that Jack is afraid, Thursday, '

by Alayne McGregor

for Canadian University Press . If we have a charter of rights in the Constitution, won't our rights then be guaranteed?

Not necessarily, according to experts at the Women and the Constitution Conference:

At least five clauses in

~ the Trudeau government's proposed Charter of Rights are so poorly worded, they said, that the only people they'll help will be the lawyers who will conduct the interminable court battles over their inter- pretation. Even worse, they predict that many of the worst court decisions against women would not be changed under the charter. 0 Clause 1 of the proposed charter guarantees the * rights spelled out in

the charter "subject to

reasonable limits in law

as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."

Ottawa lawyer Tamra

Thomson dubbed this the

"Mack Truck" clause be-

cause, she said, it

allows the government

to drive through rights

at anytime.

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Churter 0

She pointed out the clause would allow even the rights of equality between the sexes and among races to

be taken away by Parlia-

ment and would give no pro-

tection from the "tyranny of the majority."

The conference asked that

all rights in the diarter

apply to men and women eq- ually with no limitations, and that any limitations

to those rights follow the

more exact format of the

U.N. Covenant on Civil

and Political Rights.

0 Clause 7 guarantees .life, liberty and security to "everyone". Unfortlmately,

according to Victoria lawyer Deborah Acheson, there is no legal definition of "everyone", inviting long, involved court battles over issues such as whether a foetus would be covered

by the clause.

The conference recommended

that "person", which has been

legally defined, be used throughout the charter to specify a human being, and

that the riqhts to reproductive freedom and the equality of economic opportunity be included in Clause 7.

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0 Clause 15 (l) guarantees equality before the law and equal protection and benefit from the law for everyone without discrim- ination, particularly on the basis of sex, race, national or ethnic ori- gin, colOur, religion, or age. According to Queen's law professor Beverly Baines, however, its wording is "too . vague" to unambiguously tell. the courts no dis- crimination is allowed.

Unless it is made stronger,

she said, judges will only;

consider whether the dis- crimination is relevant to the purpose of the legis- lation, on that basis, the

" Supreme Court ruled that

native women who marry

white men lose their Indian

status, although Indian men

who marry white women do not.

The conference added three

more prohibited grounds for

discrimination-- marital status, sexual orientation,

It

also asked that the grounds

be grouped into two cate- gories - those like sex

or race on which discrimin-

ation should never occur,

and those like age on which

in certain cases ~discrimin- ‘ :

ation could‘ be alloWed.“ ‘ “ '

Without the separation,

speakers argued, _ the never

occurring grounds would be weakened by being associated with the others. ,_

0 Clause 15 (2) allows affirmative action pro- grams for disadvantaged individuals or groups. However, Thomson_ pointed out this clause would allow a Bakke case in Canada, where persons not part of a disadvantaged group could claim they were being dis— criminated against by affirmative action programs.

The conference recommended the

clause only mention groups, arguing that disadvantaged persons would be part of dis- advantaged groups. 0 Clause 26 specified that ’ the entire diarter be interpreted in light of ' Canada's multi-cultural heritage. Acheson pointed out, though, that this would include rights of equality in clause 15, possibly allowing sexual discrimination if it"were culturally based. She suggested that this clause might even allow genital mutilation of women because such mutilation is part of some African cultures. The conference recommended the clause be put in a pre- amble to the charter;

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acme 29 (2) specifies that none of the equality rights in clause 15 will

‘ come into force until

three years after the rest of the charter has hem - applied. 'Iheconference asked this clause be de leted, on the gramdsv there was no need for the delay. Even if these problem are solved, will the charter be. a better pmtectrcn’ for women's rights? minions are divided. 1 On one side, 'Bmmeon argued that the charter will be a better protection because it will act as an umbrella over other laws and mot be repealed at any time' like present Hlmran Rights Acts. As well, she said, it will give women another forum besides government in which to press for changes, and . will act as a standard for government action. - But Lynn MacDonald, President of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, disagreed. The charter would be taking power

away from the legislatures and giving it to theoourts, she pointed out, but legislatures have been shown to be more sensitive,ch _ And, according to Margaret Fern, president of the Saskatchewan Advisory Council on the Status of Women, any unforeseen deficiencies in the charter will be "extraordinarily difficult " to remove once it is in place. Furthermore, because most women are not wealthy, she said they will lack the financial resources to challenge the charter -

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