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10 - The Right to Digital Equality in Action: Protections under the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and Human Rights Acts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2017

Paul Harpur
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
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Summary

This chapter analyses how Canadian laws protect persons with print disabilities. The expansive approach to rights recognition in Canadian law distinguishes Canada from other jurisdictions. The combination of the Charter’s recognition of the right to read, the application of positive duties under the Charter and anti-discrimination laws means that Canadian law provides persons with disabilities substantially more protection than the equivalent regimes in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. It is often expensive or impossible to retrofit disabling systems once they are created. Canadian laws do not wait for disabling barriers to be created before enlivening equality duties. Canadian Charter and anti-discrimination duties require duty holders to be proactive in considering disability access at the design stage. At the design stage it is much easier to reduce or avoid creating disabling barriers in the first place. The right to read arguably has robust protection under Canadian Charter jurisprudence. The Jodhan litigation provides strong support for the right to read and the right to be free from digital disablement. The interaction between the Charter and anti-discrimination laws in Canada means that anti-discrimination laws must be read in a way that complies with the Charter.
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Chapter
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Discrimination, Copyright and Equality
Opening the e-Book for the Print-Disabled
, pp. 256 - 273
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

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