{"id":17173,"date":"2020-08-04T14:50:26","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T19:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rsslex.com\/publications\/supreme-court-of-canada-upholds-criminalization-of-genetic-discrimination\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T21:31:39","modified_gmt":"2022-01-13T02:31:39","slug":"20200806_supreme-court-of-canada-upholds-criminalization-of-genetic-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rsslex.com\/en\/bulletins-en\/20200806_supreme-court-of-canada-upholds-criminalization-of-genetic-discrimination\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court of Canada Upholds Criminalization of Genetic Discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

On July 10, a 275-paragraph judgment (Reference re Genetic Non-Discrimination Act<\/em>, 2020 SCC 17<\/a>) handed down by a five-to-four majority of the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the constitutional validity of sections 1 to 7 of the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act<\/em> [Act<\/em>].<\/p>\n

Accordingly, no one will be able to compel a person to undergo a genetic test or to report the results of such a test as a precondition for any of the following activities:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. providing goods or services to that individual;<\/li>\n
  2. entering into or continuing a contract or agreement with that individual; or<\/li>\n
  3. offering or continuing specific terms or conditions in a contract or agreement with that individual.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In addition, no one may refuse to engage in these activities in respect of an individual on the grounds that she or he has refused to undergo a genetic test or to disclose the results of such a test.<\/p>\n

    The Act<\/em> provides for severe penalties for offenders, including fines on indictment or summary conviction of up to $1,000,000 and maximum imprisonment terms of five years.<\/p>\n

    It is important to note, however, that the Act<\/em> does not enact a total prohibition on the use of an individual\u2019s genetic data. It provides for certain exceptions, particularly for healthcare practitioners and scientific researchers.<\/p>\n

    Another important exception is that the Act<\/em> does not prevent the individual from voluntarily submitting to genetic testing or voluntarily transmitting the results of such tests to third parties.<\/p>\n

    The Quebec government had referred the question of the constitutional validity of the Act<\/em> passed by the federal Parliament in 2017 to the Court of Appeal of Quebec, arguing that sections 1 to 7 exceeded the federal jurisdiction on criminal matters. In particular, the Quebec government\u2019s view was that these provisions were not related to criminal law but were rather meant to regulate contracts and the provision of goods and services, which is provincial jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

    Paradoxically, the federal government supported the Quebec government\u2019s position that the Act<\/em> was unconstitutional. Several agencies intervened to ask the Court of Appeal to uphold sections 1 to 7 of the Act<\/em>, including the Canadian Coalition for Genetic Fairness.<\/p>\n

    The Court of Appeal of Quebec unanimously found that these provisions of the Act<\/em> were outside the federal jurisdiction on criminal law and were therefore unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

    The Supreme Court overruled the decision of the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n

    The majority of the Supreme Court concluded that the pith and substance of sections 1 to 7 of the Act<\/em> was to prevent genetic discrimination and the fear of such discrimination based on the results of a genetic test. At the same time, these provisions come within the scope of criminal law because they protect public interests, particularly autonomy, privacy, equality, and public health.<\/p>\n

    The regulation of contracts and the provision of goods and services under this Act<\/em> is merely incidental to its true nature of protecting autonomy, privacy, equality, and public health through the imposition of prohibitions and penalties in relation to criminal law. Sections 1 to 7 of this Act<\/em> are therefore valid under the jurisdiction of the federal Parliament.<\/p>\n

    In particular, Justices Moldaver and C\u00f4t\u00e9 state in the concurring reasons that these provisions eliminate the dilemma \u201cthat people were facing and that was posing a threat to health\u201d, (Par 144 of the judgment) to wit \u201cthe choice between entering into agreements and undergoing genetic testing\u201d. (Ibid.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

    This Act<\/em> will certainly have an impact on provincial legislation, especially contractual matters, including insurance law. Indeed, the Supreme Court emphasizes the precedence of this Act<\/em> over provincial laws in case of conflict.<\/p>\n

    The Supreme Court gives the following example in insurance law: \u201cprovincial legislation that requires an individual seeking health or life insurance to disclose all material health information could not operate so as to require the individual to disclose genetic test results\u201d, (Par 53 of the judgment) even if it is information \u201clikely to materially influence an insurer in the setting of the premium, the appraisal of the risk or the decision to cover it\u201d. (Art 2408 of the Civil Code of Qu\u00e9bec<\/em>)<\/p>\n

    The Supreme Court even adds the Act<\/em> could have an impact on insurance premiums. Some insurers could elect to increase premiums for all their policyholders considering the prohibitions of being able to compel an insured to genetic tests, force him to communicate the results of such test, or amend or cancel an insurance contract because of his refusal to undergo a genetic test or communicate its results.<\/p>\n

    While acknowledging that insurers and employers will be heavily affected by the prohibitions imposed by the Act<\/em>, the Supreme Court states that the legal and practical effects of these prohibitions must prevail in order to \u201cgive individuals control over their genetic testing results, allowing them to protect themselves against genetic discrimination\u201d. (Par 60 of the judgment)<\/p>\n

    The federal Parliament amended the Canadian Labour Code<\/em> and the Canadian Human Rights Act<\/em> to incorporate other provisions prohibiting genetic discrimination. It will be interesting to see how provincial law evolves in this area. Will the provinces follow the federal lead in creating or amending laws to prohibit genetic discrimination, or will they rely entirely on the criminal law measures included in the Act<\/em>?
    \n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    On July 10, a 275-paragraph judgment (Reference re Genetic Non-Discrimination Act, 2020 SCC 17) handed down by a five-to-four majority of the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the constitutional validity of sections 1 to 7 of the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act [Act]. Accordingly, no one will be able to compel a person to undergo a genetic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[242,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance-law-en","category-bulletins-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSupreme Court of Canada Upholds Criminalization of Genetic Discrimination - RSS - Robinson Sheppard Shapiro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rsslex.com\/en\/bulletins-en\/20200806_supreme-court-of-canada-upholds-criminalization-of-genetic-discrimination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court of Canada Upholds Criminalization of Genetic Discrimination - RSS - Robinson Sheppard Shapiro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On July 10, a 275-paragraph judgment (Reference re Genetic Non-Discrimination Act, 2020 SCC 17) handed down by a five-to-four majority of the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the constitutional validity of sections 1 to 7 of the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act [Act]. 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