“Law has life, it has motions… and moves throughout the decades.” – Shreya Atrey, University of Oxford
This summer, Osgoode Hall Law School hosted the Future of Equality Law Conference, organized by Osgoode Professors Sonia Lawrence, Faisal Bhabha, and Anthony Sangiuliano. From California to the U.K., renowned anti-discrimination scholars gathered for stimulating discussions on their research and the ever-evolving state of anti-discrimination law scholarship.
Over the course of two days, eight anti-discrimination law scholars presented their latest work. Each presentation was accompanied by a commentary and followed by a thoughtful discussion. Though each talk represented a discrete research topic, some common themes emerged:
The Ironic Nature of Equality Law: Despite being intended to serve and help marginalized groups, time and time again, equality law has been weaponized by those who are privileged. This leads to harmful consequences and depictions of persons with disabilities, and/or the exclusion of certain groups from accessing the justice system. Through analyses of court cases, structural vulnerability, and symmetrical prohibitions of discrimination against privileged groups, Margot Young, Colleen Sheppard, and Alice Taylor demonstrated the limits of equality law as we know it, with commentary from Karen Drake, Léa Brière-Godbout, and Tarunabh Khaitan. In the end, they commonly concluded that in order to overcome these limits, we will need to fundamentally reframe how we discuss anti-discrimination law. It takes some creative thinking to envision such a reframing: for example, could antidiscrimination law become a publicly funded system, similar to Canada’s healthcare system?
Rethinking Equality Law as We Know it: By examining the limitations of equality law, and the drastic shift that is required of it, it is clearly not sufficient to simply advance new arguments for analogous grounds under s. 15 of the Charter. Rather, it is changes to systems and structures in their entirety that is required. From recent developments in disability law in the lower courts, to technical advances all over the world, Ravi Malhotra, Andrew Selbst, and Sophia Moreau examined the extent to which systems and structures play a role in defining the scope of equality law, receiving commentary from Anne Levesque, Hugo Cossette-Lefebvre, and Megan Pfiffer. The idea of discrimination as an individual harm, perpetrated by one individual against another, may be outdated and unhelpful, not only given our understanding of systemic discrimination, but also given the rapid developments in AI, and particularly discriminatory AI tools.
The Connection Between Law and Politics: As scholars, it is easy to fixate narrowly on the doctrine and to forget that what brings legislation to life is how it manifests socially. This especially applies to anti-discrimination law. To echo Professor Bruce Ryder, it is important to look at the aftermath of litigation from a social activist lens in order to evaluate its worth and impact. Legal and political paradigms are not mutually exclusive. To that end, Joshua Sealy-Harrington and Shreya Atrey, with commentary from Ryder and Jennifer Koshan, emphasized the importance of strengthening the connection between equality law and social justice advocacy, whether it be through the culture at a single university or through the legal framework of an entire country.
All presentations highlighted the need for a pragmatic approach to equality law, the need to reevaluate our laws with the current sociopolitical climate, giving them ‘life,’ to echo Professor Shrey Atrey.
The conference was more than sharing published works in the making and scoping future research directions. Veteran equality law scholar, Professor Bruce Ryder, was honoured before his colleagues, friends, and family during a celebratory dinner marking his retirement after almost 30 years at Osgoode. Colleagues noted Professor Ryder’s many contributions to the Canadian anti-discrimination legal landscape and praised his illustrious scholarship that fundamentally shaped present-day Canadian equality law. An advocate for making real-world change, Professor Ryder was the founding director of the Anti-Discrimination Intensive Program at Osgoode. Through this program, students gain hands-on experience representing individuals who have experienced discrimination in mediations and hearings before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO). Professor Ryder is remembered for his kindness towards colleagues and students, and for his lifetime commitment to advancing anti-discrimination law.
Article by: Virginia Galpin and Faridah Mazhar