About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

19 J.L. & Equal. 1 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/jleq19 and id is 1 raw text is: Beyond Scrutiny? Judicial Reviews of Decisions Impacting First Nations Children Using the Vavilov Framework Anne Levesque * ABSTRACT This article considers the Vavilov framework and administrative decisions that impact the lives of First Nations children in Canada. Because of their unique constitutional status, First Nations children often do not receive government services in the same way that other children in Canada do. As a result, they are often caught in lengthy jurisdictional disputes involving die/rent levels or branches of governments about who should pay for their services. Decisions regarding whether they are provided with a service are almost always made by state actors with large discretionary powers outside of a legislative framework. Historically, as well as currently to some extent, administrative decisions regarding the provisions of services to First Nations children have been unpredictable, discriminatory, and even harmful to them. In this article, I argue that the contextual considerations provided by the majority in Vavilov risk affording too much deference to administrative decision-makers in areas like the provision of public services to First Nations children. I also offer some ideas on the ways in which reviewing courts can interpret, apply, and weigh the Vavilov factors to overcome these shortcomings. In particular, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal's (CHRT) decisions in the Caring Society litigation, which are consistenty focused on the best interests of the child, offer valuable insight to reviewing courts that are called to assess the reasonableness of decisions involving First Nations children and their access to public services. By applying the CHRT's understanding of substantive equality and being keeny attentive to the significant impact of administrative decisions on the lives of First Nations children, reviewing courts can mitigate the deficiencies in the Vavilov framework. * Anne Levesque is an Assistant Professor in the French Common Law Program at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa. She is also one of the lawyers representing the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society in its ongoing litigation against Canada regarding its discriminatory conduct towards First Nations children and their families.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most