On April 2, 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada issued its landmark Vriend decision. The unanimous ruling held that gay and lesbian Canadians were protected from discrimination by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The case involved Edmonton college instructor Delwin Vriend. He’d been fired from a private Christian college because he was gay.
Alberta’s Human Rights Commission refused to hear his discrimination complaint. Because Ralph Klein’s government had refused to add sexual orientation to Alberta’s human rights legislation.
The Court found that Alberta’s failure to protect “homosexuals” from discrimination was unconstitutional.
““It is easy to say that everyone who is just like ‘us’ is entitled to equality,” said the decision. “Everyone finds it more difficult to say that those who are ‘different’ from us in some way should have the same equality rights that we enjoy.”
“It can never be forgotten that discrimination is the antithesis of equality and that it is the recognition of equality which will foster the dignity of every individual.”