Appeal Court to Hear Olympic Ski Jumpers’ Charter Challenge
August 12, 2009
Anna-May Choles and Chris Younker
Fourteen current and former female ski jumpers are appealing a decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court. The court did not grant them a remedy for violation of their Charterequality rights by the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC).[1] The British Columbia Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear the case on November 12, 2009, three months before the Vancouver Olympic Games begin on February 12, 2010. The appeal court decision may be released before, during or after the games.
An international group of female ski jumpers brought a Charter challenge against VANOC for violating their right to equality, by providing a ski jumping event for men only.[2] Their case was originally heard in April 2009. The decision was released on July 10, 2009.[3]
The decision addressed two constitutional issues:
- First, whether VANOC could be considered to be acting with governmental authority and therefore subject to the Charter, and
- Second, whether there was discrimination against the female ski jumpers such that their section 15 rights were violated.
Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon determined that VANOC’s staging of the Olympic Games was the implementation of a governmental program. As such it was subject to the Charter. She then found that the discrimination against the female ski jumpers violated their section 15 right to equality. However, decisions about which events to include in the 2010 games were in the hands of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), not VANOC. The IOC is not subject to the Charter, so Justice Fenlon was unable to provide a Charter remedy to the female ski jumpers.[4]
According to Ross Clark, the lawyer for the women ski jumpers, the purpose of the appeal is to overturn part of the trial decision and obtain a remedy for the Charter violation:
The Supreme Court judge found the women had been discriminated against and she found that VANOC is carrying out a government activity…. But then she stopped short of the next logical step which would have been to grant us the remedy we were seeking. We will ask the Court of Appeal to revisit that.[5]
John Furlong, the Chief Executive Officer of VANOC, said that VANOC would abide by the decision of the courts: “If the decision somehow changed from the one we are now dealing with, and we were instructed by the IOC to stage an event, then, as we've always said, … we would move heaven and earth to make it happen.”[6]
There are many other Charter and civil liberties concerns about the policies and actions of VANOC.[7] VANOC’s attempts to control or limit free speech during the Olympics and their attempts to gain information about Olympic athletes from the Canada Border Agency have been controversial.[8] If the B.C. Court of Appeal accepts the arguments of the female ski jumpers, it may open the door to more Charter claims against VANOC.
Further Reading
Chris Younker, “Vancouver Olympics Invite Further Charter Challenges” Centre for Constitutional Studies (5 August 2009).
Anna-May Choles, “Bid to Challenge VANOC over No Female Ski-jumping Event Fails” Centre for Constitutional Studies (20 July 2009).
Anna-May Choles, “Equality Challenge for Vancouver Olympics over Ski Jumping” Centre for Constitutional Studies (11 May 2009).
“Olympic Oversight Interim Report Card” Impact on Communities Coalition (19 April 2009).
Natasha Dube, “Olympics and Equality Rights: Is VANOC Above the Law?” Centre for Constitutional Studies (16 June 2008).
Geoff Dembicki, “Fears of APEC-style Clash in 2010” TheTyee.ca (16 February 2009).
[1] “Female ski jumpers appeal set for Nov. 12” Associated Press (10 August 2009).
[2] Anna-May Choles, “Equality Challenge for Vancouver Olympics over Ski Jumping” Centre for Constitutional Studies (11 May 2009).
[3] Anna-May Choles, “Bid to Challenge VANOC over No Female Ski-jumping Event Fails” Centre for Constitutional Studies (20 July 2009).
[4] Ibid.
[5] Supra note 1.
[6] “Women ski jumpers’ Olympic appeal set for November” CBC.ca (10 August 2009).
[7] Chris Younker, “Vancouver Olympics Invite Further Charter Challenges” Centre for Constitutional Studies (5 August 2009).
[8] Ibid.