“The most advanced justice system in the world is a failure if it does not provide accessible justice to the people it is meant to serve.”
That was Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin speaking last year. Now, a landmark Charter health-care case in British Columbia is showing just how empty the promise of access to justice can be if the government is determined to block it.
The plaintiffs’ case is straightforward: if the government fails to provide patients with timely medical treatment, then it cannot stop them from taking control of their own health and arranging for private treatment to alleviate their suffering.
The Supreme Court of Canada held that such restrictions violated the patients’ rights more than a decade ago. Since then, provinces have continued to unconstitutionally restrict patient choice even as the problem of wait lists has worsened.