THE RIGHT TO DIGNITY IN CANADIAN LAW

The notion is found in the UN Declaration where the preamble states: Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women…24 Sumner explained that the worth of a human person is understandable as a value term encompassing the inherent value of persons. [...] 10 of the Quebec Charter, holding that the imprecise nature of the meaning of dignity results in an: …infringement of the right to equal recognition of the right to the safeguard of dignity easier to establish given the fact that dignity is always more or less affected when equality is denied, as the norm of equality flows from dignity.38 In the majority’s understanding, the low threshold to infri. [...] On the other hand, the dissent, in keeping with the caselaw up to that point, argued that an analysis looking at dignity must consider the perspective of the individual claiming the harm and violation.42 The tension in Ward is an illustration of one of the many issues with the concept dignity. [...] Wrongful Convictions Wrongful convictions are a profound demonstration of “loss of dignity.” The panellists detailed the types of vulnerability that lead to a loss of dignity by highlighting: (1) The severity of a wrongful conviction; (2) The systemic factors that contribute to producing wrongful convictions; (3) The extreme difficulty of a person to establish their innocence; and (4) The great ef. [...] Dignity in the context of discrimination was recently dissected in Ward.153 The majority in that case found that “a reasonable person aware of the” comedic nature of the defendant’s performance, would not be incited “to detest or vilify the humanity of the person targeted,”154 therefore, the disabled claimant’s “right to the safeguard of [his] dignity,” or to the protection of his worth, as a huma.