Inside Policy Talks

This Supreme Court ruling needs a renovation: Gerard Kennedy & Geoffrey Sigalet

Feb 19, 2026 45:57

There’s a growing debate in Canada about balancing the relationship between courts and legislatures.

For nearly four decades, one Supreme Court ruling has loomed large in shaping an aspect of this debate: how conflicts between rights – and their limitations – are determined in Canada.

That case – R v Oakes, decided in 1986 – gave Canadian jurisprudence the famous “Oakes test,” which courts…