Women's Legal Education and Action Fund

Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, referred to by the acronym LEAF, is a Canadian legal organization that performs legal research and intervenes in appellate and Supreme Court of Canada cases on women's issues. Founded in 1985, LEAF has been an intervener in many significant decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada, particularly cases involving Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Mandate

To ensure the rights of women and girls in Canada, as guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, are upheld in courts, human rights commissions and government agencies; and to take actions to reveal how factors such as race, class, Aboriginal status, sexual orientation, ability, and religion compound discrimination against women.

Notable interventions

• Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium v. Canada (Minister of Justice), [2000] 2 S.C.R. 1120
• British Columbia (PSERC) v. BCGSEU [1999] 3 S.C.R. 3
• M. v. H., [1999] 2 S.C.R. 3
• Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] 3 S.C.R. 624
• Weatherall v. Canada (Attorney General), [1993] 2 S.C.R. 872
• R. v. Butler, [1992] 1 S.C.R. 452
• Canadian Council of Churches v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [1992] 1 S.C.R. 236
• Norberg v. Wynrib, [1992] 2 S.C.R. 224
• R. v. Sullivan, [1991] 1 S.C.R. 489
• Brooks v. Canada Safeway Ltd., [1989] 1 S.C.R. 1219
• Andrews v. Law Society of British Columbia, [1989] 1 S.C.R. 143
• R. v. J.A., 2011 SCC 28

External links

• LEAF website
• From NAACP to LEAF: American Legal Exports to Canada (article by Ian Brodie)

References