Section Twenty-eight of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Section 28 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a part of the Constitution of Canada. It does not contain a right so much as it provides a guide as to how to interpret rights in the Charter. Specifically, section 28 addresses concerns of sexual equality, and is analogous to (and was modelled after) the proposed Equal Rights Amendment in the United States.

The section reads:

Section 28 is not so much a right because it does not state that men and women are equal; this is done by section 15. Instead, section 28 ensures that men and women have equal claim to rights listed in the Charter. Section 28 can be more beneficial to women in that the section 33 notwithstanding clause can be used to nullify women's section 15 rights, but not to impair the operation of section 28. Constitutional scholar Peter Hogg has even speculated that section 28 cannot be limited by a section 1 test, given that section 28 is supposed to operate "notwithstanding" other Charter provisions. Nevertheless, in the judicial decision Blainey v. Ontario Hockey Association et al. (1986), it was found that section 28 should have limits of some sort, or it would threaten "public decency" and affirmative action meant to aid women.

In the case Native Women's Association of Canada v. Canada (1994), the Court considered and rejected the argument that section 28 could reinforce section 2 of the Charter (freedom of expression) so that a women's interest group could receive equal benefits as other Aboriginal interest groups in constitutional negotiations, as the other groups had received government money to discuss their concerns. While the Court acknowledged that discussing issues in constitutional negotiations is a matter of expression, there was no evidence that Aboriginal women received lesser rights, as the favoured groups supposedly represented both Aboriginal men and women.

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