Little Sisters Vs. Canadian Charter: Case Summary

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Charter Case Analysis
Censorship: Little Sisters vs. Canada Little Sisters vs. Canada was a case that involved a bookstore in Vancouver that serves to mainly gay and lesbian clients. Little Sisters fought against the unfair, discriminatory treatment from Canada Customs. For years, Canada Customs had repeatedly confiscated books and magazines being shipped to Little Sisters from the United States because they deemed them “obscene”. The items were often seized, detained and then prohibited although they had previously been approved for shipment to either Little Sisters or other bookstores and many “obscene” pieces could be found in the Public Library. Little Sisters challenged Canada Customs on account of the unconstitutional discrimination they had been targeted with. Canada Customs had violated a fundamental freedom, a …show more content…

Officials had infringed upon the fundamental freedom in section 2 subsection 2(b), which concerns: the freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression. By confiscating specifically Little Sisters’ shipments of books and magazines, on the grounds of “obscenity”, Canada Customs halted and censored expression of gay and lesbian media. Additionally, Canada Customs was responsible for the infringement upon section 8 of The Charter, which pertains to the right of security against unreasonable search or seizure. Little Sisters’ shipments were repeatedly confiscated and detained, without just cause. Thirdly, Little Sisters’ right to equality under section 15 subsection 1 was violated because the discrimination they were subjected to was likely caused because of the fact that Little Sisters is run by and for the LGBT community. Items of the same genre, imported for and sold in bookstores presumably run by a heterosexual staff for a heterosexual clientele, do not face the same discrimination from officials at the