Supreme Court of Canada Decisions, 1984-94

• Author: W.H. Charles
• Pages: 15-21

15

Chapter 2

Supreme Court of Canada Decisions

1984–94

A. INTRODUCTION

Although lower courts of necessity had to ma ke decisions about the avail-

ability of Ch arter da mages as a remedy for Charter violations within a few

years of the enactment of the Canadi an Charter of Rights and Freed oms and

section 24(1),1 the Supreme Court of Canada did not make any k ind of authori-

tative pronouncement on the issue until 1994.2 The time lag is not su rprising

given the cost of appealing a case to Ca nada’s highest court and the time

it usually takes for any case to ascend the judicia l ladder. When the case of

RJR – MacDonal d Inc v Canada (AG)3 did reach the Supreme Court in 1994,

the primary iss ue for the Court was not whether money compensation could

be awarded as a remedy under section 24(1) but whether the Court could and

should provide interlocutory relief to delay the legal ef‌fect of tobacco regu-

lations that had been passed and to prevent public authorities from enfor-

cing them. The interlocutory relief in question was a stay and a n injunction.

The issue of Charter da mages arose only incidentally as pa rt of the

judicial discussion of irreparable ha rm and the suitability of da mages as

an alternative remedy. Justices Sopinka and Cory, wr iting for the major-

ity, suggested that the assessment of irreparable ha rm in an interlocutory

application involving Charter rights would often be more dif‌f‌icult th an a

comparative assessment in a private law application.4 One reason for such

1 Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canad a Act 1982

(UK), 1982, c 11 [Charte r].

2 RJR – MacDonald Inc v Canad a (AG), [1994] 1 SCR 311 at 342 [RJR – MacDo nald].

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid at 341.