Mayor proclaims April 17, 2025, as Equality Day

WHEREAS,

April 17, 2025, marks the 40th anniversary of the coming into force of the equality rights provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the 43rd anniversary of the adoption of the Charter including the rights guaranteed equally to both sexes, and

WHEREAS,

The “Equality Rights” Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees that “every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability,” and

WHEREAS,

The “Rights guaranteed equally to both sexes” Section 28 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees that “notwithstanding anything in this Charter, the rights and freedoms referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and female persons,” and

WHEREAS,

Section 28 came about due to organizing by an ad hoc committee of women lawyers and human rights activists, who led thousands of women to campaign for meaningful guarantees in the Charter by sending postcards to the federal government and gathering at an emergency “Women and the Constitution” conference on Parliament Hill on February 14, 1981, attended by 1,300 women on very short notice, leading to the removal by the House of Commons on November 24, 1981, of the subordination of Section 28 to the notwithstanding clause, and

WHEREAS,

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has materially improved human rights in Canada, and

WHEREAS,

The Provinces of New Brunswick and Saskatchewan officially commemorate April 17 as Equality Day, and

WHEREAS,

It is desirable to increase appreciation of April 17 as Equality Day as the date of the coming into force of the equality provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,

THEREFORE,

April 17 is proclaimed as Equality Day in Oakville to increase appreciation of the coming into force of the equality provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on that date, with the hope that all governments in Canada will proclaim and observe April 17 as Equality Day.