The Court Challenges Program of Canada is a national, non-profit organization which provides financial assistance for important court cases challenging laws which may violate equality rights under Canada's Constitution or language rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Funding under the Program is available to individuals or organizations who believe their rights have been violated under Canadian law, in order for them to bring their case forward in a court of law.

"The Court Challenges Program reflects this government's ongoing commitment to advancing equality and language rights for all Canadians. These rights are fundamental values of Canadian society and are part of what defines us as Canadians," Minister Copps said.

Information:
Jacques Lefebvre
Senior Communications Advisor
Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage

Contact: Human Rights Canadian Heritage
15 Eddy Street 7^th floor
Hull, Quebec
Canada K1A 0M5
Tel.: ( 819 ) 997- 0055

Cases eligible for funding involve federal and provincial language rights protected by the Constitution of Canada as well as challenges to federal legislation, policies and practices based on section 15 (equality) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and 28 (equality of the sexes), or in which an argument based on section 2 (fundamental freedoms) or section 27 (multicultural heritage) is made in support of arguments based on section 15.

Arguments made under section 2, notably in the case of freedom of expression, can be brought up as well in support of the other language rights sections in the Constitution.

The Program is funded by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage at the level of $2.75 million per year, but administered by a non-profit autonomous agency, the Court Challenges Program of Canada/Programme de contestation judiciaire du Canada.

The decisions as to which cases will be funded and in what amounts, aremade independently by the Equality Panel for equality cases and the Language Panel for official languages cases. The Panels are made up of experienced and knowledgeable individuals with a history of involvement in either equality or language issues and community organizations. Financial assistance is available to non-profit groups and individuals for important test-cases which meet the criteria of the Program.

The following types of funding are available:
• litigation,
• case development,
• impact studies,
• program promotion and access (for equality) and negotiation (for language).

Funding is granted by either the Equality Rights or Language Rights Panel, in principle, subject to the following conditions.
1. You must submit a budget (in accordance with the model budget) which must be approved by the Court Challenges Program of CanadaProjected Budget. Before any work is undertaken by your counsel, the Program must receive and approve your projected budget.

   As the Model Budget format provides, your budget must include a description of the kind of legal and administrative work involved, the number of hours anticipated to be spent on each aspect of the case, and the amount and nature of any disbursements you believe will be necessary. The budget must relate to one level of court only.

   You must make a new application to the Program for each subsequent court level. All funding outlined below is subject to the budget requirements contained in the approved projected budget and otherwise outlined in this document.

2. Exceptional Expenses/DisbursementsBefore any work is undertaken by your counsel, the Program must receive and approve any requests for exceptional expenses including, but not restricted to, expenses for co-counsel, outside legal opinions or expert testimony, use of agents, counsel travel expenses, etc. Information must be provided to justify the need for an exceptional expense.

3. Date of Funding Funding is generally not provided for any work begun before the Program receives an application in writing. In other words, if funding is granted, it will normally only be granted with respect to work undertaken by your counsel following the date a written application was received by the Program, in accordance with these Guidelines. Under certain limited circumstances, retroactive funding may be granted by the Panel if the Applicant can demonstrate that there was a need to take urgent action before submitting an application.

4. Levels of Funding
   • Case Development up to $5,000
   • Additional Funding for Community Consultation up to $5,000
   • Trial Level Case Funding up to $50,000
   • Appeal Funding up to $35,000
   • Intervention Funding (Equality Cases only)up to $35,000
   • Intervention Funding (Language Cases only)up to $85,000
   • Extraordinary Funding (per Court level)up to $85,000
   • Negotiation Funding (Language cases only)up to $5,000
5. Program Promotion & Access Funding (Equality only) see below

6. Additional Funding - Keeping Within Your Budget It is very important that your budget, as approved by the Program, is not exceeded. If your approved budget is exceeded, you are responsible for paying your counsel's legal fees and disbursements for any amount exceeding the budget approved by the Program. If less than the full amount available for regular case funding has been applied for or granted at any court level and should increased funding be required at a later date, a new application for additional funding must be submitted.

7. Extraordinary Funding If the full amount available for regular case funding has been applied for or granted at any court level, a new application must be submitted for extraordinary funding if it becomes necessary. Extraordinary funding will only be provided when there are special circumstances relating to the complexity of the factual evidence and the complexity of the legal arguments in the case, in the sole determination of the Program.

   Extraordinary funding is generally limited to $85,000 per court level. Detailed information must be submitted justifying the need for extraordinary funding and must be approved by the Panel.

8. Costs Unless otherwise agreed to in writing by the Program, you are obligated to seek costs in this matter and report on costs recovered. Generally, costs recovered or recoverable will be deducted from any contribution paid to you by the Program.

   The Program is not responsible for any cost award made against you or your counsel. You are solely responsible for costs required to be paid to the other party in the event your lawsuit is not successful.

9. 2. You must submit a work plan which must be approved by the Program

   Before any work is undertaken by your counsel, the Program must receive and approve your projected work plan. Your work plan must include a detailed list of the steps to be undertaken in your work, a time frame for completing each step, and the name and qualifications of each person responsible for completing each step. Any research must specifically list the questions or issues to be researched and the research plan. Any consultation or meeting must specifically list who will be invited to attend and the agenda for the meeting. You are responsible for respecting the time frame of your work plan. If your work is delayed for more than six months without an adequate explanation, your funding could be revoked.

10. 3. You must be prepared to pursue a test case

    The mandate of the Court Challenges Program is to fund test cases which will result in important court rulings on equality and minority language rights. The Program is not a legal aid program. Nor is the Program a substitute for the human rights process or complaints to the Official Languages Commissioner.

    Funding is not given for a private individual to resolve a personal legal problem but rather to achieve a ruling that addresses the needs of a disadvantaged group whose rights it is alleged are being infringed. You and your lawyer must accept the responsibility of taking on such a test case, which case must be an important one with legal merit that will set a significant precedent for members of a disadvantaged group or an official language minority group.

    The Program should be advised of any proposed out-of-court settlement in advance. If settlement of the case is proposed, you must first consult with the Program to make sure that the test case issue is dealt with, i.e., that the governing authority agrees to change the law, regulation, policy or practice for all members of the minority language or disadvantaged group, not just you personally.

    The Program reserves the right, at any point in time, to make a determination, in its sole discretion, that a case has ceased to be a test case in which case funding for the case by the Program may, in the sole discretion of the Program, be reduced or terminated.

11. 4. You must comply with conditions set by the Panel

    The Panel may set conditions for you to follow, for example, that you change the remedies you proposed or that you consult with community organizations or lawyers, academics, etc., in preparing your case. If there are expenses associated with these conditions, the Panel will provide funding for them, subject to such proposed expenses being submitted in advance of being incurred for approval by the Program.

12. 5. You must keep the Program informed about your case

    You must send in a semi-annual Activity Report to the Program. This report must detail your work over the previous six months, any new developments or problems encountered in your case, and any changes in dates to the work plan. The report must also identify what documents you have filed in Court as well as any documents filed by the governing authority (i.e., the Attorneys General) or any other party, and all court decisions in the matter. Copies of any document requested by the Program must be provided.

13. 6. You must submit a detailed account in accordance with the headings set out in the model budget

    You must submit a detailed account or bill on a semi-annual basis (i.e., every six months) in accordance with the headings in the Model Budget. The account must detail your lawyer's work by hour and tenths of the hour, the date, duration and description of each item of work performed, show clearly who performed each item of work and what hourly rate is being charged for it.

    If possible, the lawyer's computer dockets should also be sent. The account should also list any costs received in the case.

    The account should be divided (as per the Budget) into three sections:
    • Legal Fees (your lawyer's fees broken down by tenths of hours)
    • Legal Research and Consultation: max. $100/hr
    • Legal Drafting and Court Appearances: max. $150/hr
    • Administrative Fees (i.e., preparing accounts, written and oral communication with the Program, similar administrative work with the client): max. $50/hr
    • Disbursements (must be clearly itemized and documented with receipts or copies of receipts attached): as permitted
    • GST: as required

    As the Program only provides funding to a group or individual and not to your lawyer, you must carefully review each of your lawyer's bills to ensure it is correct and fits within your approved budget. A letter from you or your group stating that the lawyer's bill has been reviewed and approved by you must accompany any account.

    The Program is subject to audit by the federal government. We, therefore,reserve the right to carry out an audit of your financial records pertaining to our contribution should this be necessary in the fulfilment of the Program's obligations. Similarly, the Program reserves the right to request that legal bills be taxed before a Master or other governing body responsible for taxation, before reimbursement.

14. 7. You must be prepared to share information about your case

    All requests for funding are confidential until a decision is made by the Panel. Subject to solicitor/client privilege, under the contribution agreement with the federal government, the Program is required to make limited information regarding applications available to the public in the Annual Report and to the Department of Canadian Heritage. If you receive funding for your case, this information must include your name.

    Pleadings, factums and other legal documents filed with the Court are considered public documents and can be shared with other applicants.

    Case-development reports and internal research are confidential to the Applicants and will only be shared with their permission. In addition, the Program is developing research resources which will help all equality-seeking and official language minority groups. We ask that a copy of any legal research, press clipping, support letter, or other relevant document relating to your case be sent to the Program.

15. 8. You must hire a lawyer with expertise

    It is important that the lawyer you choose to work with be experienced in the specific area of law involved in your application, that being either equality or language rights, and be committed to follow the test case through to completion.

    You should consider the following when selecting a lawyer:
    • how long has your lawyer been in practice;
    • amount and type of courtroom experience;
    • amount and type of experience with constitutional law, especially regarding equality or language rights;
    • and specialization, if any, particularly in the questions in the matter.
    • Please provide this information to the Program as well.

16. 9. You are asked to help the program monitor actions and expenses of governments (federal and provincial) in your case

    While there will be some cases where applicants are intervening in support of government legislation or programs in support of equality and language rights, most applications to the Program involve a challenge to existing government legislation, regulation, policy, and practice.

    We know that there is no balance between what we are able to provide for funding for test cases and what the Government can spend defending against equality and language rights cases. We would like to document this imbalance and seek your help in establishing the costs to the Crown in these cases.

    We are in the process of determining how best this can be done. In addition, we are aware that in the past some cases were subjected to many procedural motions on the part of the Crown which resulted in increased costs and delays to applicants. We also want to document this type of activity.

    Lastly, although the Government is on record in support of equality and language rights, there have been some cases where the representatives of the Attorneys General have taken positions which might be interpreted to contradict such support. We would also like to document these in our Annual Report and bring them to the attention of the Attorney General.

17. 10. Review and termination of funding by the Program

    In the event that you do not comply with any of the Supplementary Funding Guidelines, the Program reserves the right to review, on written notice to you and if deemed appropriate in the Program's sole discretion, to terminate funding upon thirty (30) days' written notice.

18. 11. Supplementary funding guidelines for Program Promotion and Access Background

    Under the terms of the Contribution Agreement which we have with the Government of Canada for administering the Court Challenges Program, Program Promotion and Access Funding is available for the following: ...activities which promote awareness of, access to, or capacity to use the Program or for consultation on specific litigation within the mandate of the Program, including meetings with community representatives and legal experts for this purpose.

    Funding shall not be available for public education, in general, community development, lobbying or other forms of political advocacy.

    Application Requirements

    As set out in the General Supplementary Funding Guidelines, you must provide a detailed budget and work plan which includes a time-frame for the performance of the project. However, the Program recognizes that groups may need to know that, in principle, funding will be granted before they are able to carry out further work on developing the project.

    Where the Program feels that the proposed project sufficiently meets the mandate of the Program, it may provide the group with a letter of approval in principle, subject to the group providing the further detail as required above. Once we have received all the application materials required, you will receive one half of the funds granted. The remaining funds will be provided upon receipt and approval of the final report and financial account.

    Funding to the Court Challenges Program Clause 4.1 of the Contribution Agreement, entered into with the federal government, provides that the Court Challenges Program of Canada is an eligible recipient of Program Promotion and Access Funding.

    Where the Court Challenges Program is the proposed recipient of Program Promotion and Access Funding, the Program shall be required to comply with all applicable funding guidelines in the same manner as any other applicant/recipient.

    Types of Funding

    The total amount of funding available for Program Promotion and Access Funding per year is $185,000. In an effort to ensure that this funding can be shared by as many groups as need it, the Panel has developed the following maximums which will generally be awarded for each type of activity. The Panel will consider requests for additional funding, where need can be established.

    Contributions to symposiums, meetings, etc.
    • Types of Meetings
    • National meetings - up to $5,000
    • Regional meetings - up to $3,000
    • Local meetings - up to $1,500
    Eligible Budget Items
    • coordinator time for organizing the event
    • mailing and printing costs to invite participants
    • preparing and printing materials to be distributed
    • speaker/participant travel
    • preparing, printing, and distributing the report
    • accessibility related expenses such as interpretation costs
    • long-distance telephone and fax costs
    Additional Requirements
    • public education type activities must specifically relate to Charter equality test case litigation issues in the mandate of the Program
    • the event must be aimed at a broad diversity of experience in the community targeted, both in terms of speakers and participants a full list of all invited groups and participating groups must be provided with the application
    • joint-sponsorship with local groups is encouraged to enable follow-up from the meeting
    • the Program must be invited to send a representative to attend on behalf of the Court Challenges Program
    • a copy of the report from the symposium or meeting must be provided to the Program
    Contributions to strategic consultations on specific litigation issues Types of Consultations
    • National consultations - up to $85,000
    • Regional consultations - up to $7,500
    • Local consultations - up to $3,000 Eligible Budget Items
    • coordinator time for organizing research
    • preparation of strategic issues and background material for discussion
    • mailing and printing costs to invite participants
    • preparing and printing materials to be distributed
    • speaker/participant travel preparing,
    • printing, and distributing the report
    • accessibility related expenses such as interpretation costs
    • teleconference calls and long-distance and fax costs
    Additional Requirements:
    • the consultation must be aimed at a broad diversity of experience in the community targeted and ensure the participation of people with specific expertise in the strategic issues or concerns which may lead to litigation
    • a full list of all invited groups and participating groups must be provided with the application
    • consultation must be on strategic litigation issues relevant to the mandate of the Court Challenges Program
    • a report of the consultation must be submitted to the Program
    Contributions to pamphlets, brochures, videos, theatre, radio, etc.
    • Materials Any type of outreach material/joint project with CCP - up to $5,000
    • Eligible Budget Items coordinating/research time for development of draft materials preparing and printing materials to be distributed to focus group or review committee
    • preparing, printing, and distributing the materials accessibility related expenses such as alternate media teleconference calls and long-distance and fax costs

    Additional Requirements In general, the Program will not contribute to the production of pamphlets or brochures for organizations. However, if a group can demonstrate the need for a specifically targeted information piece about the Program or Charter test-case litigation, funding may be granted for a joint project with the Program to develop and distribute this material.

    Contributions to strategic discussion papers Materials Papers suitable for public distribution - up to $5,000

    Eligible Budget Items coordinating/research time for development of draft discussion paper preparing and printing materials to be distributed to review committee preparing, printing, and distributing the draft discussion paper accessibility related expenses such as alternate media teleconference calls and long-distance and fax costs

    Additional Requirements the strategic discussion paper must review litigation trends or issues that will affect litigation in a manner which will assist the Program, the Panel or user groups to the Program the draft discussion paper must be aimed at and distributed to a broad diversity of groups in the community concerned with the issues in the paper a draft and final strategic discussion paper must be submitted to the Program