The Challenges Of Reasonable Accomodation For Public Administrations

The issue of reasonable accommodation has given rise to a wealth of literature and comment since it first entered the social and legal discourse of Canada and Quebec following the O'Malley decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in 1985¹. Often criticized, the requirement to reasonably accommodate differences nevertheless stems from the desire to protect the dignity and equality of individuals in matters of Canadian public law. Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognizes the right to equality of every individual, while section 10 of Quebec's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms prohibits any form of discrimination based on grounds such as gender, religion or handicap. The development of the concept of reasonable accommodation is the result of the implementation of these guarantees.