist accounts of identity, and then lay claim to an approach to equality that extends its reach to fluid, intersectional groups. Thereafter, taking Canada as a case study, I parse out the Canadian equality jurisprudence, particularly the cases offering an analysis of the aforementioned grounds. I then move to sketch out two proposals to overcome the risks associated with the current equality jurisprudence, by focusing on marital status discrimination. I ultimately offer a cursory overview of the complex interplay between approaches to equality and the organization of interest groups, and illustrate the issues around the organization of “post-identity groups”.

Gender equality · Humanities · Identity (music) · Jurisprudence · Political science · Sociology · Discrimination and Equality Law · Gender Studies · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Law, Rights, and Freedoms · Philosophy

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