Press Release: SALCBC’s First Intervention in the BC Courts

For Immediate Release

SALCBC is excited to announce that it received its first grant of intervener status at the BC Court of Appeal, with our litigation partner, the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO), on January 24, 2024, on an appeal from case Bakhtiari et al. v. His Majesty the King in Right of the Province of British Columbia et al. (CA49298). SALCBC and SALCO jointly applied for intervener status because the appeal raises the question of the Charter rights of non-permanent residents (“NPRs”) — a matter on which they have familiarity, expertise, and a keen interest as representatives of South Asian immigrants and non-permanent residents in British Columbia and across Canada. Specifically, they argue that the appeal raises the question of whether legislative distinctions between non-permanent residents on the one hand and citizens and permanent residents, on the other, can be distinctions on the prohibited ground of citizenship under the Charter’s equality rights guarantee, section 15.

The interveners will make submissions on the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in Imperial Oil Limited v. Haseeb, 2023 ONCA 364, which addresses the legality of parallel distinctions under human rights codes, but was not put before the chambers judge. In so doing, SALCBC & SALCO are asking the BCCA to clarify its decision in Li v. British Columbia, 2021 BCCA 256, which concluded that that such distinctions did not distinguish on the basis of citizenship, and hence were not subject to section 15 scrutiny. SALCBC & SALCO intend to argue, among other things, that the BCCA judgment in Li did not hold that such distinctions could never fall within the analogous ground of citizenship and should be clarified in light of Haseeb.

The Honourable Justice MacKenzie granted SALCBC and SALCO intervener status. Stay tuned for further updates.

SALCBC thanks our appeal counsel, Sujit Choudhry of Hāki Chambers and Paul S. Jon of Hunter Litigation Chambers.