"Equal justice under law".

• Author: Watson, Jack

These words are carved into the granite above the building located on First Street NE, between East Capitol Street and Maryland Avenue. This building has housed the highest court in the United States of America since 1935. Nations defined by the four fundamental concepts of freedom, democracy, constitutionalism (the Rule of Law) and respect for minorities, should have those words ingrained into their national consciousness. Canada is one of those nations.

For Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada has suggested that the essence of the guarantee of legal equality in Canada is human dignity. In Law (Nancy) v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration, 1999, and recently again in Winko (Joseph Ronald) v. British Columbia (Director of Forensic Psychiatric Institute) et al., 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada defined human dignity in connection with individual and group feelings of self-respect and self-worth:

"Human dignity is harmed by unfair treatment premised upon personal traits or circumstances which do not relate to individual needs, capacities, or merits. It is enhanced by laws which are sensitive to the needs, capacities, and merits of different individuals, taking into account the context underlying their differences. Human dignity is harmed when individuals and groups are marginalized, ignored, or devalued, and is enhanced when laws recognize the full place of all individuals and groups within Canadian society. Human dignity within the meaning of the equality guarantee does not relate to the status or position of an individual in society per se, but rather concerns the manner in which a person legitimately feels when confronted with a particular law. Does the law treat him or her unfairly, taking into account all of the circumstances regarding the individuals affected and excluded by the law?"

The legal relationship between principles of equality and the criminal law of Canada is complicated by the fact that, in one sense, the criminal law is an expression of a differentiating form of law. The criminal law is, in its nature, designed to distinguish between people, and to provide, ultimately, for rather drastic consequences of such distinctions. The criminal law is both designed and intended to classify conduct into categories, and to provide for punishment for the conduct categories which are prohibited. In the course of so doing, the criminal law defines both offenders and victims. In its various ramifications, the procedures of the...